Are There Any Leaders with Moral Authority?

Some years ago, in what, unfortunately, has become a fairly normal part of my life, I was awash in feelings of disgust at the current leadership in the world. They all seem to dress alike, as though they are part of a fraternity of paternity, with a few women thrown in. They speak the same disinformational speak, rich in clichés, and, in my humble opinion, have great interest in themselves and little in the people they govern. Father and Mother of their nations? More like CEOs and bankers of their nations.

Once, as a journalist, I was invited to a private talk given by Mikhael Gorbachev. He was suffering from a bad cold, and was sipping warm tea. I could forgive him the sonorous tooting of his own horn because I know that many Russian people dislike him and blame him for disasters ranging from the economy to removing vodka from the shelves of stores in an attempt to face the Russian drinking problem head on. But beyond that, his words were inclusive and inspirational. He actually radiated a kind of warmth and concern for humanity.

After the talk, Gorbachev retreated to a side room and, obviously tired and suffering from his cold, he had an assistant who tried to help in fielding questions from the journalists. My question was simple: Could he possibly form a circle of elders with some of the notables on the world stage—like Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama– who had moral authority? The aide translated to Gorbachev, who smiled, sneezed, and nodded. “They are already doing this,” the aide said.

I wished that I could be in the presence of that circle, listening to words of wisdom, regaining hope in a few of the leading actors on the world stage. But it was not to be.

Recently, and quite unexpectedly, at the Lensic Theatre in Santa Fe, New Mexico, my wish came true. The participants were different, but the feeling of being in the presence of moral authority was undeniable. And the subject they spoke about was leadership. The format of the evening was that the audience got to witness a spontaneous discussion between the four luminaries. No dramatic arc, no theatrics, just four people talking. I was mesmerized.

Alice Walker talked about how you have to be your own leader, how selfishness precludes true leadership, how Che Guevara was her Jesus, and how–-referring to slavery– no one can own you. Gloria Steinem said that when people asked to whom she was handing her torch, she replied that she was keeping her own torch burning, thank you very much, but was also using it to light the torches of others. Dr. Chung Hyun Kyun seemed to be in a state of perpetual wonder about being alive as she spoke about new forms of leadership that include compassion and humility. She told us about a research team that got a huge grant to go around the world and study the best forms of leadership, only to find out that the collaborative model of women was what they had been looking for all along. It could have saved a lot of money. And Aaron Stern, the only male, spoke about slowing down as a form of breaking habitual patterns of leadership, inside himself and in the institution he runs. He became exquisitely vulnerable, even speaking about his abusive father who threw an ashtray at him and cracked his head open when he was a child. He still doesn’t understand what he did wrong.

The four activists were articulate, poised, independent, centered, visionary, and wildly imaginative in their approaches to leadership and to life itself. At the end, they held out their hands to each other, solidifying the circle of wisdom they created.

The format was unusual: four people having a conversation about a subject. There was no Q + A, and no one stood at a podium. The audience was intensely focused, listening, internalizing what they heard, inspired.

The evening made me thirsty for more events like this. More conversations. More visible leadership around the world with heightened consciousness, and a commitment to the unity of all people, of all backgrounds, as we move forward in a complex, often confusing world that needs this balm of healing.

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Judith Fein is an award-winning travel journalist, and author of LIFE IS A TRIP: The Transformative Magic of Travel, and the newly-released THE SPOON FROM MINKOWITZ, about the role the ancestors play in our lives. Her website is: www.GlobalAdventure.us

For more information about the four speakers: http://www.aloveoflearning.org/event_detail/168/1108