These past few months while we were considering the five pillars of trust necessary to lead a team of jet pilots through tight aerobatic routines and how those criteria apply to leadership at large, the nation has been having a larger discussion about leadership. Many citizens do value character, commitment, competence, connection, and communication. They intend to vote for those they feel are best qualified to represent them according to such criteria. Others are demonstrating something more fundamental. It falls under the heading, “trust a bear to be a bear”.

Significant numbers of people are trusting candidates to be who they are, not who they presume to be if elected. It is not just personal history being taken into account, either; they expect politicians to be politicians—not a promising choice for what these voters want pursued. There is perhaps more energy behind what they want to see undone as done, and destruction is preferable to deconstruction in some instances. Throw the baby out with the bath water and make a new baby.

The paroxysms we endure through this shake up and the consequences that shake out are what it looks like when people try to regain footing on ground they trust. It’s quite a messy process but primordially sound.

“Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership.”
John C. Maxwell