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Expectations vs. Reality in Public Service and Leadership
“Never trust a politician.” This was something I remember hearing growing up from nearly every elder in my family. With that firm belief tucked inside my brain, I never thought I would engage in politics as an adult. For better or worse, here I am, engaging with politics. Essential Qualities of Effective Leaders Begrudgingly, I have to give credit to those who choose to serve in public office. Just being on the peripheral, I find it to be, more often than not, infuriating and draining. There are many qualities that someone in a position of leadership should possess. Most leadership experts consider self-awareness to be the most critical. Empathy, humility…
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Persuasion, Communication, and Our Moral Obligations
What does ancient Greek rhetoric have to do with today? Perhaps we don’t recognize it with its official title, as it is more commonly referred to as the art of persuasion. Often, when we learn or reflect on history, we don’t look at it through a lens of communication. However, different forms of communication and their advancements over time have helped contribute to significant societal downfalls, which makes it worth paying attention to. In the early democratic cultures of Athens and Rome, citizens were afforded access to information and an open system of debate to prepare them for voting. But true to human nature, deceptive propaganda soon overwhelmed both cities,…
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With Wind Energy and Endangered Species…
…the Greater Good Sure Is Subjective By its scheduled completion in December, the Strauss Wind Energy Project near Lompoc is expected to produce enough electricity to power 45,000 houses. Considering Santa Barbara County set the ambitious goal of reaching 100% renewable electricity by 2030, this project will be substantially helpful in attaining that goal. Except the wind energy being produced will not stay in Santa Barbara County. The electricity will be exported to the San Francisco Bay Area. In March, Strauss Wind Energy and BayWa r.e. filed for a federal take permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for any incidental deaths of golden eagles and other endangered species. Since these permits can take years to secure,…
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Murky Circumstances…
… of Santa Barbara County’s New Ambulance Contract Should Raise Alarms. If you haven’t been paying attention to the decisions the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is making regarding the county’s ambulance contract, I suggest you start looking into it and making your voices heard. I, for one, do not want to get caught in a situation in which my emergency medical care is hindered because the county Fire Department and American Medical Response are confused by their roles and responsibilities with the new permit system. Nor do I want to become a victim in the process of learning that the new permit system is ineffective. Regardless of how the new permit system will work, the…
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Changing Things Up.
Being unemployed, I’ve had a lot of time to think about things. It’s been hard to find the balance between thinking enough to process and not thinking too much. Too much is not so good. Mostly, I’ve been trying to determine how I can monetize all the things I do for free. Blogging. Facts from Farmers. Good Ol’ Girls Club. And there’s all this shit on the internet that tells you how you can make money from these things, but first you must click here, purchase this, download that. Bleh. It’s so uninspiring. Besides, apparently, I prefer to do things in the most challenging of ways. What dawned on me…
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Politics.
Leadership is about rising above our lower self. Leaders set aside their own discomfort to make something more bearable for the other person. This creates the opposite of divide. It creates connection. And that’s been proven in psychology and neuroscience. I haven’t watched much of the political debates, because I don’t need to – nor do I want to. All the debates seem to be is a blame and shame game anyway. We don’t need more of that in our polarized society. We need leaders who say, “I’m sorry Mr. Presidential Nominee that you feel I haven’t done enough for the American people. But let me tell you how I plan to help them when I get elected into office.”…