Larry D. Lauer

It should not be surprising that events in Washington have me thinking about leadership! As a result I am developing an outline for a new course in the TCU honor’s college. My working title is: “The Essential Communication Dimensions of Leadership.” And somehow this Thanksgiving week has me also thinking about how the concept of  “thankfulness” might actually factor into my communication-centered approach to this subject.

To be sure, leadership has many communication dimensions: Planning messages and tactics; assessing audience needs; chairing meetings; managing group process, using multimedia; dealing with journalists; handling sensitive issues; managing crises and conflict; inspiring essential support; dealing with internal politics; developing a personal leadership identity; and on and on. Indeed, communication savvy and skills are key components of a leader’s success. But it was this last topic, “a personal leadership identity,” that leaped out to me as I pondered the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you listen carefully to a would-be leader’s rhetoric you can tell who is and who is not a phony. Some are too focused on themselves to express thanks for the system that enables their success. They never think to describe the beauty of a democracy where all ideas must be freely expressed and examined. Rather their talk is about themselves.

Self-centered rhetoric quickly becomes negative. It eventually attacks others and focuses on destroying rather than building. In the end, it’s all about personal attention and cleverness… and never pauses long enough to say thanks for a diverse world of great ideas.

Worthy leaders will always express thanks for our unique democratic process. These leaders are the ones who add value because they have a clear positive mission and goals beyond themselves. They do not attack, but rather choose to put forth well thought-out ideas and programs. They find genuine solutions rather than focus on the destruction of what exists.

And what’s more, the most worthy leaders will actually be thankful for their “loyal opposition.”  This is because they understand that it’s this incredibly diverse democratic system of ours that makes our one-of-a-kind life and culture possible. It’s precisely because we can embrace so many different ideas simultaneously that we have the abundant freedom and opportunities that we do. Self-serving phonies forget this, but the rest of us must not.