On Freedom and Leadership

who help clarify problems and products of our group aspirations, a nation of citizen-leaders who, choices, who build morale and coali- can lead us astray as well as lead us beyond their private and profes- On Freedom and tions, who inspire others and point to aright. Leadership as a process can sional concerns, will also make the the possibilities and promise of what go wrong, it can sometimes be used concerns of human-kind, at the might be: a better society, a better to enslave us as well as to liberate us. very least, their avocation. Leadership nation, a better world. Leadership can be a safe and healthy means only if linked to deeply rooted We shall know we are making prog- Most of our best leaders are lifelong moral ends. Leaders, we need to be ress, not when we produce another learners who with determination, reminded, have been responsible handful of charismatic Mt. Rushmore energy and a passion for improving for the most horrible crimes and the leaders, but when we can boast we 2004 Commencement Remarks things are marked by self-confidence, most tragic follies to disgrace the are a nation no longer in need of by President Thomas E. Cronin optimism and idealism. Most leaders human race. Evil leaders are all too those larger-than-life “great leaders” have a contagious self-confidence, real, past and present. There will because we have become a nation of a relentless optimism and a fearless doubtless always be those who reach citizens who believe one person can idealism that motivates them to out for our darker side, who seek make a difference, and every one of mobilize their associates and collabo- to rule on the basis of fear, hatred, us should try. To the Class of 2004 . There is no sure-fire, do-it-yourself us that power wielded justly today rators to undertake tasks they may paranoia, and along the way become leadership kit. Yet a few realities may be wielded corruptly tomorrow. never dreamed they could under- destroyers of our civilized processes. We’re proud of you. We expect a lot about leadership are worth noting. They are the leaders who rally us to take. The power of leadership is the of you. Congratulations. hen you arrived here four protest when they know a policy is power of integrating and creating James Madison understood this years ago, you immediately John Lennon famously noted that wrong or when some of our sisters or distinctive communities of motivated when he wrote that the essence of W enjoyed a greater sense of “life is what happens while you are brothers find their rights and liber- people in search of solutions and government is power, and power personal and intellectual freedom busy making other plans,” and ties diminished. accomplishments. lodged, as it must be, in human than you had previously experienced. I believe it was Benjamin Disraeli hands, will ever be liable to abuse. Today, May 23, 2004, with the libera- who said that “what we anticipate All societies have warrior and Leaders can be single-minded and President Tom Cronin tion of graduation, your freedom seldom occurs; what we least expect diplomatic leaders, liberation or tough-minded and tenacious in their Informed Americans ever since expands even more. generally happens.” exodus-leaders, moral or conscious- beliefs and commitments. Their Madison’s day have feared the ness-raising leaders, intellectual passion for change and achievement potential abuse of power. We are Embrace this freedom; yet under- Rarely can one leader provide an leaders and political as well as orga- may make them abrasive and thorny fond of quoting Lord Acton’s phrase stand its consequences. With free- organization’s entire range of nizational and business leaders. personalities. that “power tends to corrupt” even if dom come obligations. Liberty and leadership needs. Most organiza- Not to be forgotten, too, are artistic we also know from the writings of duty, freedom and responsibility: they tions and societies have all kinds of or cultural leaders. Spirited critical Remember that leadership is Hobbes, Machiavelli and others, that come together. That’s the deal. leaders, and these diverse leaders, in discussion about leadership and the ultimately a relationship or chemis- the absence of power can paralyze turn, are usually highly dependent moral and virtuous uses of power is try between leaders and their us if not corrupt us. We celebrate you today for your for their success on the leadership extremely important. Artists, poets, associates. Leadership is an engage- achievements in learning — and performed by other leaders. Certain critics, scientists, writers, theologians ment among partners and collabora- Just as it is often said that good also for your courage, honor, love, leaders are excellent at creating or and scholars of all kinds often are tors. It is a collective enterprise. leadership requires good “follower- hope and aspirations. And it is our inventing new structures. Others able to help us determine whether we What makes it collective is the ship,” so also leadership needs to hope that each of you will become a are splendid task or managerial are using power or whether power is always on-going, if subtle, interplay be counter-checked and balanced leader in your community and in your leaders — helping to encourage using us. between common needs and wants by a healthy skepticism. Democracy profession, and that in whatever way groups at problem solving. Others of a group and a leader’s capacity to requires us, not as passive/mindless you decide, you will use your imagi- are imaginative social architects, Leadership is not equivalent to understand and respond to these followers but as assertive citizens, nation and your intellectual abilities helping to enrich morale and renew “office-holding or high prestige or collective aspirations. to be questioning of our leaders and to help people. the spirit of an organization or a authority or decision-making.” The never too trusting of any one group people. These are leaders who most lasting and pervasive leader- To study leaders divorced from or individual with too much power. Social justice, civil liberties, human are indispensable in providing the ship is often intangible and comes loyalties and mutual trust and the rights, a sustainable environment, human glue holding us together. Still from people who are not in positions complex interactions they have Effective, desirable leaders are constitutional democracy, healthy other leaders influence us because of high, formal, institutional author- with followers, constituents and people who have learned that the communities and great works of of their integrity, their character and ity. It is the leadership fostered by team members is to miss the most world is an incomparable classroom, art don’t just happen. They require their moral authority. They compel ideas embodied in social, political important aspect of leadership. and life a memorable teacher for countless acts of imagination, cour- us to ask ourselves: Is this justice? Is or artistic movements, in books, in Effective leadership ceases to exist those who are not afraid of it. Leaders age and leadership. this right? They raise their voices on documents, in speeches, and in the when leaders have lost the trust have overcome their fear of failure, behalf of the voiceless and those who memory of valiant lives valiantly and support of their followers — are willing to take reasonable risks, Leadership is all about making things have been hurt or left behind. lived. Intellectual or idea leadership think of King Creon in Sophocles’ and seek out challenges that keep happen that otherwise might not at its best is provided by those, often Antigone, Captain Vere in Melville’s them alive, vital and self-renewing. happen, and about preventing things They are the mentors and conscious- not in high corporate or political posi- Billy Budd or Captain Queeg in from happening that ordinarily would ness raisers who urge us on toward tions, who can clarify values and the Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny. Freedom and obligation: they go happen. It is a process of unlock- social responsibility, social justice, implication of such values for policy. together. Liberty and responsibility: ing the talents and energies of good individual freedom, and racial, reli- Another major reality about the they go together. The answer lies not people so they can work together to gious and sexual tolerance. They Leaders are individuals who help nature of leadership is that strong in producing a few larger-than-life achieve common goals and dreams. are the prescient ones who remind create options and opportunities, leaders, even though they are the leaders, the answer lies in educating 2 Whitman Magazine July 2004 3 Commencement 2 0 0 4 To the Graduates . sweat of your labor and your effort. Doing this — making sure that the Raise money for people who run this? How did this become possible? To those of you who have had to life you lead is the one you want to for political office. Be a good citizen Could I have done a thing like this to struggle to get here, who sometimes lead and that you are prepared to lead because that is what it actually means those people? o remember Whitman doubted that you were going to get it this way, whatever anybody says to be a good American. We do need to ask ourselves, as College when you leave. through, remember this: you have — is never easy. It’s not made any Being a good citizen and being a society, as a free people, how we I have taught in the already come too far to settle for less easier by the times we live in.

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