Michael Loftin pictured in his days as the editorial page editor of the Chattanooga Times.When Dr. Charles Smith, Gov. Ned Ray McWherter's education commissioner, spoke to outstanding seniors in Hamilton County schools at an honors banquet in 1987, he linked his remarks on education to a secondary topic important not only for education but other issues: leadership.
There is no denying the value of good leadership for business and labor, but also for organizations that serve the needs of a community's families and children. Without it, a society's effectiveness and stability can be compromised.
Ideally, leadership continuity is engendered by the recruitment of promising young men and women who can be mentored on how best to fashion responses to their community's needs. Our community has been well-served by Leadership Chattanooga's decades-long record of leadership training. That will continue when the next class of 44 "students" begins a 10-month run in August.
Some who learn the value of sound leadership might some day provide it more broadly through election to state or national political offices. The corrosive non-leadership in Washington reminds us that victims of partisan discord are often those whose grim circumstances are referenced mostly by partisan "talking points."
The apparent collapse of the Senate's effort this week to replace Obamacare is merely the latest example of partisan leadership sabotaged by ideology.
So, what to do?
Dr. Smith's suggestions are potentially valuable at a time when "leadership" is often a race to the bottom. It's driven in part by the usual suspects, mutual demonizers often funded by special interest organizations' take-no-prisoners campaigns.
His leadership criteria can make a difference, as a column I wrote in 1987 pointed out.
He put integrity first "simply because it's the most important trait a leader must possess." Without integrity, a leader is "destined to fail, destined to lose the faith and confidence of his constituency, and destined to betray the principles of democracy."
If that defines your political legacy, you have no business in public office. More on this later.
To fulfill a sense of purpose, leaders need vision and "an understanding of the absolute necessity of sound planning," Dr. Smith said. And to avoid mediocrity, "leaders must set high standards, reward excellence, push for quality" - and remember that "discipline is the glue that links ideals with meaningful accomplishments."
Further, cultivate optimism and confidence. Why? Because pessimism undermines "the collective [human] potential," and the lack of confidence transforms optimism into "foolishness." Thus the importance of a leader's ability to instill confidence in others.
Similarly, the absence of compassion is relevant because "too often we're insensitive to the needs of others It is [the leader's] responsibility to establish an environment in which compassion is a way of life." Leaders do serve people, after all.
Think about that the next time you read about senior bureaucrats retaliating against a worker who "committed truth" rather than follow iron-clad talking points.
Finally there is candor, inextricably linked to integrity for obvious reasons. Open communication enables any organization to establish a common purpose; build trust, confidence and optimism, and promote excellence.
That has never been more important than now when truthfulness seems an outmoded concept.
Lying breeds cynicism, undermines comity and the "faith" necessary for bipartisan solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Health care is one example, and more ominously, threats posed by the nation's enemies.
Lying has consequences. Political capital is a president's most valuable asset and must be husbanded. Donald Trump, saddled with a 36 percent approval rating, has wasted his capital by ignoring Tennessee Williams's acerbic comment on this point:
"[Did] you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?"
- Big Daddy, to his son, Brick, in the film version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
Michael Loftin is a former opinion editor of The Chattanooga Times.