Definition of a Leader

Definition of a Leader

In his 9/11 interview, former President Bush, stated, that after the attacks and he was at his first security meeting, he wanted to know why the secret service did not disseminate the information they had about Al Queda before the attacks took place. He could see there was a definite lack of communication going on. Did he go around hollering at them saying "You should have known" or "this attack was your fault ! ". No, he had them focus on getting intel that would lead to those personally responsible for the attacks and how to get them to justice.

He would say that as president, he had a job to do. The first job of a leader is to project calm to the people. Then they needed to see comfort, then determination. You don't get any of that by looking back or blaming others. A plan was formulated, then put into place and acted on, with the overwhelming approval of congress.

Well into the war, and after the invasion of Iraq, This president did something no one had ever done before. President Bush directed his people to form a covert operation that would take him to the battle zone itself, in the middle of occupied Baghdad. He did this to have Thanksgiving dinner with the troops and to tell them thank you for all of their work. He did this without television crews, or reporters hanging around to grandstand the event. He did it to thank those who gave so much.

There are a lot of politicians today who need to take a lesson from this. These things were done from a man with convictions. All of the problems we are facing today, come not from having convictions, but from having agendas. Too many in Washington have lost that perspective.