This should be a great program. The earlier show on "Restoring America" was great as well. As usual, Fareed's comments, and those of the contributors, are as applicable to America as they are to the entire world. Now comes the show on leadership. This will be great.
I my opinion, leadership has three essential elements - vision, planning, and action. Vision is by far the greater of the three elements and is generally the least understood, appreciated or applied. Planning is knowing and communicating how you're going to get there from here, and action gets the job done.
An old sage once said that 'my people die for lack of vision'. These aren't simplistic things like 'I think I'll fix two steaks tomorrow at 3pm', but rather grandiose awe-inspiring breath-taking things that are just outside your current reach. Vision has passion. Vision grabs the heart and mind and soul, and propels you and others forward, to a better place. It is a goal and purpose full of heart. Think of it as a purpose and goal with attitude. That is vision, and that is the first step toward a better more secure future for us and for the world - if we let it be true. Are we going to die for lack of vision, or do we set ourselves a vision to which we, as a global people can aspire?
Is there a vision to which the entire world can aspire? Is there something that can drive innovation and creativity and energize local and global economies? Something that is so big and visionary and awe-inspiring that no single nation or regional group of nations can do in isolation from or independently of the rest of the world? Yes! I believe there is such a vision, such a goal and purpose that it will drive economic growth worldwide, encourage strengthening of connections with other states on the planet, and give all of us a more secure and prosperous future, while encouraging innovation, creativity, enterprise, on a global scale.
I have an idea. Do you?
If we're going to lead the nation and our world into the future, and out of a past into which we can never return, then we must boldly set a course then go there. Plan, then act on that plan - that is the key. Words alone will not do it, but decisively knowledge based leadership will bring the future to us.
We can do this, but it requires vision. It also requires a foundation for the advancement of knowledge.
Every business, every home, every state needs to start training programs in engineering, in the sciences and math. We need to teach our employees, our children, and our grandchildren in new technologies and in the foundation for those technologies. We need to move into the future boldly, rather than hoping to go back to a past way or method or ideology that no longer works. We should honestly appraise our situation, aggressively pursue society-wide innovations in sciences and math, recognizing that we are not going to get back those industries that have already left our state or nation. So where then does our future lay?
Recognizing that knowledge and education in the sciences, in new technologies, engineering and in math is the central key to our success over time, and acknowledging the paramount need to re-train all our people from the ground up so that the US remains the pre-eminent innovator in the world, means that we must focus on building the right foundation for that success.
Where do we start? We need to emphasize teaching the metric system exclusively so that we do have the proper foundation for sciences, engineering and math. To do other wise is to overly burden our innovators of the future with cumbersome conversions between those systems in the US verses those in the rest of the world. With the foundation of a easy to use, base ten measuring system, then we can build up our sciences. Until we convert to the metric system exclusively in the US, we will continue to be second rate in sciences, engineering and math.
And, that is leadership - vision, planning, action.
Tim Williamson
Brookwood, Alabama
globaleconomy101@gmail.com
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