Two weeks ago I sent letters to the editors of the Times, Weekly Challenger and Eastlake Blister urging Mayor Richard Kriseman to not only take the emotional intellect of his appointees into account when making key leadership appointments, but to also ensure he and his administration maintain a barometer of their emotional intellect. I now want to share that same message with Rudy Giuliani and the members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans who think it timely and appropriate to place the Homeland Security‘s budget in jeopardy.
The media frenzies for the week has centered on the outlandish remarks of former Mayor Giuliani’s comments questioning President Obama’s patriotism and Congressional leaders’ threats to cut funding to Homeland Security. Giuliani’s comments have now sparked and spewed the groundwork for all of the nut cakes who use social media to launch personal attacks on the president’s faith and qualifications to be president. The threats of Congress have sent a message to ISIS, Boko Haram, al Shabaab and any other extremist groups America is vulnerable because we may not be funding Homeland Security!
These actions in one week by high profile leaders are prime examples of why effective leaders must tap into their own emotional intellect and the emotional intellect of those they appoint to key leadership positions. Voters can’t be let off the hook either, we must find ways to tune in to the skills, track records and core competencies of potential candidates to include the emotional intellect of those we elect to office at the local, state, and federal levels and move beyond the popularity contests and pocketbooks!
At a time when this country’s domestic security is being threatened, northern and mid-western states are being inundated by brutal winters, America finds itself with someone of Giuliani’s global stature and members of Congress placing America in a vulnerable position simply because their irresponsible actions have dominated major media outlets and particularly social media.
The Obama administration is attempting to approach the battle against extremists by utilizing a comprehensive strategy to include messaging aimed at targeting young people who may be influenced by the propaganda on social media used as a recruitment tactic by extremists and murderers. Instead of those messages being the focus of major news outlets and social media, the media has been dominated by the words of one of the most revered public servants, and images of the Secretary of Homeland Security Jeb Johnson, in what appears to be, begging members of Congress to pass Homeland’s Security budget!
Giuliani wonders why the president has to apologize for America’s actions at times…it is simply because too many times we have leaders who public demonstrate their inability to place their emotional intellect in check with very little regard for the consequences of their actions and, or words.
