Leaders are Rorschach Blots to Constituents

The many rants from the conservative right about American President Obama's vacation, which just began, are predictable. Those on the left used to lampoon George W. Bush's frequent and very visible vacations to Texas or New England. Turnabout is fair play in politics, to put this all in perspective.

At the same time, I am reminded of the intense scrutiny that almost every public (and some private) behaviors of leaders receive. This has always been true of heads of state--though we now have much greater capacity to observe and communicate about those observations than citizens did, say, in 1806--but it is also true of corporate CEO's, university presidents and heads of independent and international schools. We have heard everything from the head's choice of car to clothing to vacation site to type of cell phone targeted by unhappy faculty and parents in some of your client schools. To me, my choice of car is about a cross-tabulation of cost, reliability, fuel use and capacity to carry either my very large dog or a couple of couple of bikes. To someone watching me, however, the car I drive will be about whatever they read into it, and what they read will likely depend on whether they view me positively or negatively in other ways. Same with my clothing.

There's not much to be done about this as the phenomenon of inputing deep meaning to otherwise superficial events seems hardwired, but it is always important for leaders to understand how they are like a Rorschach image onto which constituents project all sorts of things. The importance of this mindfulness probably diminishes as one builds a large account of personal and political capital, so it is especially meaningful for new(ish) leaders.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.