[October 05, 2014] More senior leadership failures and successes who speak their mind Note. This week we have seen a number of senior leaders in the news. Most of them are addressing failures in their organization or are justifying actions taken by those they oversee. In the case of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the damage caused by his words will be long lasting and they were particularly ill-timed when he insulted both the president of Turkey and U.S. allies in the region in the same speech.
The following are the failures.
- Joe Biden, U.S. Vice President, said that Turkey’s President Erdogan told him that Turkey had made a mistake by allowed foreign fighters to cross into Syria. Biden later apologized for any implication that Turkey, a NATO ally, had intentionally supplied or helped the growth of the Islamic State or other extremist groups in Syria. In the same speech at Harvard University he stated that “our biggest problem is our allies” while referencing the civil war in Syria1. Insulting allies, and in this case also getting the facts wrong while insulting them, shows particularly poor judgment.
- Bob Kenny, Goddard College Interim President, responded to heavy criticism of his college inviting a condemned cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, saying that “… each class chooses its own speaker … and in choosing Mumia as their commencement speaker, to me, shows how this newest group of Goddard graduates expresses their freedom to engage …”2. Interim President Kenny is justifying an unethical and immoral decision by students.
And now for the list of successes.
- Raymond Odierno, U.S. Army General and Army Chief of Staff, responding to the Army Times, “What I worry about is the readiness of these forces and our ability to meet these demands if the readiness starts to decrease in ‘16, ‘17, and ’18 … for me, that’s a grave concern.” 3. General Odierno is being clear to everyone what will happen when the budget sequestration will do to the military force in just a few years.
- Jeh Johnson, Chief of Homeland Security, announced this week that he planned to “transform and reform” the U.S. Secret Service. He was commenting on the Secret Service agency recent revelations that a number of security breaches at the White House had occurred. Also, he said that he will appoint a special board to review the agency’s senior personnel and internal procedures 4. Chief Johnson is publicly laying out his future actions that he believes will overcome the agency’s problems.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]
—————————-
[Note] Recall that my intent is to write enough about the issue at hand to have the reader see that this person failed or succeeded in meeting basic leader traits. All information occurred within the last week. Below are references to the above senior leader quotes.
[3] http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/10/04/odierno-days-of-one-big-fight-are-over.html