let Bush have it in a way that everyone would understand for
questioning his patriotism. This gets back to Dukakis’s in-
stincts. For a man who has been in politics for some time, he
shows a curious lack of political instinct—of spontaneity, of
knowing just what to do at the right moment, of feel. A Presi-
dent must have feel—but it’s not clear that either candidate for
President has it.”
- Leaders see the long view. They have patience. At 89, the
late Armand Hammer said that he sets his long-range plans for
only ten years in advance now, because he wants to be around
to see them happen. In her 40s, Barbara Corday knew she had
time to find a new job, or even a new career. The Japanese are
patient almost beyond our conception—one company I know
of has a 250-year plan.
Even Wall Street occasionally rewards a long-term per-
spective. In the late 1980s, Michael Eisner of Disney sent
Robert Fitzpatrick to France to head up the new EuroDisney
project, anticipating the realization of the European Union in - Disney stock rose as a result of Eisner’s ability to think
ahead. CalFed, too, prepared for what may be the largest sin-
gle market on the planet. CalFed opened a bank in England
in the late 1980s and added others in Brussels, Barcelona,
Paris, and Vienna, in anticipation of a single Europe. - Leaders understand stakeholder symmetry. They know that
they must balance the competing claims of all the groups with a
stake in the corporation. Jim O’Toole, in his book Vanguard
Management, calls stakeholder symmetry the first of the princi-
ples followed by the best corporations. He quotes the late
Thornton Bradshaw, former president of Arco:
Every decision at my desk is influenced by some, and at times
many, of the following: the possible impact on public opinion;Forging the Future