[June 26, 2016] I couldn’t resist this topic for a number of reasons and my post today involves the fall of a politician in his leadership as a Democrat from New York City. I know that it’s not fair to use a politician as an example that epitomizes the fall of a leader but, there are so many, but this particular one is like a Greek tragicomedy and hits close to home. For new readers of theLeaderMaker.com I will point out that I live in Brooklyn, New York and in the district of a once up-and-coming U.S. Representative, Anthony Weiner, D-NY.
Few people remember that he was texting sexually suggestive photographs of himself via his public Twitter account in 2011 to women, not his wife. In my post the point was that leaders sometimes have trouble remembering that secret or even confidential information is not truly secret (link here). Weiner was exposed, shamed, eventually apologized, promised never to do it again, and resigned his position as an elected official. After his resignation he ran for the prestigious position of mayor of New York City. As expected, he did not win and his political career took another serious hit.
And now, just out in theaters is a documentary on Anthony Weiner as a politician. Weiner (2006) hit our local movie houses at the end of May and is actually pretty good according several of my friends who saw it. The theme is Weiner’s NYC mayoral campaign within the backdrop of today’s political landscape. It offers a look into the mayoral candidate Weiner in the middle of his leadership implosion. Interestingly, Weiner himself invited the filmmakers to get behind-the-scenes access and it appears they did.
We see, close up, the early lead Weiner took in the mayoral race and the quick collapse of his campaign after it was revealed that he was continuing to text sexually explicit photos of himself to a woman, again not his wife. He poses as Carlos Danger. This is junior high school behavior and you can’t make this stuff up. Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, comes off pretty well in the documentary and she is of interest here because she is an aide to U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. I couldn’t pass up drawing a parallel between these two women and their philandering husbands.
The scandal is largely seen through the eyes of third parties like late-night comedians and local New York City newspapers. The New York Post reported on Weiner’s mayoral race chances after the new scandal broke, with front-page headlines like “Weiner: I’ll stick it out” and “Weiner’s second coming! Anthony: Erect me Mr. Mayor.” Brutal stuff. Weiner’s doomed effort to lead the Big Apple is a tragicomedy the Greeks would have been proud to endorse.
Anthony Weiner however is a gifted and talented leader. He is passionate about many of the problems of the lower classes of society and is combative in their defense. Weiner has the skills and intelligence to make a successful leader. But his obsession with texting his private parts to women is something that remains a mystery. I can say however that I would have voted for him to be mayor; at least we know what we would be getting and he would have certainly drawn attention to the office and made it very interesting for New Yorkers, comedians, the news media, and those of us who study leadership. The big question is whether he will make a comeback. My money is on Weiner.
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