Hope Never Dies

I recently published a series of articles explaining how a municipal budget works. Do not worry, this blog is not about budget or technical information. Rather, I have been thinking of the different reactions to the information I provided and how surprising some of those reactions have been.

The information was read four thousand times and the feedback has been mostly positive and even encouraging to the point that I will write more themed articles on municipal government operations and issues to make the information as simple as possible. However, there are groups of people that hang on to even the slightest way to find a negative even in the positive and this is what my reflection has been in the last little while.

I have written on the deterioration of public discourse before, but I think things are getting worse and not better and something needs to be done and things need to change.

Just recently I facilitated a workshop between the Council I work for and senior staff to help Council review its vision for the community. I was surprised and pleased by the level of collaboration and energy in the room and much was accomplished in the five hours we were together.  All council members recognized the need for balance and empathy. They all acknowledge that an extreme new reality of black and white with no room for middle ground is creating challenges and virulent conflict between people and even among friends.

Why is this happening? Why are people becoming so selfish? Or even better, is there a way to change this and return to a balance of decency and mutual acceptance and respect? I don’t think I have enough room to explore all those questions at once but maybe I can try to offer some insight hoping to find some possible solutions for a better future.

In a recent article, Dr. Geoffrey Garrett, Dean at the Wharton School, stated: “It is increasingly clear that we are living in an era characterized by unprecedented uncertainty.” And then he goes on to define the three main characteristics of this status of things: 1) Everything is unpredictable. There is no longer an ability to pin point what the future holds because the variables have increased exponentially; 2) Everything is faster. Technology has created this way of life and expectation that all needs to happen now; and 3) Everything is questionable. On this Dr. Garrett states: “There are no facts, only parallel universes of alternate realities. Fake news, deep fakes and the undermining of truth and facts are disturbing and profound realities. MSNBC and Fox News report on the same events but share essentially no common information. What Bill Clinton and Tony Blair considered the “vital center” of politics and society is a vacuum today.”

If I relate all this to my local experience, I easily recognize all of it in my community as well. Does this mean that we stop leading and telling our story just because others will try to tell theirs, even if fake, and manipulate public opinion to make their point? I say a resounding NO. This is the time to build truer and more ethical leadership based on our human experience. These times call for real people to be leaders. As Dr. Garrett puts it, the time of granitic heroic leaders who take on the battle from a position of earned moral superiority, with little room for introspection and emotions is long gone. We need leaders that are close to the people because they are like them and they are not afraid to show it. In other words, we need leaders to “be real” but how?

All of this uncertainty makes leadership more important than ever. But how can anyone lead when no one knows what will happen next, nor does anyone agree on how to unite us to move forward?

A couple of months ago, I wrote about three actions that we can all take now to make a difference in our life and that of those around us: 1) Be an example. True leadership always comes from walking the talk. As people around us look for humanity and relatedness, we have an opportunity to exercise integrity in the moment of choice that will be noticed as we live it; 2) Be honest. As people observe our uncompromising behaviour, they will begin to model theirs after it; and 3) Be vulnerable, which means be human. We make mistakes. Acknowledge this and move on. People will appreciate when we are sincere in our admissions. When we put these three actions and live them together, we are sending a positive signal that hope is not all lost.

Dr. Garrett outlines three other actions that I find complementary as well: 1) Be humble; 2) Be Open; and 3) Be committed. They work too. But the message here is “do something and do it now”. The world will be a much better place because of us if we work together not against each other.

In the words of a wise leader: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope” (Martin Luther King Jr.)

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