Are There Any REAL Leaders left?

When I was a boy, I wanted to be an American. It wasn’t the cowboys or Hollywood that appealed to me. It was something more, something deeper.

In America I saw a country where it was truly possible to become more than the stature of your birthplace. I saw America as a country that grew great leaders.

Today, as a man in his 50s, having traveled to many places around the world, I have seen many political leaders from many different nations say one thing and do another. My belief in the inherent beauty in people has grown and sadly, at the same time, so has my cynical view about the words of politicians.

‎“Every leader, every genius, every star must face the pull toward mediocrity.

The pull that will keep you from your own brilliance is the need to be accepted.

Remember no greatness was ever achieved without opposition”. ~Dõv Baron…

Back on January 20th 2009, hopeful tears rolled down both my British and my wife’s Fijian cheeks like streams that suddenly appear across a dried up desert after an unexpected rainfall.

I know our tears were merely drops in the ocean of the collective joyous tears being shed not just in the US, but around the world.

On that day, as I watched the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of USA, I saw the shoots of faith burst through in what has been a desert of leadership desperation. Barack Obama had inspired a stream that had awakened a spirit of greatness that had lain dormant for far too long.

Barack Obama did not claim to be a wizard who could wave a magic wand and fix everything. In his Inaugural speech, he made it clear that for dreams to come true work is needed and that part of that work is about being inclusive rather than exclusive.

This man, the new president of the U. S of A was all about Change. Eloquent and articulate, Barack Obama was, for so many, the manifestation of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s civil rights dream.

America may have been, and may still be, if only by a thread, the leader of the free world. However, to be a nation that leads the free world, that nation must have a “True Leader” at the helm. A leader who has integrity, someone who says what they will do, and does what they say. Sadly, it seems to me that there are fewer and fewer True Leaders in the world today.

And so I ask: Where are the contemporary Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Indira Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, JFK?

Where are men and women who are willing to do the work that is necessary to change the world?  Are there no REAL leaders left?

Just to be clear:  I’m not attacking Barak Obama; remember I was delighted at his having been elected as President. I’m simply asking–Are There No REAL Leaders left?

So what are the qualities of a Real Leader providing Authentic Leadership?

For years I traveled and studied with great masters and along the way I became fascinated with leaders. Not just any leader, but great leaders men and women who walked their talk, who stood in the face of rejection and were unwavering in their convictions.  Some of these leaders were people I personal didn’t like or agree with, but they had certain qualities in common and I decided to make a study of those qualities. In fact, it is upon the framework of that research that I developed what I call my Core Affluence System for leadership development.

To start off, the term “affluence” is most often assigned as being directly and even exclusively related to money, and that is not the case. The root meaning of the word affluence is flow. So if a person is affluent, they are in the flow.  The Core of  Core Affluence System is a multi-layered acronym. However, I’d like to share with you the first layer of the Core Affluence System

C: Clarity.

A great leader must have a clarity of purpose. Great leaders know specifically what they want and why they want it!

O: Ownership.

A great leader takes complete ownership of that purpose. They have a burning desire, a sense of mission about their purpose!

R: Resilience.

A great leader stays the course, does not lose focus just because of opposition.

E: Expansiveness.

A great leader has a laser beam level of clarity about the desired outcome, however, they are also expansive in their thinking about how that outcome will come to fruition.

Every great leader I have researched and studied operated from a place of Core Affluence !

In the interest of transparency and at the risk of upsetting some folks, from my position it seems most contemporary leaders, even those in personal development, have become pretty wishy-washy, passive and placating.  What they say and what they do seems designed to validate denial and make people feel good for a short time. (And my comments aren’t meant to be taken personally.  Some great folks are aspiring to be leaders, but that’s not the same as being a REAL LEADER in the world today)

Much has dramatically changed since I began my path several decades ago. However, I’m left wondering if you still yearn for leaders and teachings delivered by higher caliber leaders who stand in integrity and are willing to call you to stand with them in yours?

I look forward to your feedback

With gratitude,

P.S. Have you heard “The Accidental Guru” Radio Show yet? I’m your host every Friday Morning from 11AM-12 noon (PST) Details are at: http://radiodov.com

All contents of this blog and articles herein fall under full copyright law and are the soul intellectual property of Dov Baron and Baron Mastery Institute INC

President Obama, had a “friendly/thoughtful” conversation over beer at the White House with prominent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, who is black, and police Sergeant James Crowley, who is white. Crowley had arrested Gates in his own home for disorderly conduct. President Obama inflamed the situation by saying he thought police “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates.  Obama’s approval rating is said to have fallen from 61 percent in mid-June to 54 percent now, in part due to his handling of the Gates-Crowley situation.

Paula Abdul dropped her online bombshell on Tuesday evening, August 4, 2009, right before season-nine auditions began in Denver. After seven years as a judge, Abdul announced that she’s quitting “American Idol”…And she did it over ‘Twitter.’

Now you may be asking: What do these things have in common and why should you even give a flying pizza slice anyway? While the first two issues involve political world leaders and the third a singing competition judge, you might be surprised to discover not only what they have in common but how these stories relate to you. So, come to the edge of your seat and put on your thinking cap.

Bill Clinton’s involvement in the release of those journalists to some may have seemed like political pandering to an out of control dictator. The Gates-Crowley-Obama situation may have seemed, (if you were just going by the photos) like three mates, who were somewhat over-dressed getting together for a pint of the cold stuff on a hot day.  And Paula Abdul leaving American Idol could easily seem like more of that flaky tinsel town drama.  Even so, let’s take a little deeper look…
Once again, let me be absolutely clear; I do not personally know any of these people and anything I say is completely judgmental, and I am doing nothing more than sharing a psychological/mind mastery perspective.

Let’s start with “Kim”: When you take the time to watch this man, to observe the footage that is available, what I think you will see is simply a child, an emotionally wounded boy screaming for attention.  He has become the bully in order to not get bullied. And to be honest, as off kilter as I think this guy might be, I like that he doesn’t give in to the big boys. He’s not the first to stand up to the big boys and say’ ‘back off, get your own sandwich.’ Sadly, Kim’s methodology is less than Gandhiesk.

So why send in Bill? Anyone who has ever seen the Clintonator in action has seen a man who commands the environment, Bill Clinton has a presence! As a somewhat side-bar: Have you ever seen that show ‘Super Nanny’? It’s one of those reality shows where they bring in an English nanny, Jo Frost, to handle out of control toddlers. Well, my guess is that they sent in Bill to be ‘super nanny.’

Now let’s go back to the ‘beer summit’ for a moment. Why would the Pres be hanging out in the White House garden having beers with a cop, a Prof and his VP, Joe Biden?  I don’t think any of us, even for a moment, believes that this was a beers and Bulls chat.  Obama could have called another press conference or called in a bunch of spin doctors that could pull a David Copperfield and make it all disappear.

Why did Paula announce she was quitting via some 140 character social media outlet? Wasn’t that rather rude? Well, when I tell you what these things have in common it will all make sense.

Each one of these seemingly unrelated announcements/events is connected through specific common bonds. Let me ask you: What do you have in common with everyone on the planet besides the obvious like; ‘we’re all humans?’ The answer is the same as to what bonded the three stories above…

Relationships!  Human beings are relational by nature.

In fact, when someone behaves in a way that seems ‘anti social’ we become concerned about them.

Relationships and how we do them, are in many ways the foundation on which we build every aspect of our lives.

When President Clinton went to speak with Kim Jong-il, it was because of the potential for something to change in the relationship between the US and North Korea. Yes, the journalists were freed, but the bottom line is that happened because of the level of communication skills produced by Clinton. It doesn’t matter whether we are Bill Clinton fans or not; the guy has a set of skills for delivering a message. Think about it, and this is not an anti Bush statement, just a note on communication and relationship building skills, can you imagine sending George into that situation? Well, you can fill in your own gaps on that.

The ‘beer summit’ was not about the relationship between Gates and Crowley or even Obama and Gates. No, this communication was about a relationship that is its romantic phase, the one between Obama and the American people. As with all romantic relationships, even as idealized as they appear, they are still tenuous…at any moment one of the lovers can be dropped like a hot potato. Obama is, I believe, smart enough to know that…

if you push an issue under the rug eventually the rug will fill the entire room with what’s not being dealt with.

His open communication style has to be seen to be consistent whether it’s between himself and the congress, he, Gates, and Crowley, or more importantly, between Obama and the American people.

Meanwhile, Paula Abdul has been the American Idol judge that many people love and probably just as many love to hate. Paula has always seemed to have an equally love-hate relationship with fellow judge Simon Cowell. Cowell’s style of communication is direct, confrontive, and often cutting.   Abdul’s is indirect, somewhat sugar coated, and she appears to dread conflict like the plague. How wonderfully non confrontational it must have been for Paula to be able to bow out of her position in 140 characters.

What all this comes down to is this; whether your name is Obama, Clinton, or Abdul: 

Your life is run by how well you run your relationships and your relationships will only run as well as your skills are at communicating. In order to have great communication skills you have got to know with absolute certainty what you are looking for in any given relationship.

I believe Obama knew exactly what he wanted as a consequence of the beer summit communication.  Clinton, and my guess Jong-il, would have known exactly what they wanted from their communication.   And although what Paula may have wanted was likely different than what the Presidents wanted, at some level she will have gotten what she needed.

What we all need to consider is that our lives are run by our relationships and the communication skills we use inside those relationships. If you don’t consciously choose what you want from any given interaction, it can and often will give you a result you may have preferred not to have gotten.

If you want to understand more of how the ego-mind is filtering and possibly limiting your communication skills, you can get a hold of my new book: “Don’t Read This…Your Ego Won’t Like It” at http://www.dovbaron.com/product.  However, if it’s relationship that you really want to understand take a look at QuantumSoulMates.com

I look forward to your comments and feedback.

Until next time, live with courage, Dov…

President Obama nominated federal Appeals Court Judge, Sonia Sotomayor, to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing her “inspiring life story” and “distinguished career” in his decision.   Judge Sotomayor, 54, is now confirmed as the first Hispanic on the high court.  Congratulations to her. However, her ethnicity or anything else seems to me to be beside the point.

Whether we personally think she is right for the job or not, clearly this woman seems to know her stuff:  In 1997 Bill Clinton nominated Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  George H. W. Bush nominated her as a federal judge in 1991, a position that made Sotomayor the youngest judge in the Southern District of New York.

In the long and drawn out senate hearings, it seems like most of the controversy as to whether Judge Sotomayor was fit for the position was due to the fact that during a speech at the University of California at Berkeley, she said:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Think about it: We tell ourselves not to judge, yet evaluation is a basic survival process.

To think that we can see things without the influence of our experience is nothing more than a ‘new age’ fantasy.

However, we can choose to evaluate each given moment on an individual basis.  Nonetheless, what we choose to see or do will be judged by others, (especially those who claim to be nonjudgmental) as judgmental.

To be clear:  I understand that the law is the law. I get that, or at least I would, if it were true… We are all aware of the high-powered individuals who have walked away from prosecution with little more than a slap on the wrist in comparison to the man or woman on the street who would have, for the same crime, ended up bunking with hardcore criminals.

Again, I understand that the senate wants to make sure a high court judge is without bias.  However, that is not and cannot be possible.

You see, we human beings, no matter how educated and objective we like to think we are, have a mind that records everything we experience. We have whatever experiences we have, and the ‘ego-mind’ then creates a set of filters, (beliefs) based on that experience and all too often the ego-mind will then distort all incoming information so that you see life as a reflection of that belief.

What I’m saying here is that yes, even judges ‘judge’ based on their experience, and although they must be guided and directed by the law, to expect even a high court judge to create a ‘personal experiential amnesia’ is ludicrous.  No mater what her ethnicity or life experience…  I’m not here to judge the judge, although I know I am like all the rest of us…judgmental.

If you want to understand more of how the ego-mind is filtering and possibly limiting your reality, you can get a hold of my new book: “Don’t Read This…Your Ego Won’t Like It” at http://www.dovbaron.com/product

I look forward to your comments and feedback.

Until next time, live with courage, Dov…