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The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
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Mar 11, 2008 Posted by Rich Harwood
I am watching the saga of Governor Eliot Spitzer unfold in disbelief. Spitzer was nabbed in a prostitution ring. His governorship, maybe his family life, hangs in the balance. But beyond any immediate personal or political ramifications, this saga can tell us something about our own views on leadership and imperfection.
Spitzer was a rising star. For eight years as New York's attorney general, he won battles against corporate corruption, Wall Street leaders, and organized crime, so many that he took on mythic qualities. TIME magazine once called him a "crusader." 60 Minutes featured him. He won the New York governorship in a landslide. Until yesterday, some people had mentioned him as presidential timber.
On one level, Spitzer's story is similar to that of many leaders in our society. We become infatuated with them, even begin to worship them, believe they can do no wrong, assigning them qualities and expectations that too often are not humanly possible to fulfill. Meantime, the leaders themselves, mere mortals, begin to believe they actually hold mythic powers, at times exercising them with abandonment and hubris, often leading to their own demise. All this reminds me of sundry fables about young wizards, who when they finally embrace their own individual power, fail to understand its true use, and especially its limitations.
On another level, the Spitzer saga makes me think about notions of "imperfection." I often think that in our desire to ascribe mythic qualities to leaders, we forget -- indeed, I think we actually seek to deny -- the reality that we all, including our leaders, are imperfect. Thus when imperfections arise, we are ill-equipped to discern their true meaning to us. We want people to grovel or put forth false modesty when caught, or we want their heads. Room to gauge our failings gets squeezed out; we try to ignore the reality that human imperfection exists, until once more it is staring us right in the face and cannot be escaped.
Because of the heights to which Governor Spitzer soared, he may not be able to withstand this fall from grace. According to news accounts, the governor will resign in the coming hours or days. This will be met by many cheers, for many people took umbrage to his leadership style, and now take great delight in the public revelation of his personal imperfections.
As I write this I am thinking as well about the unfolding presidential campaign and these two notions of "leadership" and "imperfection." I often think that we seek to attach ourselves to a candidate in hopes that they will assume mythic qualities and reflect perfection. When that reality is punctured, we feel duped, jolted, even dismayed that the leader could not fulfill our expectations. And so we jump to the next carrier of our sentiments and hopes, but eventually we will be disappointed again because we refuse to root our imagination and aspirations in the reality in which we live.
Looking at Eliot Spitzer's career, I am in awe of the courage he exercised in taking on so many battles. He clearly put a stake in the ground about what he valued and he stepped forward time and again, against great odds, to pursue his aspirations. Anyone who seeks real change will be required to step forward in some way. But I am also reminded that as we act courageously we must exercise humility: that we alone cannot change the world, but that we can play a role; that in our victories we must never take more credit than is due, nor gloat in the defeat of others; and in our attempts to create change, we must know there will be times when we are wrong.
Which leads me to one final thought: I am reminded of a personal experience, of sitting once in the conference room of a foundation President's office, along with the Vice President, who turned to me and said, "But you didn’t save this community." I will never forget this moment. I turned to her, looked her in the eye, and said, "Of course, I didn’t. No one individual can. It will be the people of this community, together, who will put this town back on a better course." For me, none of us should be caught in the trap that one person will "save" us or that their words and actions are perfect.
Thus, as we engage in public life and politics, we must not let ourselves or others take on mythic qualities of leadership, no matter how good those attributes feel or seem to fit, and we must truly know that imperfection riddles us all, and that we must always keep those imperfections in mind so that we can find our way to the right place.
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 27, 2008 |
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 27, 2008 |
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 12, 2008 | doug garnar | garnar_d@sunybroome.edu
In Binghamton New York, it has been quite disturbing to hear young people in particular lamment that Spitzer's fall is just one more example of why no elected official can be trusted. The collatoral damage done the public realm by Spitzer's fall will require much effort on the part of engaged citizens to disprove the visceral reaction that this is typical of all elected officials. Over the years Richard has talked about the role of civically engaged people who can be catalysts in their community---more than ever we need to "grow" such catalysts so that we can more easily absorb the shock of seeing our elected officials illustrate their all too human qualities.
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 11, 2008 | Tom Lane | Tom@whiteheadassociates.com
I read your article with great compassion and sympathy for Elliott Spitzer. Not as a friend or foe of him politically but rather as one frail human being about another.
Your article is well written and insightful. I'd like to point out a different possibility than one you write about. In your article you mention that leaders often believe they can act anyway they like with no repercussion. That they begin to believe their positive press coverage. My reading is that this is offered up as an explanation of their behavior.
I'd like to offer up a different explanation. The opposite is true. Rather than seeing themselves as invulnerable they see themselves as fatally flawed and in an attempt to be right about this they take actions that lead to their down fall. This phenomenon is often referred to as self-sabotage.
Self sabotage, as I see it, is generally done sub-consciously and covertly. The person doing it often never sees it, even when it is pointed out. The power that our minds have over our actions is profound. The satisfaction of being right is chosen over career, family and quality of life.
What drives us to succeed can often turn on us and our greatest asset sows the seed of our downfall. The Greeks called this Hubris. What is fascinating to me is that we are still surprised when this happens.
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 11, 2008 | Kimberlie Kranich | kranich@uiuc.edu
I appreciate this post. Thanks. Good leaders, I think, continue to be courageous and humble while trying to help others see their part in change. They try to create and foster an awareness that it takes a village to do anything. They deflect attention away from being the sole leader/inspirerer about anything and ask others to look at their role and the talents they can bring to the effort.
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 11, 2008 | Julie Fanselow | jfanselow@everyday-democracy.org
It's impossible to read this and not think of Barack Obama - not that he has some personal foibles that have yet to surface, but that so many of us are looking to him as someone who can really change politics and "save" our country.
And yet, as you shared in your anecdote about not "saving" the community, no one person can ever do that job alone. The good thing about the Obama campaign is that it seems to realize this and Obama himself readily says - right atop his website - that he's not asking people to believe solely in his ability to bring change, but to believe in our own ability as well.
Still, as you note, the Spitzer story is certainly a wake-up call to everyone who watches politics and wonders how we might achieve broader, less personality-driven leadership. If we don't ascribe godlike qualities to our very human leaders, we won't be so surprised or hurt when they inevitably fail us. I look forward to reading the article that Catherine cited as well.
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 11, 2008 | Rich Harwood | rharwood@theharwoodinstitute.org
Hi Catherine, Thanks for your comment. I'll definitely look into the article. It just might be a good jumping off place for another blog and conversation. I'm a huge believe in looking beyond our "normal" frames of reference for understanding how things work -- and can work.
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Re: The Sad Saga of Eliot Spitzer
Mar 11, 2008 | Catherine | cclouse@scopexcel.org
Great stuff. Your post reminds me of an article I just saw this mornnig "Why penguins have no commanding officer." Author Ken Thompson says "Humankind is the only species that places its trust in a small group of 'leaders' to determine the best direction for the whole group." The article URL is:http://www.nesta.org.uk/informing/articles/ken_thompson.aspx and it is an interesting introduction into "natural" forms of leadership. Thank you as always, Mr. Harwood.