Sustaining Leadership

I was in Paris last week; it was great to see the enthusiasm shown for their new President.

I would like to have seen the same for ours – good old Gordon or Alex take your pick – but they really don’t seem to resonate the same way with the Country. I guess none of us voted for Gordon (although it’s a delight to see how his listening skills have developed in such a short period of time but for how long I wonder) and now his mission of ousting Tony has been achieved what next. And Alex, well try as I might apart from not liking the English I am not sure what he stands for and I am not sure that ‘not liking the English’ will really provide a sustaining vision for a Nation.

I am certain that apart from times of crises, leadership needs to stand for rather than against something. Perhaps that’s what Sarkozy has. Otherwise where can be the longevity?

Some weeks we do many things but are overshadowed by the desperate plight of others. We all pray the ‘wee girl’ gets back safely to mum and dad.

Anger - The Politically Incorrect Emotion

From the dictionay: a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong; wrath; ire.

I was taken aback recently when told to ‘calm down as I appeared angry’ as though this was in some way an unforgivable offence after just experience a recognised injustice.

Likewise the great debate on Wednesday evening between the two French heavy weight Presidential contenders was punctuated by Nicolas Sarkozy chastising Ségolène Royal for appearing angry when she rebuffed him for double standards over assistance for special needs children. She retorted ‘I am angry and will continue to be so in defence of the needy’. This seemed perfectly reasonable to me.

Remembering that anger is a perfectly normal response – and be clear we are not talking about aggression or threatening behaviour but the display of anger - I am at a loss as to why some people are seeking to ban this most basic on emotion. When will the other primary emotions of happiness, disgust, sadness and fear also be banned? Lieutenant Data you time may be neigh!