Leadership, The Dark Side, and Bullying
During my sophomore year of high school I first learned about power, control and leadership in my American Literature class. I wondered then, why would anyone care to have a lot of power? What was the point? I didn’t really grasp why anyone wanted to have so much responsibility and problems in return for a ‘noun’. I didn’t realize it until recent years that not everyone is a good person with good will for the world.
In Dave the first thing I noticed was in that the president puts on a “show” when walking out of the helicopter, with his wife and dogs. Then the second they walk into the White House the president and first lady go their own ways and the dogs’ leashes are dropped. I would say that President Bill mostly portrayed trait leadership. His ruling was defined by the way he carried himself and looked.
While Bob and Alan were training Dave to fill in for the President, they say that the most important part is copying his presence and mannerisms. Luckily for them Dave is a natural and has been studying the presidents ways for a long time.
Another great part of the movie is where Dave’s friend Murray comes around and looks at the budget and asks who does the budgeting because if he ran his business that way he wouldn’t have one. I think this is a great point in how government is run. Besides that point the two of them at that moment are displaying situational leadership where something has to be done. Dave takes immediate action and adapts to the situation that he found himself in — being accused of vetoing a bill that he didn’t sign, and standing for what is right. There are many parts in the movie where Dave uses situational leadership quite well considering he doesn’t have a clue how to run a country but everyone thinks he does. Later when he gains enough confidence he starts applying transformational leadership in order to clean up the mess that both President Bill and Bob created. On a side note Bob Alexander is the perfect example of “the Dark Side.” He commits a lot of fraud and does nothing for the common good. He also is power hungry. Dave creates positive change despite the consequences and this displays great leadership. He is honest, humble, simple-worded, yet strong and demanding.
Authentic communication
It is funny how the reading mentions habits of authentic communication and the priest at my parish during the homily on Sunday was mentioning the same thing, about how people are not authentic anymore. Of course he was referring more so to lay believers, priests, bishops etc. that if we were as authentic as the early apostles, then we would be willing to be martyrs and speak up for what we “believe” in, and unfortunately that’s not what we do.
I think that with social media today we are also going to, and already see, a shift in the idea of authentic communication. People really say what they want nowadays on the internet as opposed to when things were more restrained and in person back in the day. Perhaps being politically correct is being eroded? Donald Trump is getting a lot of attention because his political incorrectness attracts voters who are sick of holding their tongues — though it be a stretch to say Trump is authentic. However like I said, even politicians, who are usually the least authentic as it seems, are really starting to speak their mind. We see this in the movie Dave with how open Dave is and authentic. When he goes to the homeless shelter he genuinely interacts with the children not for show but because he wants to. This is also manifested when Bob vetoes the bill to stop funding the shelters and Dave is completely confused because he didn’t understand what the whole show at the shelter was for and wants to stop Bob and reverse the veto. Ultimately Dave is actually the most authentic person in the entire movie even though ironically he is supposed to be an actor for someone else and is faking the whole thing.
Bullying and Sexual Harassment
I have experienced sexual harassment a few times — the first time when I was 15 years old. It wasn’t anything too dramatic but it’s enough to get someone mad and leave an imprint. Yes good leadership is important in setting strict tones that don’t allow for bullying and sexual harassment. The most unfortunate thing is that usually this is happening in places where there is no great organization or the leader him/herself is the harasser. When I was applying to be a substitute I had to go through “Virtus Training” in order to work in the Archdiocese of Chicago. I couldn’t believe how much training went into simply stopping any sexual predators from getting into Catholic Schools. The amount of paperwork and online/in class sessions I had to go through almost made me sick. But of course there’s a reason for the strong push, to finally put an end to the madness.
Bullying has the potential to explode with the emerging generation because it is easier to say something without looking the person in the eye — just post it on Twitter. However, there has been such a strong push against bullying that discussing any controversial topic is often banned since it hurts others’ feelings. Bullying is wrong, but sometimes sticks and stones will make people stronger and the truth can hurt. So how should bullying be stopped? Well there was a lot of talk about humility in a section of the chapter, and I think this is exactly what the bullies themselves need. They need to get a taste of their own medicine and take responsibility for their actions.
The following video is a pretty good example of what happens when people become too sensitive to strong opinions, ultimately lose their backbone, and feelings win over facts. The closing quote says a lot: “ if you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything”.
