Our Country is Lacking the Right Leadership

Two things are noticeably missing when we look at the crowd running things in Washington. We don't have enough talented, top level, capable women and we certainly don't have enough men with experience at successfully managing large national and international organizations.

Our states' and national government are being managed by people with obvious skill raising money and getting elected and then re-elected (unless they really mess up like Anthony Weiner!). With few exceptions, none have ever had serious bottom line responsibility for anything! What have any of them accomplished or grown?

What we are going through with the horrible lack of jobs, the diving stock market, escalating health care costs, terrible education system and the lowering of America's credit rating, which will hurt us all, is a disgrace and a direct reflection on the incompetent, self-serving leaders we have elected to run this country. I do not have a political party ax to grind. Republicans, Tea Party members, Independents and Democrats, they are all essentially the same. All poor leaders, with very limited skills, taking us down a very slippery slope from which it will be hard to recover without a great deal of pain for us and our succeeding generations.

In my opinion, America is nothing more and nothing less than a "big international business." It should be led and managed as such. Like any large organization America has:

· expenses to be managed and costs to be controlled

· revenues to be generated

· a budget to be balanced

· R&D to be performed

· investments to be made in education, infrastructure, healthcare, industries and military

· customers to be served and motivated (the rest of us)

· suppliers (all the countries providing us with our consumer goods, natural resources and other goods and services)

· strategic partners to work with (our allies around the world)

· competitors (emerging countries to whom we have outsourced much of our production capacity. We are also competing with terrorist groups for global support)

Like any successful business, America needs a clear Mission and Vision Statement. It needs a multi-pronged long-term strategy for achieving successful equitable growth. It needs an action plan with accountability for accomplishing the goals. It needs innovative, non-partisan, bottom line entrepreneurial thinking. It needs a sense of urgency and an outsized work ethic. I don't think we have any of these things.

Above all else, America needs a diverse group of exceptional women and men with top management skills leading our country. Instead, what we have is a collection of over-rated professional politicians (mostly men) with considerable money raising talents and no experience, skills or successful track records leading major organizations. Why are we settling for less than the best talent America has to offer?

Why did we elect President Obama? What organization has he ever successfully headed and grown? If any Fortune 500 company hired a search firm to find its next CEO do you think President Obama would even be invited in for an interview, either now or before he was elected President? John McCain would have been no better. He too lacks serious management tools. He's a war hero certainly, but not a top level proven executive capable of making great things happen and getting exceptional things done.

And are you paying attention to the candidates emerging for this next go-round of elections? All just more of the same, political hacks, both the men and the women.

Our country is going to have a very hard time digging out of the mess it is in and reclaiming its role as The World Leader with the types of leaders who are running the government today. What we need are more smart, capable women helping to lead the country and having real hands-on management skills like, for example, Meg Whitman (former head of eBay), Ellen Kullman (CEO, Dupont), Andrea Jung (Chairman & CEO Avon Products), Indra Nooyi (Chairman/CEO PepsiCo.) and Oprah. We also need the next generation of talented men like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Lou Gerstner. All people with ethics, a long range vision, energy, talent and smarts able to make the tough decisions and accomplish important change, all while avoiding the petty bickering between the parties.

Even though many of our corporate and other organizations have terrific people heading them we don't have the best and brightest leading and governing America. We have empty suits, under achievers and under performers with mid level talent who have never run anything of any real substance. Why is that? Why are we allowing it to continue? They won't solve the massive problems we are facing.

Our system for encouraging our best to spend time in serious government roles is broken. The best of us don't have the financial resources required and won't spend time wallowing around in Washington's mud. Life is too short. Yet, somehow, we will have to attract our best to government service if we are to solve the problems we have and if America is to survive for our kids and our grandkids.

What are your thoughts? How do we address and solve the lack of quality leadership and management for America? What can Garden State women do about it other than sit on the sidelines? I have some thoughts. Do you? Let me know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..