Category: Digital Article

As I write in one of my books – Followership – Diehards are as their name implies. They are followers, ordinary people, prepared to die if necessary for their cause, whether an individual, an idea, or both. Diehards are deeply devoted to their leaders; or, in contrast, they are ready to remove them from positions of power, authority, and influence by any means necessary. Diehards are defined by their dedication, including their willingness to risk life and limb. Being a Diehard is all-consuming. It is who you are. It is what you do.
It’s rather an old story by now – which explains why we’re inured to its implications. But of the approximately 12,000 people who died in Syria in the last 15 months, a good number were Diehards, willing to risk it all to try to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. Assad is a brutal dictator, the son of another brutal dictator, Hafez al-Assad. The Assads, father and son in succession, have ruled Syria for over forty years. So far as Diehards are concerned, that’s long enough. They are so fed up they figure they have nothing to lose.
As the violence in Syria continues, the world dithers. Neither NATO, nor the loose coalition known as the Friends of Syria, nor the United Nations with its misplaced assist from former Secretary General Kofi Annan, has stopped the strife. Why? Because every one of the various leaders is risk averse.
Nothing has made this as blindingly clear as the most recent meeting of NATO in Chicago this week. Nearly every NATO leader has publicly condemned Assad, and called for him to step down. But when they met in Chicago the subject of Syria never even came up. Instead the alliance simply stuck to its previous position, that it has “no intention whatsoever to intervene.” How heartening to hear – how heartening to Assad! And what a contrast between NATO’s leaders and Syria’s Diehard followers! The latter are willing to die for what they believe, while the former are satisfied to let the killing continue while they stand by and do nearly nothing.

Love might mean never having to say you’re sorry. But leadership does not. In fact, leaders feel so vulnerable right now they can’t say sorry quickly enough. Most don’t even bother trying to explain themselves or to justify what happened.
This week alone there have been three high profile apologies. Mitt Romney insisted he didn’t remember bullying anyone in high school (though there was good evidence he did), but that did not preclude him from apologizing anyway. I don’t remember all the pranks, he said, but “if I did stupid things, why, I’m afraid I’ve got to say sorry for it.” Joe Biden apologized to Barack Obama for putting him in a position in which he just about had to promptly and publicly declare his support for same-sex marriage. And Jamie Dimon apologized for JPMorgan’s $2 billion blunder.
In fact, Jamie Dimon apologized once, and then twice, and then thrice, and then again, having apparently concluded that frequent displays of contrition were in his best interest. Once Dimon admitted that he himself had been “dead wrong.” More often he couched his apology in the collective, deflecting personal responsibility by resorting to the proverbial “we” or to an abstraction such as “the bank” – as in “we made a terrible, egregious mistake” or the bank’s strategy was “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored.”
Apologies quickly and apparently authentically tendered tend to defuse the situation. But make no mistake. People might, if they are so inclined, forgive a leader. But they will not forget – which is why apologies must be strictly rationed. Leaders who choose to accept blame and express regret should consider their apology a chip that can be used only once. For publicly to confess to a serious mistake or to wrongdoing is to expose yourself the world over as ineffectual or unethical (or both) – which is why no 21st century leader is likely to survive an apology a second time.

Boring, boring, boring. I know, I know. But what could I do? I had no choice. I had no choice but to give another Lame Leader of the Week Award to another CEO of another Too Big to Fail American bank, this time to Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase. As recently as April, Dimon was dismissing reports his bank was making bets so big they were distorting a market in credit derivatives. Such reports were, he insisted, “a complete tempest in a teapot.” But just a few weeks later Dimon was forced by facts to eat crow, to publicly admit JPMorgan’s losses of more than $2 billion were a wound that was “self inflicted.”
Whatever Dimon’s previous reputation as one of the few leaders on Wall Street to have escaped the financial crisis nearly unscathed, there’s no escaping blame for losses this size. There are only two possibilities. Either Dimon was ignorant of what his subordinates were up to. Or he knew what they were doing and approved of bets that turned out a colossal mistake. Either way his heyday – if not his pay day – is over. Either way there’s blood in the water and sharks nearby.

The defeat of French President Nicolas Sarkozy by Socialist candidate Francois Hollande was long predicted. What was not foretold even as recently as a year ago was the astonishing fragility of European governments more generally. Since the start of the debt crisis, no fewer than 16 nations in the EU – well over half the total – have seen a change of government. Defeats, resignations, and votes of no confidence pockmark the continent, with no apparent end in sight. Even Europe’s stronger leaders, such as England’s David Cameron and Germany’s Angela Merkel, are in precarious positions as voters in both countries threaten their ability to cut a deal. This is not, moreover, a manifestation of a particular political sentiment. Governments from both the left and the right have been forced to relinquish power.

So what’s the problem? Is it, as many argue, a lack of leadership? Is it, as European Parliament member Udo Bullmann claims, “too few people leading European governenments who have the courage to appear in front of people at home” and tell them the hard truth? Not at all. In fact, most of those who have fallen furthest fastest have done just that, telling their people there is work to be done, work that necessarily includes their own willingness to sacrifice.

Rather the problem lies with fed up followers, with ordinary people too many of whom want something for nothing, with ordinary people who have the patience of a gnat, with ordinary people whose level of tolerance for anything other than instant gratification is low. I do not for one moment dismiss the fact that since the financial crisis times have been tough, particularly for those who are out of work and for those having a hard time making ends meet. But this is not their problem – our leaders’ problem. It’s our problem – it’s a problem that requires collective, collaborative solutions in which large numbers of people will have to play their part. 

Meantime, on this side of the Atlantic, I venture to guess that Barack Obama is watching with trepidation his European counterparts toppling.  Voters refusal to cut their leaders some slack cannot be said to bode well for his own political future.      

What was he thinking? What made him do something so wildly at odds with everything he was supposed to stand for?

It was only because King Juan Carlos ofSpainfell and broke his hip on the way to the bathroom in an exclusive safari camp inAfricathat we found out where he was and what he was doing. As a result, the reputation of this once widely admired man has taken a permanent hit.  

Juan Carlos has been credited with presiding overSpain’s transition from authoritarianism (under Francisco Franco) to democracy some thirty years ago. In exchange for his contribution,Spain’s royal family has remained relatively immune to prying by the press and criticism from the public. Those halcyon days are now over. With a single misstep, Juan Carlos made him and his kin vulnerable to the slings and arrows of Spaniards high and low. 

Times are tough inSpain.  The economy is near double-dip recession and the level of unemployment is frighteningly high: almost half of those between 16 and 24 are jobless.  So for the King to choose this moment to vacation inAfrica, rifle in hand to kill elephants, water buffaloes, and other large animals, suggests a cluelessness that is appalling. (To gild the lily, he is honorary head ofSpain’s World Wildlife Fund!)

The King did finally apologize. “I am very sorry,” said Juan Carlos. “I made a mistake and it won’t happen again.” But whatever his remorse, it cannot compensate for a choice that can most charitably be described as boneheaded. Or for a lifestyle which, it is becoming glaringly clear, has not been exactly replete with reason and rectitude.

As it turned out, he was cleared of the three most serious charges and spared significant punishment. But he was found guilty on one count – failing to keep his cabinet fully informed during the 2008 financial crisis – and he was obliged to endure criminal proceedings against him. This makes Iceland’s former Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, the only head of state whose head rolled because of misdoing during the recent economic meltdown.

            Because Iceland’s fiscal balloon had grown all out of proportion to its small size, when it burst it was traumatic. The country’s three major banks collapsed in a period of a week. Nevertheless it’s worth pointing out that only this one small state followed its outrage against the authorities by actually doing something about it. 

            The U.S. has been, to put it politely, slow to prosecute or even pursue those who might be held accountable for what everyone agrees was, is, the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression. Icelanders, in contrast, channeled their anger, chasing down not only public officials, but corporate ones as well. The country’s collective outrage was ultimately directed into the legal system, which has now been marshaled against an array of protagonists, including among others the top executives of all of Iceland’s leading banks. Before this drama comes to an end, it’s possible that fully 90 people might be implicated to the point of being indicted.    

            I cannot say whether the charges being leveled in Iceland are justified, or whether those being indicted will ultimately be found guilty. What I can say is that at least one western country is trying its level and legal best to hold those who were in charge during the financial fiasco responsible.