The true test of leadership is not found in many of the statements made in press interviews before banks of television cameras or in the myriad declarations during passionate speeches in front of adoring audiences. The real test for any leader is discoverable in the questions the leader asks in quiet moments of personal reflection. Faced with momentous decisions with sweeping consequences, the true leader asks, “What is best for the people I lead?”
Setting personal interest aside to contemplate the greater good is the essence of leadership. Far too many leaders today are obsessed with a different question: “What is best for me?” Transcending self-interest is simply what we should expect from leaders in business, government and local communities.
Legendary Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame, spent years frustrated with the answers he received from President Gerald Ford about the closing chapters of the Watergate scandal. Woodward was convinced for over 25 years that the pardon Ford granted Richard Nixon was the final act of corruption and collusion. Yet his reporter instincts caused him to feel Ford wasn’t telling the whole story. He was right.
After meeting with Ford regularly over a period of months, Woodward asked the former president one more time why he had pardoned Nixon. Ford responded, “Why do you keep asking me that?” Woodward replied, “Because I don’t think you have really answered the question.”
The aging Ford then laid out how he had rejected any thought of gaining the presidency in exchange for a pardon. Ford then described his internal thought process of assessing the state of the nation. The country was exhausted and distrustful of the government. Ford recognized that if Nixon were jailed and tried, it would lead to several more years of conspiracy theories, angst, anger and frustration. He feared that the important work of the country would remain undone and the distraction of such a trial would further fracture the nation.
Woodward noted that his view of Ford flipped 180 degrees that day, and he saw Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon not as corruption, but as an act of courage and selflessness.
Ford asked himself the right question. He didn’t ask, “What is best for me?” Instead he asked, “What is best for the country?” He seemed to recognize in a very real way the need for the nation to move forward. Ford also knew such a decision would be the worst thing for his own political power. He was absolutely correct: It was good for the country and bad for him. Ford’s popularity plummeted from 71 percent to 49 percent almost overnight, and he lost the presidency to Jimmy Carter in the next election.
Most historians, regardless of political persuasion, agree that Ford’s ending the long night of darkness for the country was the best thing for the country.
The country continues to be plagued by stories of palace intrigue, scandals, political back-stabbing and power struggles. If only elected officials would ask, “What is best for the country?” or “What is best for my constituents?” Leaders asking such questions would make better decisions and discover that the answer to these questions leads to better leadership.
The question of “What is best for … ” isn’t reserved solely for powerful leaders and prominent public figures. Citizens should consider the question a little closer to home, even in their homes. “What is best for my clients or customers?” “What is best for my employees?” “What is best for my community?” “What is best for my family?” “What is best for my spouse?”
The nation is in need of greater leadership at every level. Congressional meeting rooms, corporate boardrooms, schoolrooms and living rooms should all be places for selfless leadership to be shown.
Rather than buying in to the popular mantra of “only the selfish survive,” leaders in the home, workplace and government must have the courage to ask, “What is best for the people I lead?” and then demonstrate true leadership by acting on the response.