STRENGTH, CONSERVATIVELY SPEAKING

Leaders are not necessarily liked.  They often do not care whether they are liked or not.  There is a goal to accomplish and true leaders have their sights set on that goal.  You can either follow and help or get left behind.

Often on job sites that I have been a part of, there is an individual who tends to rub everyone the wrong way.  He or she would never win any popularity contests and any expenditure of effort to do so is the last thing on their mind.  Behind the back, these leaders generally acquire names such as perfectionist, pain in the butt, nit picky and those are some of the ones I can use in family friendly forum.  There are other metaphors, which take on a more colorful descriptive nature.

Everyone cringes when this person walks towards them and inwardly despises their attention to detail….until…..a crisis occurs.   Then, the emotions change.  Suddenly, a solution is needed.  Oh, some individual, desperately craving notoriety, will quickly fumble around trying to prove he is as good as the big dog.  The rest of the crew will just roll their eyes and wait for the inevitable.  The big dog arrives.  He looks at the mess with a sneer of disgust.  The crew steels themselves for what is coming next.  The leader growls, spats and snipes at them all for being a bunch of idiots and making such mess for him to clean up.  The leader then reminds them all that this screw-up is costing the company time and money.  After the big dog is satisfied that the crew has had a sufficient earful of his wrath, he presents the solution, gives them all their marching orders, tells them to get their butts in gear or he will fire the whole lot of them and then marches off without so much as a pat on the his back for saving the day, barking over his shoulder that work better be accomplished by the time he gets back or somebody’s hindquarters is going to get kicked.  And the work gets done.

That is leadership.  We don’t like it, usually, but leaders get things done.  All leaders have different methods, but once goals are set, leaders will strive to reach those goals without compromise.  They will not be deterred to the right or the left but move forward with a singular purpose.

There are those within the Republican Party who want us to moderate our charge for excellence.  They want us to be moderate in our belief that people are the answer to Maine’s troubles not government.  They want us to be moderate in our belief that the land belongs to the residents of Maine and not LURC.  They want us to be moderate in our desire for change.  It would seem the best thing for Maine is a lot less moderation in the Republican Party.  Let us press on toward the goal to Set Maine Free without moderation…And Never Look Back!