If We Want Quality Leaders, We Need to Focus on Quality Candidates

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By: Kathleen Schafer, Founding Principal-Leadership Connection

Today is the last day of primaries before November’s general election. In every story I have watched, heard or read about these races and for all the other primary days, the focus is on the supposed “quantifiable”…

• Who is ahead in the polls?
• What will a victory for a republican or democrat mean for majorities in the House or Senate?
• What does the outcome say about Obama and his chances for re-election in 2012?
• What does this race say about the Tea Party and its chances for future success?

Is it any wonder we have elected officials whose primary focus is re-election when the only context to their political existence is in relation to how they support the majority or threaten it?

Yes, these candidates have positions on issues; yes, they give reasons for their decision to run; and yes, they claim to want to bring new ideas to a beleaguered system. Yet, how can they ever break free of a system they bought into the moment they declared their candidacy?

Perhaps one approach to empowering the electorate and perhaps spurring the media into different angles on the same old story is to begin asking those running for office: What progress have you made on addressing the real issues facing our community?  I don’t mean, how many earmarks the politician has secured or the number of people someone employed in their business prior to elective office. I’m talking about what a person has done to work with a group of people of varying views to develop consensus and actually move forward and create change or achieve a goal on a particular issue of concern to a community.  Saying you want things to change and articulating a particular vision or ideology is the easy part–actually doing it is leadership.

If the focus of elections becomes the quality of leadership the candidate demonstrates and not simply the “quantity” the candidate brings to the partisan scales, we will begin to see a shift in what happens in Washington.  No more talk of, “I need another term to finish the job, keep fighting, etc.”  Let’s begin shifting our perspective of what true success looks like and look for candidates that clearly articulate a vision for change and who demonstrate the corresponding qualities and tenacity to actually achieve it–regardless of what it means for their “political” future.  By asking a candidate to focus on concrete change he or she will work to achieve, perhaps we can finally get to some “quantifiable” measure that actually counts.