Someday, perhaps, human evolution will enable us to distinguish between tough talk and real toughness. In politics, business, and elsewhere, we continue to be fooled by ineffective and divisive leaders who talk tough but, in reality, are insecure, manipulative, and destructive.
I wrote this about the current U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton in The Boston Business Journal 14 years ago. I had just heard he once hurled an ashtray at somebody in a fit of pique:
"The controversy over John Bolton's confirmation as United Nations Ambassador reveals a tragic blind spot in our understanding of leadership. (Those) who appoint senior executives to public and private leadership positions too often equate bluster and bombast with true effectiveness."
Watch real leaders at work. They're thoughtful, stable, consistent, and choose to control their emotions. They focus on others and not themselves. They're firm, fair, and often quiet. They speak well, but their behaviors, actions, and decisions are their most most potent form of communication.
The media dare call the Boltons of the world "tough," when the opposite is so abundantly true. He seems consumed by ideological rage, and it weakens him ... and us.
When will we learn this lesson? How much will we continue to sacrifice by falling for the make-believe heroes and armchair warriors all around us? Instead, let's choose to celebrate the real leaders out there, which I plan to do with the resumption of my "Now That's a Leader" series on this blog.
Image courtesy of The Wheeler Center.