Most of the really important things I’ve ever learned about being a good leader I leaned when things were tough. Sometimes I learned from those I looked up to as my leaders and other times when the responsibility of leadership fell to me. Of all the specific lessons I ever learned over the years about effective leadership a few stick out in my mind and the one that seems to be on my mind most these days is this: The really great leaders always  “deliver the bad news, honestly, on time and with compassion.”

This sounds a lot easier then it is, however, if you commit to this idea you will be fulfilling one of the most difficult responsibilities real leadership requires.  In addition, I promise, despite any short term reaction, you’ll earn the admiration and respect of those you lead, those you serve and most importantly, yourself.

I’ve not always lived up to this ideal myself and while there has been the rare occasion when sparing someone’s feelings was more important than the truth, most of the time I failed in this regard because I lacked the courage to tell myself and the folks I lead what they didn’t want to hear or that I had failed to deliver what I had promised.  In all these cases I regret my mistake and my lack of courage.

I was just thinking last night as I lay in bed just how much our country could use a guy like this in the White House.  Yes, we need our next President to inspire us, however, we also need someone who is willing to risk it all by telling us what we don’t want to hear.  That type of leadership inspires me.

I hope that whoever we pick in November as our next president that he has the courage I seem to so often lack.

W. W. A. D.?  What Would Atticus Do?  If that name Atticus doesn’t grab you right away, it’s from the character Atticus Finch from Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize winning novel  “To Kill a Mocking Bird.” Played by Gregory Peck in the movie, Atticus was a widower raising two young children in the deep south during the Great Depression. He was an attorney fighting racism and bigotry and he was armed only with his intelligence, his dignity and his faith in the goodness of his fellow man.

So powerful was the impact he made on viewers (changed my life) that when the American Film Institute (“AFI”) polled it’s members and asked them to rank the Top 50 Movie Heroes of all time, surprisingly to all,  Atticus Finch was ranked #1.  Can you imagine? Frankly, it’s times like these that restore my faith in my fellow man.

Over the coming months I will be looking at the behavior of our leaders and one of the ways I will be measuring their behavior will be with this simple question:  What Would Atticus Do…W.W.A.D?

Next time you’re in a pickle and can’t quite decide what the right thing to do is – you might ask yourself. I do all the time and the one thing I’ve learned about myself is that as hard as I try, I’m no Atticus Finch!

Talk to you next time.