Alternate Leadership

Friends,

Those of us who attended or supported the No King’s Day demonstrations today had one primary purpose: to challenge and resist the threat of the loss of our Constitutional democracy. The dangerous immorality  and unaccountability of the Trump administration has deeply touched our hearts and fears, and our national demonstrations were at least one way to tangibly express our demand for change.. The large and festive gatherings provided us with communal solidarity for the hope that somehow the madness and destructiveness will soon run its course. Like most of us I will continue to await what impact the demonstrations may have toward next steps. This evening I am pleased we have at least made important progress is establishing a profound statement of active and determined opposition to the Trump regime from millions of Americans. 

But as I read the signs with their emphasis of resistance to Trump’s dictatorial aspirations, I began to think about the model of leadership we need to create and fill as an alternative. The contemporary reality is that our culture has lost trust in most established institutions and thus their leadership, whether it's government, education, the religious communities, even science. Research and theories about a lack of trust for the established elites' neglect of the working class has now been widely discussed, and the anger created was grossly fanned by Trump, Musk, and the MAGA agenda. Everything was somehow just a fake illusion of inconvenient incompetence that was to be obliterated and replaced with an authoritarian regime. So now we need to begin to fill that vacuum. We are challenged to somehow eventually regain the trust in national institutions and leadership and demand values that support the common good.

 Perhaps a key to reestablishing trust and confidence in our nation’s institutions is to clarify what constitutes honorable and worthy institutional and personal leadership.  Traditionally and stereotypically leadership has been often defined by context. I will offer two major examples and two more creative ones to consider. And ideally, of course, we would prefer leadership would fulfill the best of all these roles.

In times of disaster or threats we look to strong leadership represented by the military general commanding the troops or a male figure as head of the clan who is expected and allowed to take charge. We can now increasingly see women in theses rational roles. But when strong leadership lacks accountability, and the leader is not grounded in humility and empathetic commitment, we have the making of our current plight. A level of privilege and control of the powerful, strong leader easily becomes exploitive and self-serving.

A second traditional model of leadership is the shepherd whose primary concern is the welfare of the flock in relatively stable conditions. I think of not only clergy but physicians, family matriarchs and patriarchs, and in general most caregivers. They rely more on example and persuasion than outright control. Experienced shepherds, of course, also know how to handle crisis when necessary

But when neither the general nor the shepherd can effectively lead -  when the shifts in culture are particularly chaotic as they are now - and the culture becomes a “swamp,” an important leadership role will be served by the artist. The artist can foster the imagination and creativity in comedy, pathos, tragedy, and thousands of other forms of creative imagination, in poetry, art, music or drama,  to provide a new direction, reconciliation, and  hope. Think of John Lennon’s song “imagine.”  The artist as leader may seem like a stretch until you really think about it.

A final model of leadership, related to the artist, is the prophet who can critique culture with transcendent vision to recall an ancient value system and demand the reforms necessary to realign the people with the compassion for the marginalized and warnings to the privileged in the name of justice and peace. The Hebrew prophets, Jesus, Gandhi, and more contemporary figures like Bishop Romero, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bishop William Barber are examples of this critical form of leadership. In a humble way, that is a role I try to fill in my Saturday Evening Posts.

So how does the models of leadership square up with contemporary struggle for trusted and honorable leadership? In part to answer this question this week I watched the video of the installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, the first woman to hold the highest leadership role in the Anglican Church. I am not usually taken by  the great pomp and circumstance that the drama of her installation represented, but I became quite taken with the commitment to faithful service she was asked to accept as the core of her leadership position. In spite of all the pageantry I saw a person in leadership who epitomized and is committed to strength and humility, resiliency and commitment to stability, integrity and vision, and from my first impression of her she will inspire courage and integrity in her tenure. (You can see the installation service below. I fast forwarded part to shorten the full two hour program.) 

I believe we must all seek to model a leadership role compatible with our values of compassion, humility, accountable strength, integrity and compassion to name some of the most important. We owe this to the next generation, and I sincerely believe they are earnestly seeking those values in leadership to guide them through what are most likely to continue to be incredible cultural change and challenge.

Blessings and peace,
Tom

Click here to view the Sarah Mullally  installation service...