was the corrosive drip, drip, drip of privatization unchecked by
effective oversight. It caused the outsourcing of much of the
war in Iraq, inadequate oversight of the financial sector and
other industries, and the stealthy semiprivatization of Medicare
and other government programs. The administration’s overt
partisanship also harmed the Justice Department and other tra-
ditionally apolitical government departments that had proud
histories of striving to be meritocracies. Moreover, by acting
less like the president of the nation than of the conservative
wing of the Republican Party, Bush further polarized an already
badly divided country. There is a lesson here that transcends
any single administration, Republican or Democratic. Ideologi-
cally charged approaches rarely solve complex problems. Great
leaders do not try to impose an ideological template, right- or
left-leaning, on problems. First-rate leaders know that every
problem is thorny in its own way and inclusively and collabora-
tively find solutions that reflect the unique realities at hand.
In short, between my last introduction to On Becoming a
Leaderand this epilogue, the context that I urge every reader
to master has changed dramatically. Optimism has been
tested by a protracted war, economic pain, and a polarized cit-
izenry. Given this new context, it is not surprising that the
U.S. presidential election of 2008 was a riveting cliff-hanger.
You didn’t have to be a student of leadership to be fascinated
by the race. It was as important a contest as any in American
history. And it was addictive. As the seemingly endless cam-
paign approached the election on November 4, the media ran
stories on election junkies who spent so much time reading
political blogs that their work suffered and relationships
frayed. Candidates began to pop up in the dreams of those
who watched too much political coverage on-line or on TV.
On Becoming a Leader