Spencer Critchley

leadership

On the podcast: The Rise of Tyranny, What to Know About Tech and Kids, and more

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On recent episodes of Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good (available on all apps and now on YouTube):

How to win elections so we still *have* elections, featuring two guests with experience at all levels of politics going back to the Carter Administration, Les Francis and Lora Lee Martin.

Two conversations with Chicago radio host Joan Esposito. In one, Joan interviews me about the rising popularity of tyranny in the US and around the world. In the other, I ask Joan about her experiences building a popular progressive talk show from scratch.

Education and tech expert Katie Davis on What We Really Know About Kids and Tech.

Meta, Obama, and DOJ veteran Kevin Lewis on Artificial Intelligence.

And A Hollow Man Vacates the Chair, a conversation about the fall of Kevin McCarthy and what it means, with Kevin Lewis and Zach Friend. Zach has worked with the White House Council of Economic Advisors, the Senate, the House, on presidential campaigns, and as a local elected official. This one’s on YouTube as well:

A Good Man

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Joe Biden smiling broadly and warmly while greeting people
Joe Biden photo by Spencer Critchley

With his experience, knowledge, and skills, Joe Biden will be one of the most qualified presidents in history. He will also be one of the best-liked by virtually everyone who has encountered him.

He is a thoroughly good man.

And by itself that will make a transformational difference. Leadership isn’t about what you impose on people, it’s about what you summon from them.

What’s Seen and What’s Summoned

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Joe Biden
Photo by Spencer Critchley

Many people can’t understand why Joe Biden talks so optimistically about the American people, like he did again today. After all, nearly half of Americans have stuck with Trump, even after four years of corruption, cruelty, and incompetence.

I think it’s because Biden knows that what matters isn’t just what a leader sees in people, but what he summons from them.

Trump summoned the worst in us, and we saw a lot of it. Biden is determined to summon the best.

And it will probably work — not perfectly, but well enough.

That’s because the same people who do terrible things can also do great things. Germans built both the Third Reich and one of the most enlightened democracies in the world. Our history includes both slave-owners and the Greatest Generation.

In history to come, our generation will be seen as far from the greatest. But by counting on us to be good, Biden can help us be better.

Smacked Around by the Schoolyard Bully, Congressional Democrats Threaten to Maybe Someday Do Something

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I often call out Republicans in Congress for their cowardice and complicity in the face of Trump’s assault on our democracy. But many Congressional Democrats are making it hard to see how they’re any better.

Caricature of the Marquess of Queensberry, namesake of the boxing rules, from Vanity Fair, Nov. 10, 1877 via Wikimedia Commons
Caricature of the Marquess of Queensberry, namesake of the boxing rules, from Vanity Fair, Nov. 10, 1877 via Wikimedia Commons

If these Democrats continue to say that Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses, as he so obviously is, but then shy away from impeaching him, their overriding message, no matter what explanation they offer, is that they’re too weak and fearful to follow words with actions.

It would be better just to stay quiet.

Like it would be better not to invite people like Corey Lewandowski to show utter contempt for Congress, and just sit there and take it. They only play the helpless victims of the schoolyard bully:

SMACK — “Hey! That’s not right!”
 SMACK — “You’re breaking the rules!
 SMACK — “If you do that again, I’ll tell!”
 SMACK.

Given the choice between the bully and the bully’s victims, many voters will choose the bully.

They may feel sorry for the victims. But they sure won’t follow them.

That’s because above all, leadership requires strength, or at least the appearance of it. If you can’t stand up for us, why would we stand behind you?

And you can’t convince people you’re strong by talking about it. You have to show it.

It means you may have to get in an actual fight, which means getting hit, and hitting back. Not scheduling a meeting to consider hitting back at some point in the future.

Most importantly, getting in an actual fight means taking the risk that you’ll lose.

That’s scary — but that’s all it is. Leaders know that losing is not the worst outcome.

If you do lose, you still will have shown the character and courage of a leader, one who can lead again in the next battle, or inspire others to.

But if you won’t even fight, you’ve lost already.

And you should face, at least, this: You’re not a leader.