Climbing The Summit 20,000 Feet!

David Gergen, author of Eyewitness to Power, was the next speaker on the docket at the Summit. Gergen is currently a professor of public service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Director of its Center for Public Leadership. He is also editor-at-large for U.S. News & World Report and a Senior Political Analyst for CNN. In earlier years, he served as a White House adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. (On the web at davidgergen.com). What can you say about a man who has been an advisor in the White House to four different presidents? His whole presentation was on leadership. The following are some sound bites:

Leadership

• is working with others in pursuit of shared goals.

• is about trust and communication.
• cannot be produced.
• principles can be shared.
• is a culture to be created, within a church, for example.
• thinks carefully.
• chooses big goals.
• goes after them tenaciously.
• does not have to be lonely.
• is no longer being The Lone Ranger.
• is in teams built to lead.
• can go fast, alone, or far, together.


Becoming a better leader

• is a must.
• means being a reflective practitioner.
• requires learning while in the arena doing it.
• means continuing to be self-educated.
• and reader – not every reader is a leader, but every leader is a reader.
• requires getting away to reflect on what you did.
• requires self-confidence to get away and get in communion with God and reflect.



He also shared the most admirable qualities of the following presidents, which I thought was historically amazing.

• President Nixon was the best strategist. He could look into the future 20-30 years and bend the forces of history to benefit the U.S. Someone that can look further back can see further ahead. (Henry Kissinger, for example – Nixon’s sidekick.)

• President Ford was the most decent one. You did not have to keep your back to the wall. “Nice guys finish last” is not true. Decent people are so rare that we prize them.

• President Reagan was the best leader in the White House since FDR. He had strong beliefs and principles. He had contagious optimism. He encouraged everyone to go forward.

• President Clinton was a very bright guy and had a very quick mind. His resiliency was remarkable. He was always willing to get back up.

Gergen also touched on some of the weaknesses in these presidents. He prefaced this by stating that we all have weaknesses. Amen.
• President Nixon had a very dark side that he could not control. He was the author of his own tragedy.
• President Ford was a little too naïve at times. (President Carter was the same way.)

• President Reagan was a little too detached at times. He entrusted too much.

• President Clinton paralleled Nixon as far as fundamental character cracks. He should have come clean and asked for forgiveness.


“Great leaders carry great flaws.” All leaders are flawed in some way, but growing and maturing is coming to grips with our flaws. Many people will not conquer their flaws, but we do need to make an effort to get them under control so they do not derail us. The key, in David’s opinion, is to integrate the dark side and the light side. For example, we may have to align our private behavior and public life. Martin Luther King was a great moral leader of the 20th century. In his private life, he was clearly a sinner, a very chaotic life; he never claimed to be a saint, always struggling to make that alignment. Nelson Mandella also had a very messy private life. However, he would get up every day and try to be better. David would tell us that we need to be more tolerant with public figures’ private lives. What if our lives were as public as theirs? We would need the great tolerance of others toward us, too.


Then there are personal habits of leaders that he considered. These matter a lot. A leader needs to be self- disciplined. They need to have regular habits, have control of their life and who they are as a person. We need to be physically fit. Build time into your day to reflect. Build time into your day to be with people who cherish you – the more loving relationships we have, the longer life we will lead. Do not expect to do everything in one day. And – read a lot. Well, how did you evaluate yourself in the light of all of Gergen’s lists?


The last area he touched on dealt with more of the spiritual side of things. For example, he stated that when a person drives into your church, they believe three things will happen in the service. 1. There will be help for finding inner peace. 2. They will learn something. 3. They will progress on their spiritual journey. Their spiritual foundation will help them find their moral compass. Church should be designed to give us a moral compass. A church should nourish this.

Also, from a spiritual perspective, he touched on the ego of a leader, and how that can be held in check. David says, “Your ego gets so big as you become a great leader that nothing applies to you anymore (e.g., “If the president does it, that means it’s not illegal.”) Religion would put this in perspective: There are so many things that are bigger than us. God is God and we are part of the grander scheme; we are not the scheme.

A good way to finish on a November blog is with a big slice of humble (pumpkin) pie, enjoy! (But remember what I said earlier about needing to be physically fit, too. If we could only Overcome Acedia concerning that!)