The Price we Pay for the Lack of Leadership
Recently, my partner and I started watching The Keepers, a Netflix documentary about the murder of a nun to cover up the most heinous crimes imaginable being committed by priests and others against high school students at Keough High School. A nun teaching at the all-girls Catholic High School, Sister Cathy Cesnik, uncovered the alarming allegations that several students were being repeatedly raped by the Priest and other men he would bring to the school.
After the second episode (which is by far the most disturbing of the first two)—where the former students talk about what was done to them—I was so unsettled that I looked up the alleged rapist and murderer, Father Maskell. He was removed from his position in 1975 by the headmistress of Keough. He went on to serve in other positions from 1975 to 1992 before the Catholic Church sent him to a facility for “treatment.” In 1993 he was again put in another position as a pastor of a church until 1994 when he was removed and fled to Ireland. Once in Ireland he was hired by the Irish Health Board to work with “youngsters.” You can read all about him here.
An alleged serial rapist who used the faith of some of the most vulnerable people in our society—children who were the victims of sexual abuse—to repeatedly rape and psychologically abuse young women.
Never arrested. Never tried in court. Never held accountable for his alleged crimes.
Let that sink in for a minute.
What I thought was going to be a documentary on a murder investigation turned into a shining example of how institutions are failing the people who need it most. But how could this happen? Was it the fact that it was the late 1960’s and early 1970’s? No. Things like that still happen. Harvey Weinstein, for example.
The Catholic Church, in what has since been widely documented through various abuse cases written about all over the world, played a game by keeping priests in the same role but moving them around to different parishes to avoid notice. But it is hard to believe, with the evidence at hand, that this particular alleged rapist and murderer was anything but a sexual predator. One who was protected by an institution that failed to identify him as a potential threat in the first place, address his behavior when it came to light, and to protect those who sought to right the wrongs. By my reading of the facts, it is my opinion that the opposite happened. What’s more, the people who dared to stand up to the institution were marginalized and, in this case, paid for their courage with their lives.
The sad reality is that institutions are not built with accountability in mind. Unfortunately, it has been my experience—and I would argue that a strong case could be made—that without accountability, it is often the leadership that fails most often. Creating environments that are dysfunctional, poorly managed, and/or ripe for misuse or worse, abuse.
We need not look far to see this in every sphere of our lives. In politics, consider the case of Andrew Cuomo whose bullying style has created a toxic work environment for women and, if reports are to be believed, anybody who disagrees with him. Or the case of Matt Gaetz, which is still unfolding but includes a tidbit you might have missed, it was reported that he was showing nude photos of women he had sex with to other members of the House of Representatives. Reports indicate that many Republican members of the House were advised to avoid being seen in photographs with Gaetz long before the investigation into his activities were made public.
When it comes to government institutions, we only need to look at the failure of police agencies to address the appalling rate of incarcerations and killings of African Americans at the hands of officers. In some cases, the officers involved in killing African Americans have often been the subject of numerous use of force investigations, as in the case of Derek Chauvin who is now on trial for the murder of George Floyd.
In business the story isn’t much better. From data breaches to natural disasters caused by worldwide companies, we can usually easily trace back the systematic failures—not outliers—that precipitated the event. Wal-Mart paying a wage that nobody can live on or the long list of abuses by Amazon that appear in the news almost on a weekly basis. Like the way they are actively trying to thwart unions, how it broke Baltimore, how employees can’t use the bathroom for fear of losing their jobs … I could literally go all day here, there is no shortage of articles to pull about Amazon. And don’t get me started on how Google, Facebook, and other big technology companies are invading our privacy and using this data to sell us more stuff we don’t need while simultaneously spending enough money to lobby federal and state legislators to avoid any regulatory restrictions.
I don’t even know where to start when it comes to COVID, with misinformation by fringe conspiracy theorists and media companies—such as Fox News—that seemed to have lost their way. Contributing to a complete and utter lack of reason when it comes to respect for science.
I kid you not, as I write this, I can’t even believe all of this is true. When you write it all down, you can’t help but wonder what is wrong with our society. Yet it is all true. Institutions and systems are broken. I can’t help but ask, why is this so?
Leadership. Or the appalling lack of it.
Real leadership is about lifting those up around you. It is about having integrity when nobody is watching. It is about standing up for others when nobody has the courage to do so. It is about being humble and having the wisdom to know that you don’t have all the answers. It is about knowing when to step-down and let others lead the way. It is about understanding the power you possess and using it to promote good and to be a part of the rising tide that lifts all boats.
I would argue that real leadership is the single most important thing missing in almost every aspect of our lives today. How do I know that? Well, let’s look at the work done recently by Microsoft in evaluating the outcomes of remote work and hybrid work since COVID lockdowns began. Take note of #2 on their list of Trends:
Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call.
As it turns out 61% of leaders say that they are “thriving” in the current environment. Of course they are “thriving,” why wouldn’t they be? According to the research, “Business leaders surveyed were also more likely to be Millennials or Gen X, male, information workers, and farther along in their careers. In contrast, Gen Z, women, frontline workers, and those new to their careers reported struggling the most over the past year.” Most of these older men are not struggling financially, probably live in a house with a nice home office where they can shut the door, and have children that are old enough to not want to spend any more time around their parents than they have to. But the fact that they say they are thriving, while most of the people who work for them are not, tells us something very important.
They aren’t leaders. Not by my definition anyway. And that’s at the heart of our problem. We have created institutions, systems, and practices that do not hold the most powerful accountable. I would be willing to bet that most people have more work experiences like that of Emi Nietfeld, who worked for Google from 2015 to 2019 rather than really positive ones. I suspect that the Managers, Directors, and Vice Presidents who worked in her chain are all working on their strategies of how to discredit her claims to avoid being held accountable. Is Google’s senior executive team reviewing the leadership potential of their managers and above to ask themselves, “how could something like this have happened?” I would hope so. But that’s probably my naïve optimism kicking in.
People in power, in all areas of our society, spend more time making sure they stay in power than they do trying to do anything worthwhile. I don’t think there are too many people who hold the title manager, director, vice-president, or C-suite executive who don’t make political calculations on a daily basis on what’s in their best interest at the expense of those who do not have power. Institutions, systems, and practices have created environments where money, power, and status can only be achieved by those who are least likely to exhibit the characteristics of leadership. That’s just how it is.
That is at the core of what’s wrong with our institutions, systems, and practices. We don’t hold those in power accountable. They usually have the money, power, access, and understanding of how best to stay in power. As you scale the hierarchy you find that leaders are not held accountable the way those on the lower rungs are. They are often the last to leave and when they do, they are usually given large severance packages and allowed to resign to, “spend more time with family.” While those with no power are fired and not given anything other than a paycheck for the time the worked.
Leadership is not conferred on a person because of the title he/she has. It is earned through actions and traits. I have found that the best leaders leave environments that are toxic or over-populated with the types of people in power who are just protecting their interests. Lack of leadership opens the door to misuse and abuse. And if we think hard about the problems we now face as a society, I would make the argument that in every case it was a lack of leadership that led to negative outcomes.
To illustrate my point, let’s take the case of Amazon and the bathroom breaks. As an outsider looking in, I see a failure of leadership at the mid-management ranks. Amazon is a pioneer in using data to understand and optimize business operations. What has failed here is the number of “leaders” in mid-level positions of power who have adhered to the idea of efficiency over the value of watching out for those who have little to no power in the business juggernaut that is Amazon. The people without power make less in a week than what it costs to service a luxury automobile. Yet they push themselves to the point of exhaustion, and possible medical consequences, in order to keep their jobs. Is that the vision of Jeff Bezos? Then maybe he isn’t the “leader” that he and others claim he is.
I can’t stand the thought of high school girls, some the victim of sexual abuse since early childhood, being repeatedly raped by Catholic Priests who told them that they were worthless in the eyes of God. Playing on their faith and exploiting the fact that someone else had committed heinous acts of violence against them. I can only shake my head that evil done in the name of religion is not constrained to what happened prior to the middle ages. I confess that I did not possess the strength of character to continue watching the next episodes of the documentary. Being comfortable with injustice shouldn’t be standard operating procedure for any of us.
As we look around the world in which we now live, I hope we all make an effort to understand what good leadership is and why it is so important for us in all aspects of life. Holding those in power accountable is hard, messy, and full of challenges.
I can’t help but wonder, can we afford not to?
- M
The thoughts and ideas expressed in this essay are the opinions of the author.
Copyright © 2021 - Malcolm Bolivar. All Rights Reserved.