Introduction

We are offering all the wrong rewards in our ongoing process of nominating and hiring new leaders of the free world. 

We offer poor pay, constant and stinging criticism, a frequently uncooperative Congress, and a Supreme Court that may undo any accomplishment. And enough lavish perks and ego strokes to make Nero happy.

That’s why we keep getting a grab bag assortment of candidates. 

That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode.

Continuing

Let’s imagine for a moment that we owned a company enjoying revenues in the $10M per year range; The CEO of our company would make about $400K/year, exactly what we pay the President of the United States. And there would most likely be significant incentives for hitting desired targets on top of that. Our hypothetical company is well positioned in a growing market, with a history of innovation. We now need a new CEO; the current one is retiring, partly due to age, and partly for her health. She was a highly successful founding CEO, and now we need a great new CEO to stay profitable and continue to expand rapidly. As we write the job description, we need to remember that the candidate would expect that the job would come with investors who would cooperate and encourage. And jump in to help if needed and wanted. As we write the description of the desired candidate, we know the key is to emphasize the opportunities and the required skills that will attract the type of leader we need. We are going to get candidates who want what we are offering. If we offer strong compensation for robust, positive results, we will attract candidates who want that, and believe they can deliver. If we offer poor compensation, lavish perks, fame, and an uncooperative environment, we will get candidates who are willing to suffer the low compensation and difficult environment in return for the perks and the fame. But why on earth would any sane business owner offer the that? Why?

We, the voters, the owners of our American democracy, do it all the time. And it gets worse with each election. Imagine the kind of candidates we would get if we ran the following Help Wanted ad: 

“CEO to run a company of 330,000,000 people, with a security force of 1,300,000. Your Board of Directors is split between two groups; one with 435 members, the other with 100. Both groups are divided between those who will like the CEO, and those who will detest the CEO. The HR department has 9 members who often overrule everyone else. Every four years the people get to vote on the CEO, and in between they vote on the Board. There is also a bureaucratic department of 2,000,000 employees, none of whom can be fired. Compensation is $400K annually, with good benefits, a pension plan, meal plan, housing and transportation. Must be good with people; half of the 330M people in the company will be out for your hide at any given moment. During the 18 month interview process, you will be subject to intense scrutiny, exhausting travel, and you and your family will be vilified. Apply to USA, an equal opportunity employer.

The US Presidency is arguably the toughest, and certainly the  most consequential, job in the world. We need, “Men To Match My Mountains” a book by Irving Stone about the men who matched the challenge of opening the American West. On occasion, we have seen men who matched the then current challenges and were able to step up to the dreadful tasks demanded of the times. George Washington risked everything he owned, including his life, as a traitor to the British Crown, to be part of creating the breakthrough founding documents. He then led the ragtag army that defeated the most powerful military the world had ever seen. Similarly, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, to list a few, rose to the occasion when crises loomed and they steered us through to the...