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Executive Times |
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2007 Book Reviews |
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Where
Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca |
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Rating: |
*** |
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(Recommended) |
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Click on
title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
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Blunt What kind of
cigar is Lee Iacocca smoking on the cover of his new book, Where
Have All the Leaders Gone? If the cover is meant to reflect the text, it’s
probably blunt. From the beginning to the end of this book, Iacocca is
outspoken and outraged about the paucity of leadership on a variety of
significant issues. His emotions flow on every page, and he can often be
inspiring, given his indefatigable optimism. Here’s an excerpt, all of
Chapter 4, “Aren’t We Supposed to be the Good
Guys?” pp. 33-38: I’ve had a
new word added to my vocabulary. The word is waterboarding. I kind of wish I’d never heard of
it. No, it’s not a new sport. It’s a method of torture that involves dunking
a prisoner underwater until he almost drowns, then pulling him up for
air—and repeating the process until he talks. It can give you nightmares if
you spend too much time thinking about methods of torture. But what really gives me nightmares is finding
out that the Hey,
aren’t we supposed to be the good guys? Look, I’m
not naïve. I know war is hell. As General George Patton used to remind his
troops during World War II, war is about killing.
It’s bloody. But even in war, our nation has always chosen to uphold a
certain moral code. We have declared that we are not going to become the evil we are fighting. I’d
like someone to explain to me how torturing prisoners has become the American
way. And don’t
try to sell me that line of bull about how September 11 changed the rules of
the game. September 11 was a horrible day. It was an act of unimaginable
evil. But I just don’t buy it that because a group of terrorists attacked us
on September 11, we’re suddenly justified in torturing people. I don’t buy
it that it’s patriotic to pull people off the street and hold them
indefinitely—and maybe forever—without even
having to tell them why. Or ship them off to secret prisons in It’s
pretty sad to think we’ve come to this point. It makes you nostalgic for the
leaders of the past. I can
still remember how things were right after we defeated the Nazis in World War
II. We had captured some of Hitler’s top henchmen, and everyone was wondering
what we were going to do with them. These were guys who had ordered the
murder of millions of innocent people in concentration camps. These were guys
who had conducted cruel medical experiments on little children. They were
evil, in the truest sense of the word. A lot of people thought we should just
line them up and shoot them, or turn them over to the concentration camp
survivors and let them be torn apart. Emotions ran pretty high. Would anyone
really have objected to torturing those sons of bitches? I doubt it. But we
had leaders then who reminded us of our higher ideals. Winston Churchill and
Harry Truman insisted on holding the Nuremberg Trials. Think about it. We
took the worst criminals of our times and we put them in a court of law. We
gave them lawyers. We didn’t become the
evil we were fighting. I also
remember a few years later when the Until now. Vice
President Cheney has argued in favor of torture. He said, “We have to work
through, sort of, the dark side.” Sort of
the dark side? Hey, I have news for Cheney. There’s no sort of about it. Torture is
the dark side. I can’t
believe we’re even having a discussion about whether it’s okay to torture
prisoners. The people who think torture is okay seem to get most of their
examples from the movies or TV dramas. They always give some outlandish example,
like, if you were holding a guy who knew of a plot to blow up By the
way, morality aside, I think we have to ask this question—even when we’re
talking about torture: Does it work? Most
experts on the subject say that under torture a prisoner will tell you
anything you want to hear. But it won’t necessarily be true. And that’s
what’s really pathetic about this whole mess. We’re trashing our principles,
and we’re not even getting anything in return. I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK When I say I’m proud to be
an American, what I mean is that I’m proud to live in a nation that is a
force for good in the world. I’m proud to live in a nation that values human
life. I’m proud to live in a nation where we “hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness.” We don’t
say “some” men. We don’t say
“except when we decide you’re evil.” How did we lose our way? LET’S START BY TONING
DOWN THE RHETORIC Words
matter. Winston Churchill, one of the great orators of the twentieth century,
put it this way: “Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. Abandoned by his
party, betrayed by his friends, stripped of his office, whoever can command
this power is still formidable.” Words can
inspire. They can lift us to heights we never dreamed possible. Words can
also provoke fear and rage. They can pound people into the ground. A true
leader always strives to inspire. That doesn’t mean he can’t express outrage.
But he motivates people to act by appealing to the good in their hearts, not the evil
in the hearts of others. He motivates people with possibility, not with
threats. President Dwight Eisenhower once said, “You don’t lead by hitting
people over the head. That’s assault, not leadership.” If you
want to know how we got to the point of condoning torture, all you have to do
is look at the trail of rhetoric from our leader: Axis of
evil Mushroom
cloud Shock
and awe Wanted,
dead or alive Ticking
time bombs Enemies
of freedom The
forces of darkness and tyranny You’re with
us or against us Bring ‘em on Do you start to see a theme
here? We can’t bully the world into submission. We can’t expect to win
cooperation by calling people evil. You don’t have to talk tough in order to be tough.
I have a simple piece of advice for President Bush: Fire the goddamned
speechwriters! Look, this
planet is a crowded place, and the only way we’re going to survive is to
learn to get along with one another. Now, you can decide that the way to lead
is to knock off all the people you think are against you, but that’s never
really worked, has it? And it’s not what democracy is all about. It’s time
to get back to basics. What is democracy, anyway? Who are we as a people? Are we willing to
do what it takes to be the good guys? Iacocca also
fesses up to some of the mistakes he’s made in retirement on these pages, and
gives his candid appraisal of the current crop of presidential aspirants. Where
Have All the Leaders Gone? will please many
readers, while some will dismiss Iacocca as tired and irrelevant. During a
time when most public figures are cautious about what they day, Iacocca
breathes fresh air into challenging issues, and presents a common sense,
plain-speaking alternative to the spin-controlled rhetoric heard far too
often. Steve Hopkins,
June 25, 2007 |
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The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the July 2007
issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/Where
Have All the Leaders Gone.htm For Reprint Permission,
Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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