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The Letter That Comes After X
By James "Skip" Lemoine
I assure you that the following is a true story. Only the names have been changed, to protect the innocent.
A few years ago I was a guest at a certain student organization's State Leadership Conference, and I was talking after the opening session with one of the association's state officers (let's call her Mathilda, because I like that name). Mathilda had just finished presenting a grand speech to the association membership about how she planned to run for national office in the organization and how, if elected, she would make wonderful things happen and she would work to make a real difference for the members. So having heard this inspiring speech, having watched her present a campaign platform, I asked her a pretty basic question when we were having dinner later that night.
"Why, Mathilda?" I asked. "Why do you want to be a national officer for this organization?" Honestly, I was expecting to get the kind of answer I usually get when I ask that question to candidates: a blank stare or, at best, a carefully rehearsed speech on service and responsibility. So I wasn't prepared at all for the answer Mathilda gave me.
"Think of the power," she said. "Think of the prestige, the bragging rights! I'll be in charge of so many people, and they'll all look up to me! Think of what it'll look like on my resume! Think of the kind of job it'll help me to get! You were a national officer once," she said, with a conspiratorial pat on the arm, "you know what I'm talking about."
It was one of the very few times in my life that I'd ever been struck speechless. As she went on about how she had written her speech specifically to appeal to the voters, I tried to work through what she'd said and formulate an intelligent reply. See, I'd had a theory for a long time that far too many candidates for major offices in student organizations were running for the wrong reasons, but had the tact and intelligence not to reveal their true motivations. Mathilda had just bolstered one half of that theory, and blown away the other half.
I firmly believe that people like Mathilda, whether they admit to their motivations or not, should never become elected officials. Mathilda was the perfect example of something we all see far too much of: the elected official who's only in it for himself. He sees the office not as a means to help people or do deeds for the good of the people, but instead as a means to a highly personal end. As a stepping stone to personal fame and fortune. These people are lousy officers, lousy officials, lousy leaders… and in general, lousy people. But if we're going to be perfectly honest… there's a little of that lousiness in all of us. Who among us doesn't want popularity and respect? The best of us can acknowledge that these feelings exist, though, and work to truly do things for the right reasons.
Now let's switch gears. Have you ever wondered why people like George W. Bush, Al Gore, Bob Dole, or John Kerry seek political office? No, really, think about it: why would someone want to be the President of the United States? Sure, the position comes with a lot of perks, but it's painfully lacking in several other areas. The salary is relatively low, public scrutiny is intense, and your free time for four years is virtually nonexistent. For the rest of your life, you'll have to be accompanied everywhere by armed guards, and you'll never get another moment of privacy. Why would someone choose this life, as opposed to the more profitable and relaxing life of consulting and lobbying that most of these politicians could easily enjoy?
Ask them and they'll say that it's because of a firm desire to help the American people. They feel a drive to go forth, further a positive agenda, and make the country a better place. (Of course, then they'll go on at some length on why their opponent is running for absolutely the wrong reasons.) And for some of them… well, sure, there may be some truth to that. Maybe even a lot of them. I'm a bad one to judge; when it comes to politics, I'm one heck of a cynic. But does anybody out there honestly believe that that's all there is to it?
Sure, guys, you're running for great and noble reasons. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that you could go down in history as the President of the United States, that kids will study your name and deeds for years to come. The facts that you'll have an extremely lucrative speaking career at the close of your term, and that your friends and associates will heavily profit from your new position, have nothing to do with it either, I'm sure.
You know what would really impress me? I'd be amazed if a candidate for President said, "To be honest, my fellow Americans, I'm running for a lot of reasons. And I won't lie to you and say that I'm not personally excited at the idea of becoming your President. There are many personal reasons for me to run, and I would be overjoyed to hold such a prestigious title. But there are other reasons, too; I really do want to give something back to the country that gave me so much. I really do want to make a real difference for all of us." If a candidate said something like that… I'm pretty sure I'd be voting for them, just because of the raw honesty they'd exhibited.
Switching gears again: a few years ago at a different state leadership conference for another student organization, I had a couple of teachers come up to me and politely but firmly insist that I stop questioning their candidates for state office. Apparently, word had gotten around that I was asking "nearly impossible" questions of the state officer candidates in public places, and so I was making all of the candidates look "dumb." When I responded that the only question I'd ever asked was, "Why are you running for this office?", I was told that the question was far too hard for the average high school student and that I should stop expecting so much from them.
This time, I wasn't struck speechless; I told the teachers in no uncertain manner that I apparently had a higher opinion of a high school student's mentality than they did. If a teenager was doing something… anything… then they knew, at some level, the reason why. And furthermore, if a man or woman is going to be entrusted with the responsibility of a state officer in a major national non-profit organization, it's the right of the affected parties to know as much about the candidate's motivations as possible. Are they running because they want a fancy title and a new line on their resume, or are they running because they genuinely want to make a difference? This, I argued, was Important Stuff.
Then the teachers not-so-politely called me a "punk know-it-all," told me exactly what I could do with my Important Stuff, and walked off.
I later learned that these teachers were the teachers of two of the students I had questioned, both of whom had answered the question of "why?" quite poorly. One had admitted that she was running because her teacher filled out the application for her and told her to run; the other just sat there with a blank look on his face and eventually said, "Y'know, I really don't know." So they didn't like the question, because they didn't like the answers their students had presented. Go figure.
One thing I learned a lot about in college was the power of motivation. For just about every single act we perform, every single thing we do… well, we do it for a reason. We sleep because we're tired. We eat because we're hungry. We buy a CD because we love the music. Simple actions, simple motivations. But when it comes to more complicated actions, such as running for some kind of elected office, the motivation gets a lot more complicated.
A lot of people reading this article right now currently hold, or plan to hold, some type of elected office. My question to you, then, is "Why?" Why do you want that office you hope to hold in the future? Why did you run for the office you hold now? As I said earlier, I've asked this question of a lot of candidates and officers, and I usually get unsatisfactory answers. These answers indicate that one of two things is true: either the candidate is lying to me, or they're lying to themselves.
Here's my challenge to you, dear reader: be honest with yourself. If you're convinced that you're only running for office for the good of your constituents, then on at least some level, you're lying to yourself. You're human; that's okay, we all are. We all have an inner desire (and sometimes, need) for prestige, for respect, for authority. We all want our friends and family to be impressed with us, and we all want to be in a socially desirable position. We're conditioned to seek acceptance, and there's nothing wrong with a bit of ambition.
On the other hand, too many of us, in our attempts to be modest, choose to ignore these innermost desires. We try to convince ourselves and those around us that we're not running for any personal reasons whatsoever – that we're doing it all for everybody else. And this is dangerous because if we don't acknowledge the truth about ourselves, if we can't face up to our own personal failings, then those failings with take control of us.
And then there are those who are honest with themselves; the only reason they want a position of power is for their own personal gain (like Mathilda). They're willing to lie, to pander, to do anything it takes to get that personal power. And after they've gained it, they won't feel the need to do a thing for the people who voted for them.
If you want to be an officer or a politician, take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why you really want it. If you can't admit that at least part of the reason is because of some personal gain of your own, then you should seek greater self-understanding. Or if you see that the only reason you actually want to run is for your own personal gain… well, then, you shouldn't be running at all. It's okay for a bit of selfishness to creep into your ambition; it's only natural. But if it gets to be too much, or if it's ignored, you're going to make one hell of a lousy officer. And if you're a lousy officer, people will notice. And if people notice, you won't get the respect, admiration, and future opportunities that you were after in the first place. And if all that happens… what use was it all, anyway?
Analyze why you do things. If you understand yourself, and you know that you actually are running for the right reasons, it'll give you a kind of self-confidence that can't be faked. And people… including voters… will sit up and take note.
Remember Mathilda? Well, she gained approval from her state to seek national office. She ran, and she won. She would go on to serve a rather undistinguished year as an officer, and she'd leave some rather unhappy constituents after she was done. Her term would be remembered, at best, as mediocre. But that was still in the future: as she exited the stage after formally being sworn into her new office, I could have sworn I saw her wink at me.
I didn't wink back.
James "Skip" Lemoine, a former Regional Manager for Cingular Wireless, is a Leadership Fellow with TRI and the Editor of the Leadership Solutions Network. Click here to learn more about Skip and how to contact him.
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