As dispiriting as the recent debt ceiling dysfunction drama has been, the most disturbing plot point is not that our leaders can’t seem to compromise—but that they are so compromised . While the pundits continue to parse the no-win “deal” and the bloviators bemoan the failures of leadership, the rest of us might take the opportunity to consider the benefits of being uncompromising . The most winning and progressive organizations depend less on the strength of their leaders than on the strength of their convictions (which should never be confused with political positions). Instead of putting people on pedestals (from which they are invariably knocked down), the focus is on putting stakes in the ground (from which they will never deviate).
The authorities at Merriam-Webster have declared “austerity” the defining word of 2010 . That may be an appropriate reaction to all that’s transpired this year (and built up over this decade), but the word—and, more to the point, the feeling —that permeates this shabby, hangdog year is loss. Look...
