Business
Keir Starmer PM – is he a force for good?
All politicians are liars. None of them can be trusted. Real? Is this true? I do not think so. There is certainly room for improvement in the overall trustworthiness of our political leaders.
As someone who has spent the last seven years campaigning for greater reliability in leadership, I understand the frustration thousands of people felt as they went to their polling booth yesterday. What is the point? Nothing will change, no matter who is in Downing Street and so on…
But today we wake up to a new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. Will Sir Keir be the perfect leader for this country? No. But is he a force for good? Is he on his own at heart, or is he one of those rare leaders driven by a higher purpose to make the world a better place? Time will tell, but our job is to keep alive the hope that some leaders will be a force for good, because without this hope we sink into cynicism, bitterness and despair.
Regardless of my position, I believe that ‘in every leader there is a force for good and a force for evil. Which one wins? The one who feeds you’. We all have the seed of goodness within us, but the bigger question is how to nurture that seed so that it grows into the good habits that sustain a purpose-driven leader and keep them motivated, resilient and authentic through the ups and downs of their lives . organizational life. As Keir Starmer explains his position as Prime Minister, I recommend a three-pronged diet:
UP – He must identify, serve, remain connected to, and feel the fulfillment of his higher calling in public office
IN – He must remain motivated, resilient and energetic to sustain the journey throughout his full term
OUT – He must take his cabinet, his party and the country with him on his journey as he pursues the goals of his premiership
Like all leaders, he will be a kind of ‘stool with two legs’. In other words, he will be naturally strong on two of the UP, IN or OUT of purposeful leadership and weaker on the third dimension. Having seen him in action during the campaign, I suspect he has a “Martyr” leadership profile. In other words, I don’t doubt his passionate sense of mission (UP), or his ability to work hard to bring people along on the journey (OUT), but I worry he may burn out halfway through the journey. The Prime Minister’s job is uniquely lonely, brutal and demanding. With this in mind, he must focus on the IN aspects of purposeful leadership to ensure he can run the full marathon and seize the prize.
Perhaps the highest vision Keir Starmer could set for his time as leader of our country is to become a force multiplier – a leader who ignites in us the desire to become a force for good ourselves. We know that transforming our country will take more than one great leader; it will take thousands of us to rediscover the hope that tomorrow could be better than today – a hope that many of us have lost through the trials and tribulations of recent years.
