Integrity–noun: adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
- Dictionary.com

In David Lazarus’ Sunday, June 21, 2009 Los Angeles Times column, “Taking integrity to the bank,” he spoke about the need for President Obama’s proposal for a regulatory agency to watch over the banking industry. This move is not intended to curb financial growth, but to protect the consumer from a now historic tendency by that industry to put its own greedy needs ahead of the trust of those it serves.

Here is the challenge. Can a greedy, self-justifying zebra like the banking industry change its stripes? Stated differently, can there ever be honor amongst thieves when they are, as Lazarus begins his column, “in denial?”

Regulation is certainly an understandable and necessary, “damage control” first response that seeks to control these companies from the outside in. However, I worry that it will be no more successful than putting in place a restraining order against a psychopath that is hell bent on defying it.

For true reform to take place, it has to occur from the inside (of bankers) out. To do that, banks and bankers must respond to the 4 H’s with the 4 R’s.

When the trust of consumers was savagely taken away, it triggered the 4 H’s of Betrayal:

1. Hurt – consumers have felt wounded by discovering that what they were told about saving for the long term (and many other things) by not taking risks was a lie.
2. Hate – after the pain of that initial wound has lessened sufficiently and they realize they haven’t been killed off, consumers hate the banks for lying to them, betraying them and rendering the world as they know it unsafe. In essence the bankers have done to consumers on an equal scale what terrorists did on 9/11.
3. Hesitation to Trust – when as safe as they thought they were is as unsafe as they turned out to be, consumers are not going to let their guard down soon and risk being betrayed again. That is fueled by the fact that the first betrayal/trauma may not have killed them off, but they fear a second one would. It is this fear of not being able to survive re-traumatization that fuels their guardedness.
4. Holding onto a Grudge – even if they could move past the Hurt, Hate and Hesitation to Trust, consumers will still Hold onto a Grudge. In that way they will have an automatic, built in deterrent to letting the banks hurt them again. You can’t hold a grudge and let someone through at the same time.

To address the 4 H’s of Betrayal, banks and bankers will need to follow The 4 R’s of Reform.

1. Remorse – this is the only response that Hurt will understand and accept and is the most difficult one for bankers (and most people) to offer. It is much more than Regret, which is simply saying: “I’m sorry. Trust me.  It won’t happen again. Now can we just move on?” It is looking into the eyes of the people a banker has betrayed, seeing in them the trust they broke, the deep and possibly irreversible injury they caused and saying from their heart: “I betrayed you. I lied to you. I broke your trust and a part of you. I was wrong and I did wrong.” The reason this is so critical and usually so lacking is that consumers need to see bankers knowing and feeling firsthand the pain they inflicted so that knowing how bad it felt, they wouldn’t do it again. Looking unflinchingly into the eyes of a person they harmed (imagine a rapist looking into the eyes of their victim at sentencing) and feeling embarrassment, humiliation, guilt and shame are the only things that will cause a consumer to believe that bankers will finally understand the damage they did.  It is only when bankers experience that deep penetrating pain that they’ll get a taste of what betrayal feels like.
2. Restitution – after showing true remorse the bankers need to offer a payback for the injury they caused. The Hate that victims feel requires this. Initially it involves bankers pausing to hear out and feel whatever their victims care to show them through their eyes and words (imagine “Hell hath no fury as a person who has entrusted their life savings to you, that you stole from”). But that is just the beginning. What victims need to then receive is an actual payback possibly in the form of legal prosecution, but furthermore in the form of an actual payback. No banker that made so much money off the backs of people they misled or lied to should have a second house or extra car while his victims have been foreclosed and maybe even rendered homeless.
3. Rehabilitation – this addresses consumers’ Hesitation to Trust. Unless consumers see that banks have a new way of pursuing their ambition and desire to make money that doesn’t cross the line into lying or manipulation, they are not going to trust the banks again. Furthermore, in order to truly believe that the banks have changed, consumers will need to see that the banks actually like and prefer their new “integrity based” values in doing business (think of the philandering husband who has learned to communicate his disappointment, frustration and hurt to his wife, before he acts out on it by cheating). This will be difficult, because ambition and integrity do not generally co-exist.
4. Request Forgiveness – after the banks have had a track record of at least 18 months of the first 3 R’s, which is the minimum time to replace the truly incorrigible, unscrupulous people in their ranks and then to internalize these values, banks will have earned the right to request forgiveness. Since you can’t undo what has already been done, this is all that the banks can do. At this point the banks and bankers that have followed the first 3 R’s are no longer unforgivable, those people who still refuse to trust are unforgiving.

That’s it. The 4 H’s of Betrayal and 4 R’s of Reform are the only steps necessary to repair the loss of consumer trust (a fascinating fact to me is that you can still increase consumer confidence without restoring consumer trust, but that is the subject for another column).

Unfortunately, I don’t have high hopes that this can or will happen. I don’t know many – or for that matter any – people who can make it through the first step of looking into the eyes of the people they have injured to their core, see the damage they wreaked, keep looking at it and admit they were wrong and then accept the punishment they deserve.

President Obama was recently chosen as the most popular leader in the world. It may not be a matter of popularity, but a matter of respect..

Trustworthiness and Competence will get you a nod of approval, but only being Respectworthy will gain you sustained loyalty. There are three key components to earning Respect: Clarity, Preparation, Integrity. Together they form your CPI Index™. When perception of these qualities goes down, so too do other’s respect for you.

Individuals who have Clarity are neither confused nor confusing when it comes to who they are and what they want. They are very clear in the goals they have set for themselves and understand what they need to do in order to make those goals a reality. If you have ever had the chance to work for or under an individual who has that clarity, you would probably agree that they are self-assured, exude positive energy and make great leaders. On the other hand, if you’ve had the misfortune to work for an individual who is confused and/or confusing in terms of what they envision, they exasperate or at the very least frustrate you and as a result command little if no respect. Typically, that type of person stands for nothing and when you discovered it, you lost respect for them that you never got back. People who possess clarity trigger our admiration.

Individuals who properly Prepare do not shoot from the hip. They think long and hard about what they want to accomplish and how they will get it done. They have a plan and they execute. By doing their due diligence on the front end, they are better prepared to leads others to a positive result. By being properly prepared, they understand that even if they get knocked off course they will be able to get back on track and pick up where they left off. People who are prepared have experience, but more importantly learn from it and develop judgment. Those that are not prepared have no idea what their course might be and as a result when they get knocked off, they simply cannot come back because there is no plan to climb back on to. Prepared individuals bring solutions to problems. Unprepared individuals seemingly make excuses, blame or “whine” without a constructive solution. Individuals who are prepared are self-assured, exude energy and are the people that most people want to be around. People who are prepared inspire confidence.

Individuals who have Integrity are the type of individuals we all want to be around! These are the individuals who do what they say they are going to do. They are the leaders who stay the course no matter what the circumstances might be because they are committed to a vision that rests soundly or core values dedicated to serving and enriching the common good. We all have come across those who talk a good game but when the “rubber meets the road,” we find that their substance is weak or nonexistent. In contrast, high integrity individuals have the judgment to know the right thing to do, the character to stand up to those who don’t do it and the courage to stop those who won’t do it. In life, we all have opportunities and challenges. It is easy to stay the course when things are going well. It is when we hit a pothole in the road that throws us off course that really tests our mettle and our commitment to ourselves and to those around us. Most people want to know that a leader will be there when the chips are down. Integrity is everything! You can spend a lifetime building it and it only takes one situation where you did not live up to your commitment to tear it down. On the other hand, people with integrity are not perfect and do make honest mistakes. But when they do, they don’t lie or pass the buck. Rather they take full responsibility for them and then take corrective action to not repeat them (think J.F.K. and theBay of Pigs). Reputation and integrity are the foundation of the good leadership. Those, who hold that dear, will not tolerate anyone who lacks integrity. People with integrity engender trust.

A person who is universally respected, that best embodies these qualities and that to me has the highest CPI Index™ is former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. His high level of clarity, preparation and integrity engender deep admiration, confidence and trust. For example, with regard to integrity there is the story of how he wanted to coach for Indiana and they had told him that they would call him to let him know by 6:00 PM on a particular day their decision. On that day, Wooden waited and did not hear from them by that time and was called at 6:05 by UCLA who offered him the job which he accepted. At 6:15 Indiana called to say they had tried to call him, but couldn’t get through. Wooden responded that he had already accepted the UCLA offer and he would not go back on his word.

Now that we have defined clarity, preparation and integrity and hopefully agree on their importance to effective leadership, how do Presidents and how did recent candidates stack up? What is their “CPI Index™“? On a scale of one to 10 measure each on these values — 1 being” negligible” with 10 being “outstanding” – how do they measure up?

If we look at prior elections and prior candidates, the ones who were elected were perceived to have a high CPI index™. Those with a low index fell by the wayside. Bill Clinton was perceived as being high in clarity and preparation and his (personal vs. professional) integrity mainly came into question after he had one and half terms under his belt. Al Gore was perceived as being prepared and having integrity, but alas, he just didn’t come off as clear as George Bush in 2000. John Kerry was perceived as being somewhat prepared on issues, but lacked clarity and was perceived as having “flip flop” integrity issues. Howard Dean seemed clear and to have integrity, but in lacking self-awareness of how he could turn off people, he was unprepared. George Bush possibly prevailed in both 2000 and 2004 because he was perceived as being clear and in having integrity (especially with regard to doing what he said he was going to do). And if he was perceived as being unprepared, he was perceived as being advised by people with a lot of experience and expertise (a la Ronald Reagan another high in clarity, high in integrity president).

Part of the reason for the incredible enmity toward him now is for his perceived lack of integrity as more and more information comes forth regarding decisions and policies.

As we consider the cast of candidates from the 2008 election, it was difficult viewing them as possessing a sustained John Wooden level CPI index. On any given day any one of the qualities can appear to be lacking.

Compared to Obama, Hilary Clinton was perceived as off the charts in preparation especially with her husband as confidante and advisor at her side and given her experience as a Senator. However she lacked clarity and integrity in the eyes of voters. And her integrity was deeply marred by her appearing to be more about maneuvering to get elected, than what she would do once in office. Also, she didn’t seem to know who she was (as if she had been listening too much to her advisors). In the end, her ambition to win seemed more apparent than an aspiration to make the world better, which ironically we are now perceiving her as doing in her capacity as Secretary of State.

McCain’s CPI index was probably the most consistently high of all candidates, both Republican and Democrat. However his insistence on reacting negatively towards Obama instead of focusing on solutions may have done him in.

Obama was perceived as high in clarity and integrity and lower in preparation. And it was that lower score in preparation, i.e. lack of experience that Clinton tried to focus on. Also to Obama and his wife’s benefited from seeming to know who they are and aspiring to work with us to create a better world. And also what worked and still works in his favor is that Obama comes off as more aspirational (i.e. aspiring to create a better world) than ambitious.

Presently Obama enjoys continuing high ratings (except by the far politically Right, whose Integrity in terms of caring about the common good is highly suspect) because he has a high CPI Index™. He is actually becoming Clearer, is becoming experienced and using that experience to become increasingly Prepared, and his Integrity is also growing as he appears to be doing or giving his best effort to doing what he says he will do as well as taking responsibility for his actions and “messups.”

What’s your CPI Index™?

Spread the Word

]]> http://markgoulston.com/uncategorized/1184.html/feed 1 http://markgoulston.com/insights/1158.html http://markgoulston.com/insights/1158.html#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 02:28:07 +0000 Mark http://markgoulston.com/?p=1158 First seen at Huffington Post

The silo walls are tall and deep,
but he’s got promises to keep
and miles to go before he sleeps.

On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan spoke to the people of West Berlin at the base of the Brandenburg Gate, near the Berlin wall. In that speech he uttered his famous words: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” This may be remembered as one of his greatest speeches. On Nov. 9-11, 1989, the people of a free Berlin tore down that wall.

It’s now twenty two years later and the world seems to be saying the same thing to President Obama, who clearly gets the message. He in turn appears to be telling America to do the same. But America is resisting. America is pushing back.

But these walls are different walls. They are the thick siloed walls that have kept America insulated and isolated from the rest of world. For more than two hundred years the two oceans and non-threatening countries to the North and South and this apparent barrier to entry allowed America to grow and prosper and surpass all other nations of the world. However what has enabled us to get to this point is now preventing us from progressing further. We are still reeling and have not found are footing from 9/11 which replaced a relative secure barrier to hostile invasion to living under the shadow of intermittent Code Orange Threat levels. Countries that embrace and work together synergistically – even adopting a common currency, the Euro – are passing us by.

There are three ways to break down the silos that separate America from other countries and separate Americans from each other, Democrats and Republicans from each other, men and women from each other, rich and poor from each other, young and old (and all the generations between) from each other.

More accurately, when these ways are engaged in, the walls spontaneously fall.

1. The sky above. An African native who was visiting Manhattan remarked, “They don’t see the sky.” The sky above is a shared, uplifting and ennobling vision that peoples in every silo will gladly work towards. One possibility I’d suggest is the vision of a world that your and my great grandchildren (who I will likely not live to see, but who the children I adore and who in turn will adore their children will) will one day walk into will be full of possibility for success based on merit, free of war, with health, freedom, liberty and justice for all
2. The ground below. That is our shared humanity. When someone reaches out to us or we to them to demonstrate spontaneous acts of kindness and generosity and to be vulnerable (in the open vs. the threatened sense), we not only touch into our shared humanity, we touch our WE that really can overcome and the WE that are the world
3. Communication with instead of at or over each other. It’s rare that people talk with each other. In fact it seems almost that talking to each other is losing out to talking at each other. Perhaps the greatest single example of the power of talking with instead of at each other not only brought down walls, it ended the Cold War. It occurred in 1985 when Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev said he and President Ronald Reagan “stopped demonizing one another.” Reagan was leaving the room after an angry exchange – but stopped and “in one moment switched his focus, his mental state, his emotion from anger to engagement. … He then said calmly, ‘This isn’t working. May I call you Mikhail and will you call me Ron?’ Gorbachev says that was the first step in shifting their relationship.

The challenge that Obama faces however is that these three ways of dealing with each other and life in general appear to be currently highly un-American (Dick Cheney is the poster child for just how absent they are). Regardless of his efforts to entreat us to develop and move towards a shared, ennobling vision, Americans seem locked in a “zero sum” game of “the hell with you, what’s in it for me.”

America is also a country that exalts in emotionality and excitement and stimulation but runs away from experiencing and expressing feelings. And trust me, as much as women claim they are in touch with their feelings more than men, both genders, and for that matter all generations are equally out of touch with their feelings. Americans run from feeling their hurt and fear as hurt and fear and will do anything to keep from feeling them (which by the way makes them all calm down) and in the bargain lose touch with each other’s and their own humanity.

Finally, talking with each other requires perhaps one of the skills most lacking in contemporary American life. And that is the ability to “Just Listen.”

In a time when Emperors have no clothes (or have feet of clay),
a man who is comfortable in his own skin (and doesn’t get under ours)
and who is wedded to a noble cause could rule the world.

Who is this man named Obama and why does he have such global appeal?

He is someone:

• who appears to want to do the right thing more than he needs to be right or preserve a status quo
• who walks his talk about our future being tied to being “all about we” as opposed to “all about me”
• who is just as committed to fairness as he is to justice and liberty for all
• who entreats us to be part of a solution instead of remaining stuck in problems
• who doesn’t trigger dissonance in us because the hope of what he wants to do for us far exceeds the fear of what he will do to us

He is someone however who is being so tugged at by all the King’s men and all the King’s women that he is hard pressed to articulate that vision of a future that would speak to everyone and spontaneously enroll us to make it happen.

As I have watched President Obama conduct himself since taking office (and because I am not encumbered by special interests tugging at me) I have put myself in his shoes and thought of the vision I might have were I him.

It seems clear to me that this man cares about this country, loves his wife and adores his children. It is that latter point with which few people would disagree…for most parents I know adore their children.

So…if he does adore his children, he will of course realize that they will love theirs, his and Michelle’s grandchildren. If this is so, the best way to demonstrate his love for his children is to envision and help create a world into which his grandchildren will be born with the potential of living a life full of opportunity, free of war, with access to health care and the best chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That’s certainly a vision I would sign up for.

If we were to take a survey of how many clients actively direct their accountants to: “Make sure that I pay all the taxes that the federal and state governments are entitled to,” I wonder what percentage of all taxpayers would come up.

Compounding the situation is the fact that most accountants by profession are not very effective at confrontation and many feel that they will curry favor with their clients if they find clever, “creative” but legal ways to minimize tax obligations. As a profession I don’t imagine there are many in it who practice advising clients to pay all the taxes they owe or else they will refuse to work for them.

I am not condoning this behavior, but here is a solution: In order for the America and the Americans who live in it to be in integrity with each other, either all Americans who “creatively” but legally find ways to avoid paying taxes should be prosecuted and penalized or the code of values of America should be changed to “Finding creative but legal ways of avoiding paying taxes is more important than paying the taxes you legitimately and ethically owe.”

Check out my always thoughtful friend and NPR host, Marty Nemko’s related blog:  We are ALL Socialists now…whether we like it or not.

Hear my WNYC NPR interview on The Takeaway from April 2, 2009 on “The psychology of stiffing the IRS” a.k.a. “What were those political nominees thinking?”

ALSO, I am pleased to announce the addition of downloadable FREE RESOURCES. Just click that button at the upper right of my site, sign up and enjoy. It’s a small way of giving back to my valued visitors and subscribers.

What makes “News” newsworthy is that it is unusual, out of the norm and because of that novelty, it grabs our collective attention.

I was speaking to John, a contractor working at my building, on another day of volatility in the stock market, threats to world peace, bailouts, stimulus packages, automotive company meltdowns, more news about “Octomom,” yadda, yadda, yadda who seemed rather calm (not to be confused with dull). It was a calmness I envied.

I asked him about it and he replied: “I’m not insensitive to plights of people, but 10 % unemployment means 90 % of people are employed, focusing excessively on punishing companies for giving hundreds of millions of dollars in undeserved bonuses only distracts from coming up with solutions of how to spend the trillion+ in stimulus money to get everything back on track, x hundreds of deaths (on a bad day) in car accidents in the United States still leaves 300+ million alive and safely driving in their cars or on buses, tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of people actively fighting in some war still leaves billions who are not, a single mother with eight newborns to care for still leaves the rest of the entire world taking care of a more manageable number.”

I asked him where he learned to be so grounded and maintain such perspective. He told me that growing up his family had meals together, that he would occasionally help his dad out at work and that he used to go on hikes with his grandpa who had a favorite expression that “this too shall pass” that he delivered in a wise vs. dismissive manner. And since that always seemed to happen, he came to believe it.

There is a psychological term called “object constancy” which is the ability to maintain a secure attachment to another person, to a goal and most importantly to hope in the face of disappointment, hurt AND even betrayal. It is a matter of emotional and psychological maturity. The more immature you are, the less object constancy you have and the less able you are to feel disappointed, hurt or betrayed without becoming angry, withdrawn or infuriated respectively. The more mature you are the more object constancy and the more able you are to remain grounded, steadfast and determined in the face of those emotionally upsetting feelings.

Object constancy is built upon nature and nurture, i.e. your biology (genetics and temperament) and how you were raised (and the social environment around you). Given the loss of the calm and nurturing environment that John grew up in (even “caring” parents seems all too rushed keeping their kids busy and therefore raising human doings instead of human beings) and that harried and often divorced parents are yelling at their children to get dressed, do their homework, etc., we are left to receive more of our “perspective” from the news, the internet, blogs and other media.

All such sources of information seem to be drinking from the same “adrenaline rush” kool aid and too often follow the “If it bleeds, it leads” dictate. And if that leading news is now becoming the source of perspective and having a significant influence on the nurture (and nurturers) that cause children, young adults and now even older ones to develop and keep perspective, the media needs to step back and feed people a balanced and objective view of life so they can calm down and they can get back on the road to a saner existence..

An epilog to my conversation with John. He was working at my building to clean out his fifty something wife’s office. She was a non-smoker who had recently died after a six month bout with lung cancer.

I told him how sorry I was. His eyes watered, he thanked me and said: “This too shall pass.”

Microsoft saw the opportunity to create Windows, then Office, then Internet Explorer, all of which were helpful to PC users.

But being helpful didn’t and doesn’t hold a candle to Apple’s vision of continually delighting its customers. They realized that the generation that was drawn to new technology not only were “delight” (and adrenaline) junkies, they had the attention span of a gnat and hate to be bored. Being helped to be productive is boring compared to being delighted.

And what about Google? It might outlast both Microsoft and Apple (especially upon the sad “demise” of its delight guru – we all do wish you good health Steve), because it has found a way to combine helpfulness in services, ease of use (just “google” me), and flirts with some pretty delightful applications and extensions (it ain’t no iPOD, but it ain’t as boring as Microsoft’s offerings).

There is a parallel to the world of politics. President Obama seized the opportunity to create a country that was “All about WE” instead of “All about ME,” but he, too, must find a vision if he is to maintain his attraction and traction.

A final caveat regarding those who can neither see or seize an opportunity or see a vision…People who can’t take advantage of opportunity, take advantage of people.

If you want to see a quick talk on a vision of how to create a “WE,” check out: How to Break Down Silos.

“Next time let’s leave out brains.”

- cartoon from 1960’s showing two amoebae speaking to each other after a nuclear holocaust that destroyed all other living creatures

I can imagine a current cartoon showing these same two creatures saying the same thing if and after the financial markets of the world completely implode.

If evolution is the process of a species evolving to more effectively interact with the environment for the enhancement of all living creatures and natural resources, then is it possible that the industrial revolution marked the downfall of evolution in favor of a short sighted and biologically short-lived, survival –and thriving –of the fittest?

Is it possible that the industrial revolution shifted human beings from being interdependently in balance with and generative and restorative towards nature to becoming in the end conspicuously consumptive and believing they could do so with impunity?

If these are so, then rather than taking a 30,000 foot view of the financial system, the time has come to take a 30,000 mile view of Earth as a “living system.” If we viewed it from that distance, what might we see?

In 1978, biologist, systems scientist pioneer, originator of the term “behavioral science” James Grier Miller published his 1102 page magnum opus, Living Systems. In it, he made a compelling and convincing case for the commonality shared by all living systems ranging from the simple cell through phylogeny to human beings to societies and ultimately to supranational (a.k.a. global) systems.

The conclusion to be gained from this… in order for any and all living systems to thrive, much less survive, the processes between societies, nations, individuals need to work interdependently for the benefit of the whole as much as the elements within a single cell need to do for it to survive.

To that end, the time has come for all nations and societies of the world to take that look from 30,000 miles and develop a shared vision of a future in which all living creatures and natural resources interact in a way that guarantees the future of all.

Resources to give you more perspective, more success and more peace of mind:

• The Great Manager’s Key: The Guide to Better Decisions February 24 webinar with Dan Ariely. Dan is on of the top thinkers and researchers in the area of behavioral economics and in his landmark book Predictably Irrational and this webinar you’l discover just how much your rational decisions are anything but that.
• Succession: Are You Ready? (Memo to the CEO) just released book by Marshall Goldsmith as sequel to his mega best selling book: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There Marshall’s entire approach has been to be aware of and take into consideration your effect on others if you want to maxize your performance.
• The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life just released top ten best selling book by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan that shows you how when you change the way the world occurs to you, you change the way you interact with it. For instance the world occurs to me as if Mother Earth is screaming out to be heard by all of us to stop squandering her limited resources.
• Tribal Leadership by John King, Dave Logan and Halee Fischer-Wright is the best blueprint for building a company, organization or society that functions and succeeds as an “all about we” vs. “all about me” tribe.
• Financial Darwinism: Create Value or Self-Destruct in a World of Risk by Leo Tilman offers a lens through which to see how and why the financial markets are acting the way they are and one of the best guides to move ahead, survive and thrive.

“It is articulating a vision of an ennobling and implementable possibility that wasn’t going to happen otherwise which spontaneously enrolls people to enthusiastically want to make it happen.”

I have also heard — and agree with — that when a vision is sufficiently compelling and convincing to its core stakeholders, commitment (in the form of action vs. words) spontaneously occurs. When commitment to action doesn’t occur it’s because the vision wasn’t sufficiently compelling or convincing.

And from Eileen Webbeke’s book Global Business Leadership come the following definitions:

It took Pearl Harbor for America to enter WW II despite Germany and Japan having all but ravaged its enemies.  It took the Cuban missile crisis for America to risk nuclear war even after many countries had fallen to Communist totalitarianism. It took 9/11 for America to take terrorism and the enemy across the border seriously enough to wage an all out war while other countries and continents have been living with that reality for decades.

Before that America slept just as Britain had prior to WWII (and that was written about by John F. Kennedy when he was a college student in 1940). 

Why did we sleep? Because despite Americans having espoused their lofty ideals (maybe it’s a case of “the country doth protest too much”), when push came to shove perhaps it really hasn’t cared about other countries unless it served our self interests.  It is not lost on the global observer that yes, helping rebuild Germany and Japan may have helped them, but it also enabled America to help itself to those countries as a market for our products and services that spanned decades.

Now what if America is getting a taste of its own “your problem, not my problem” medicine from countries that we served up to them for decades (maybe even centuries)?  What if just like us they are content to let America be in the crosshairs of terrorist regimes and turn a jaundiced eye rather than roll their sleeves up and help?  Why put their young men and women in harm’s way, when we resisted doing the same in every international conflict until we were unable to avoid it any longer?

Bless President elect Obama and I wish him luck.  He is running on all cylinders enjoining us to finally get it.  It’s no longer about “us” vs. “them,” it has to be about “we” with “them.” 

Until America switches its mineset (only about America) to ourset (about the world), we will remain stuck.