Those who want the government to provide healthcare are right – and wrong. Those who want to turn things over to private markets are right – and wrong. And each “camp” is wrong to excoriate the other camp. Further, each camp is wrong for the same reason – they do not understand and do not practice systems thinking. They do not have their “minds wrapped around this problem” properly. Screaming at each other, sticking to tired old dogma and ideological positions is not helpful.

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Women are achieving more college degrees than men. Very young girls are doing better than very young boys in school. Look under the hood and you will find that this most recent recession was significantly harder on men than on women. Men, apparently, do not “re-tool” themselves very well. In the so-called “backward” countries, the population’s desire for a first born son is going way down. So what does this do for diversity?

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So I have made my decision, finally. After much deliberation, observation and contemplation I’ve decided an 1873 invention by Latham Sholes is too important for me to ignore. Now 1873 is just a bit before I was born, and here we are some 137 years later and Mr. Latham Sholes is causing me to pick, one kind of PC over another. It’s a long story but those of you who follow the history of technology already know where this is going.

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I’ve been in the Nashville, TN area since the 29th and leaving for home tomorrow the 9th. The trip is centered around visiting with my father and attempting to square away some “elder-care issues” to help my sister who normally handles that work. While I’m the oldest of the four children, Debbi is the oldest daughter and when Mom died Dad moved from Florida to Tennessee to be closer to Debbi. That was a very smart move on his part and my sister is delighted (most of the time) to be able to help him. This trip has put some things in perspective and while I’m sure many of you have already been through this process, I’ll share anyway and perhaps it will be useful for some who have not yet gone through the elder-care process. And, as is my want, I will stretch things to find a few analogies about leadership from my observations. So here’s some “lessons learned” from this trip.

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Antony Ladd was recently referred to me by a trusted colleague. So Antony and I got together and came to know each other a bit. He’s got a unique view of what’s going on here in the U.S. He is from the UK. As we discussed his situation, it became clear that he is a very senior executive with a great deal of operational experience. He is amused by the “deer in the headlight” look of many American business executives these days.

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WARNING: Geek-speak is about to happen in this blog and it’s not really about leadership (at least not directly). I think this is more about catharsis than it is about anything else, yet some of you may be amused by the trials and tribulations of a died-in-the-wool technologist, suffering at the hands of technology.

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A colleague was complaining that “Obama is bashing business” and it wasn’t fair. He plans on punishing those who don’t support business by “voting the %^$*#&’s out of office.” I don’t see it that way. What I see is that business owners and C-suite folks need to think about this a bit more. Here’s why. Successful politicians are successful because they READ (as opposed to LEAD) the public. Rarely will a politician last if s/he gets too far out in front of the people.

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Depending on your point of view, we in the USA are either cruelly over taxed or don’t pay our fair share of Federal Taxes. The TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party crew thinks we are over taxed. I like to make sure I take advantage of all the tax breaks I can find, but in the end, I’m grateful for the fact that we earn enough income to have to pay taxes. My spouse and I also expressed liking to actually sign the checks to pay our bills. No on-line checking for us. How crazy is that?

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“We,” that is the royal we, are apparently in no mood to put up with politicians, greedy executives and big bankers on Wall Street. Main street, as the saying goes, “hates” Wall Street. No leader of big organizations (including religious and other not-for-profits) or small business owner is exempt from this disgust with the rich and powerful. How did all this happen?

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