Sept 10, 2024 — And here we are, kids: Debate Night in America!
On the last few days of this long ride here, my lifelong Republican friend Randy Moore has been on my mind. He’s the now-retired founder of the printing company Cardthartic has been with since card one. And what a wonderful mentor he has been to CEO Ana and me.
Randy and I happened to watch the 2004 Democratic National Convention together the night a young Barack Obama gave the keynote address. Riveted, Randy said, “Now there’s a Democrat I could see myself voting for.” I about fell out of my chair.
All these election years later, I wish he lived close enough to come to our watch party tonight and give his honest assessment of the leadership choices he sees before us now. From Randy, we have learned so much about leadership. In the early years, it seemed we were always running to Randy when there were big decisions to be made. He’d encourage us with, “A good leader uses both her heart and her head,” and he’d say, “I can see you’re passionate about this idea. Now let’s run some numbers.” He taught us the wisdom of his beloved Ronald Reagan’s “Trust, but verify.”
Every time I’d float an idea that Randy could quite rightly have called cockamamie, he didn’t. Instead, he would disarmingly say, “Help me better understand what you have in mind.” By giving us the sense that we no longer had to prove or defend our thinking, just explain and more carefully consider it, he allowed us to see the flaws as well as merits of our approach all on our own. I still use that same technique every day.
Since tonight we will be sans Randy here, I went looking for a list of leadership characteristics to listen for in the debate. I found it at the Center for Creative Leadership. “Based upon our decades of research and experience working with leaders at thousands of organizations around the world,” they found that the best leaders consistently possess 12 essential leadership traits. We’re paraphrasing, but you can read the full text here.
1. Self-Awareness
The better leaders understand themselves and recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, the more effective they can be as a leader.
2. Respect
Respect, shown consistently, is one of the most important things a leader can do. Building a culture of respect helps ease tensions and conflict, fosters trust, and improves effectiveness.
3. Compassion
Compassion is more than simply showing empathy or even listening and seeking to understand. Compassion requires leaders to act on what they learn.
4. Vision
Vision means a leader’s aspiration for the future. Motivating others and garnering commitment toward that vision are essential parts of leadership.
5. Communication
The best leaders can skillfully communicate in a variety of ways, both orally and in writing, and with a wide range of people from different backgrounds, roles, levels, geographies, and more.
6. Learning Agility
Learning agility is the ability to know what to do when you don’t know what to do. All great leaders are really great learners.
7. Collaboration
Great leaders value and embrace collaboration, working effectively with people of different social identities, locations, roles, and experiences. They span boundaries and learn to work across various types of divides.
8. Influence
Requiring high levels of emotional intelligence and trust, leaders must be able to influence others to get the work done — they cannot do it all alone. Influence is quite different from manipulation, and it needs to be done authentically and transparently.
9. Integrity
Integrity — being consistent, honest, moral, and trustworthy — is an essential leadership trait especially important for top-level executives who are charting the course and making countless significant decisions.
10. Courage
Courage enables leaders — and their team members — to take bold actions that move things in the right direction. It’s a key leadership trait because it takes courage — and truth-telling — to do what’s right!
11. Gratitude
Gratitude is the uplifting emotion experienced after receiving something of value. Sincere gratitude makes you a better leader. The best leaders know how to actively show gratitude in the world.
12. Resilience
Resilience is more than the ability to bounce back from obstacles and setbacks — it’s the ability to respond adaptively to challenges. It also means projecting a positive outlook that will help others maintain the emotional strength they need to commit to a shared vision, and the courage to move forward and overcome setbacks.
Reading this list certainly makes me want to be a better leader! And the good news is that all these qualities we strive to have are already within us, just waiting to be nurtured and brought to bear in our homes and businesses, at a PTO meeting, or a community endeavor.
Here’s to a stimulating debate. Do check out the Center for Creative Leadership if you’re interested in ways to develop your own leadership skills. And below you’ll find a selection of Meanings of Life designs that help reinforce these fine qualities in their own little meaningful way.
God Bless America.
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
Sept 10, 2024 — And here we are, kids: Debate Night in America!
On the last few days of this long ride here, my lifelong Republican friend Randy Moore has been on my mind. He’s the now-retired founder of the printing company Cardthartic has been with since card one. And what a wonderful mentor he has been to CEO Ana and me.
Randy and I happened to watch the 2004 Democratic National Convention together the night a young Barack Obama gave the keynote address. Riveted, Randy said, “Now there’s a Democrat I could see myself voting for.” I about fell out of my chair.
All these election years later, I wish he lived close enough to come to our watch party tonight and give his honest assessment of the leadership choices he sees before us now. From Randy, we have learned so much about leadership. In the early years, it seemed we were always running to Randy when there were big decisions to be made. He’d encourage us with, “A good leader uses both her heart and her head,” and he’d say, “I can see you’re passionate about this idea. Now let’s run some numbers.” He taught us the wisdom of his beloved Ronald Reagan’s “Trust, but verify.”
Every time I’d float an idea that Randy could quite rightly have called cockamamie, he didn’t. Instead, he would disarmingly say, “Help me better understand what you have in mind.” By giving us the sense that we no longer had to prove or defend our thinking, just explain and more carefully consider it, he allowed us to see the flaws as well as merits of our approach all on our own. I still use that same technique every day.
Since tonight we will be sans Randy here, I went looking for a list of leadership characteristics to listen for in the debate. I found it at the Center for Creative Leadership. “Based upon our decades of research and experience working with leaders at thousands of organizations around the world,” they found that the best leaders consistently possess 12 essential leadership traits. We’re paraphrasing, but you can read the full text here.
1. Self-Awareness
The better leaders understand themselves and recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, the more effective they can be as a leader.
2. Respect
Respect, shown consistently, is one of the most important things a leader can do. Building a culture of respect helps ease tensions and conflict, fosters trust, and improves effectiveness.
3. Compassion
Compassion is more than simply showing empathy or even listening and seeking to understand. Compassion requires leaders to act on what they learn.
4. Vision
Vision means a leader’s aspiration for the future. Motivating others and garnering commitment toward that vision are essential parts of leadership.
5. Communication
The best leaders can skillfully communicate in a variety of ways, both orally and in writing, and with a wide range of people from different backgrounds, roles, levels, geographies, and more.
6. Learning Agility
Learning agility is the ability to know what to do when you don’t know what to do. All great leaders are really great learners.
7. Collaboration
Great leaders value and embrace collaboration, working effectively with people of different social identities, locations, roles, and experiences. They span boundaries and learn to work across various types of divides.
8. Influence
Requiring high levels of emotional intelligence and trust, leaders must be able to influence others to get the work done — they cannot do it all alone. Influence is quite different from manipulation, and it needs to be done authentically and transparently.
9. Integrity
Integrity — being consistent, honest, moral, and trustworthy — is an essential leadership trait especially important for top-level executives who are charting the course and making countless significant decisions.
10. Courage
Courage enables leaders — and their team members — to take bold actions that move things in the right direction. It’s a key leadership trait because it takes courage — and truth-telling — to do what’s right!
11. Gratitude
Gratitude is the uplifting emotion experienced after receiving something of value. Sincere gratitude makes you a better leader. The best leaders know how to actively show gratitude in the world.
12. Resilience
Resilience is more than the ability to bounce back from obstacles and setbacks — it’s the ability to respond adaptively to challenges. It also means projecting a positive outlook that will help others maintain the emotional strength they need to commit to a shared vision, and the courage to move forward and overcome setbacks.
Reading this list certainly makes me want to be a better leader! And the good news is that all these qualities we strive to have are already within us, just waiting to be nurtured and brought to bear in our homes and businesses, at a PTO meeting, or a community endeavor.
Here’s to a stimulating debate. Do check out the Center for Creative Leadership if you’re interested in ways to develop your own leadership skills. And below you’ll find a selection of Meanings of Life designs that help reinforce these fine qualities in their own little meaningful way.
God Bless America.
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
As this is such a consequential debate, I admit to feeling nervous. When you read all the attributes of a good leader, there’s only one who has those characteristics. I hope for a civil, intelligent debate.
I was looking for something uplifting and there you were! May Goodness prevail…!
The attributes for a good leader do seem to make a clear choice . I’m hoping it’s adult and civil.
I’m also hoping Randy says the same thing about this democratic candidate as he said about Obama.
Looking forward to a new day…new leader of our country…new promise of happiness. Saying loads of prayers for Kamala Harris. She’s prepared and hopefully ready for the big show tonight. We so need goodness, understanding, compassion and stability in our lives again!
To Kamala Harris I say “Break a Leg” tonight & PLEASE “Break a glass ceiling on 11/5”.
Kamala Harris on the Drew Barrymore show “The true measure of strength is based on who you lift up, not who you beat down”.
Thank you for writing this beautiful, thoughtful essay. And clearly there was only one leader on stage last night.
Thank you for providing a beautifully simple document for folks to evaluate their candidate. I think after last night’s debate there is only one clear choice for folks to make. Let’s pray that country wins out over partisan politics!