Learning About Leadership

I just finished what I think is the thickest book I ever read -- George W. Bush's presidential memoir, Decision Points. 481 pages. It was fascinating. One of those books that would be a good read for every American. So much history happened during his presidency. But the one thing that stuck out to me was how much I don't understand. The guy is really smart. In fact, pretty much all presidents are smart.

I'm not a political guy at all, but I wanted to share an insight from the book that just spoke to me. You don't get elected President if you're stupid. Partisan politics make liberals lambast Bush as dumb and conservatives label Obama as stupid. It's simply not true. Presidents have to know more about more stuff than we can possibly imagine. That doesn't mean they always do the right thing, of course. However, I believe most presidents want to make the right decisions for the country.

That's the other insight. You see how much went into decisions when you read a book like that. When you have a leadership position like that, the stress is enormous. And you don't take a position like that unless you want to make decisions for the greater good. I think that is the great thing about our country. I've always been the kind of guy to cast my vote, and whoever wins is my president. President Obama has some big decisions to make in the next few days, but I trust him because I believe our public servants want to make the right decisions for the country, not just their party. I believe Bush wanted to do the same things.

The problem is that the nature of leadership is dis-trust from those that aren't in leadership. Simply put, those not in leadership don't always know all the facts. If you knew all the Bush knew, would you have gone into Iraq, too? If you knew all the President Obama knows, would you raise the debt ceiling? Often, leaders have to make decisions that don't really have good answers, just the better of two 'okay' answers. People don't always understand that.

It's so important to pray for our leaders, whether in the government, the business world or the Church. Pray for leaders to make wise decisions. That's what I pray for myself every day.