Every decade or so I find myself writing that we need leaders
now as never before. That seems especially true as I write this,
observing the worried malaise that the country seems unable to
shake off in the final months of the Bush administration.
Others share my concern. A 2007 study of confidence in lead-
ership found that 77 percent of participants felt the United
States was in the midst of a leadership crisis. Slightly more (79
percent) thought the country would decline if it did not find
better leaders. The 2008 survey, taken prior to the national
election, showed results that were significantly worse. (The
study was conducted by the Center for Public Leadership at
Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and U.S.
News & World Report.)
A major reason for this downbeat view was the spectacular
failure of the presidency of George W. Bush (although nobody
was very happy with Congress either). When I wrote the intro-
duction to the previous edition, the new president had recently
delivered his most eloquent speech—his 2001 address to Con-
gress in the wake of the awful terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11. That speech, which
inspired hope about Bush’s ability to lead in difficult times, was
the high point of his administration.
Unfortunately for the nation, failure followed failure during
Bush’s two long terms in office. Invading Iraq on questionable
grounds and failing to plan for the postinvasion were among
the most egregious. Others included the shockingly inadequate
response to Hurricane Katrina, the erosion of the nation’s
moral stature in the world, the assault on the rights of Ameri-
can citizens, the economic catastrophe—the list goes on and
on. Unfortunately, in large part because of the administration’s
reflexive lack of transparency, we still know very little about the
On Becoming a Leader