Can a Politician also be a Leader in Canada today? My thoughts on the missing link...

Can a politician also be a leader in today's political climate? I used the title because more and more I'm wondering if national leaders can be found in politics today. As a proud Canadian, I was watching a panel earlier this week on CBC's Power & Politics. They were musing about the "Top Moves of 2018". Here were some of the news items that the diverse panel seemed to reach some consensus on:

Top Move Talking Point: BC's Premier Horgan blocking the expansion construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline

Panel Consensus: Great political move for Horgan's longevity as provincial premier. Bad for Canada.

Top Move Talking Point: The Prime Minister throwing money at the Oil Patch to the tune of 1.9 billion dollars while refusing to commit to a timeline to address things like additional rail capacity or beginning construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline that might actually solve the economic problem.

Panel Consensus: Trudeau had to be seen as doing something. But given his voting base he couldn't be seen as doing the things that would really help going into next year's federal election. Right move for him. Sorry Canada, bad news for you.

Top Move Talking Point: Newly Elected Quebec Premier Francois Legault's statement calling Alberta's resources "Dirty Oil" and that Quebec has zero social accountability to Canadian fossil fuels and allowing the Energy East Pipeline to take Canadian crude to the Irving refinery in News Brunswick.

Panel Consensus: Great move for his provincial popularity. Sorry Canada, maybe you'll achieve your full potential next life.

It seems to me that political leadership today is more about leading a party and its people to power and personal gain, then it is leading a country to its potential. That trend is dangerous. I don't like it.

If you've ever worked in a company full of silos you know what it feels like to be in an environment where everyone is just out for themselves. It isn't a great place to be. It pits really good people against each other and after a while really good people start to behave really badly. Results suffer. I've had the chance to travel Canada from Coast to Coast and work with Canadians of all regions in the workshops i do. Can I remind everyone that Canada is chalk full of great people from coast to coast.

As a result of the environment that today's politics have created we are starting to see that polarization and bickering in Canada based on a number of factors, a couple of which are:

1. Provincial: I was born in Ontario but have lived in Alberta for 30 plus years. I've never ever seen the amount of anger, frustration and separatist sentiment/talk in my home province that I'm seeing today. Just the other day. Truckers formed a convoy 22 km long to voice that anger. In the East you have a premier bashing his very own country's resources. That is like your company's VP Sales going out on a world tour and bashing your product to your customers.
2. Urban / Rural: This a growing issue not only in Canada but for our friends and neighbours in the USA. Rural people feeling left out and unheard in their government houses of power because they don't feel their vote counts for anything. The result is the potentially dangerous rise of populist leaders across North America and Europe.

So enough complaining. What is an answer? How do we turn things around?

My thought: Canada doesn't need more politicians. It needs more leaders.

There is one ingredient that I believe is missing in our national politics today that can take the same motley crew of self serving politicians we currently have across the country and turn them into the leaders we desperately need to guide this nation towards the awesome parts of untapped potential it has. It is the same ingredient that is missing in many organizations and can turn those self serving silo kings & queens into leaders that tap into their company's potential.

That ingredient: Vision

There is an old proverb that says that where this is no vision people perish. I agree. Totally & completely.

While Vision is everyone's responsibility and we'll all have one, if the corporate leader doesn't do a good job at communicating and reinforcing a common vision, individual visions will all be different and result in the bickering and infighting.

I want to talk about Vision from two angles:

1. The Power of a National or Corporate Vision

Most companies have a vision statement that tells the world who they want to be when they grow up. For example here is Amazon's: “to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”

What's the benefit of communicating and understanding a corporate vision? Well it helps everyone better prioritize their actions today towards their goals for tomorrow. Plainly put, when you have a destination you can finally build a map that takes you there. Today it seems like we are running around in circles. We show hints of knowing where we want to go but leaders are unwilling to lay out a firm map and timeline for fear it will cost them at the polls.

I've rarely heard a Canadian national leader campaign on a vision for the Canada they see in the future. The trouble with that is when you can't campaign "for" something you are always railing "against" something and the politics of derision thrive. Campaigns are largely focused on what that party will do to fix the problems of the day.

As a person living and loving Canada, I am proud of the legacy of innovation, hard work and progress that Canadians have contributed to this planet. To name just a few: A Canadian invented the light bulb. Canadians designed and built the space arm for NASA. Canadians are behind many of the technologies that allow both Canada and USA to be energy self-sufficient today. Canadians discovered & developed insulin to save millions of lives on the planet. It is a Canadian that is currently at the cutting edge of harnessing mega power in a battery. Finally, on a lighter side, yes it is a Canadian who brought the world the Wonder Bra.

Our history shows that a big part of the Canadian identity is found in its first three letters: CAN.

But lately, because of a lack of leaders and vision, the country I love is is starting to feel way more like CANTada then its true identity. Luckily I've learned not to manage by what I think and feel .. it gets you into trouble. The Canada I love still exists. Its heartbeat is still strong but we need leaders to nurture it.

So what would happen if part of the vision a National leader communicated for Canada was something like this:

"Canada will become a leader in the responsible innovation and development of energy sources for the economic and environmental benefit of not only its citizens but the world's."

That statement is inspiring, totally realistic given who we are as a nation and allows each region to contribute differently and uniquely to that national identity.

The truth is some Canadian provinces through a combination of natural gifts and policy are better set up to profit from today's definition of greener resources like wind, solar, nuclear etc while others are both blessed and in today's environment seemingly cursed to have an abundance of fossil fuels that have been the traditional source of global energy over the past century.

When you don't have a national vision you pit people against each other. Green vs Fossil, East vs West etc. Frankly I'm tired of the polarized nature of the resources discussion that is happening today.

Have you witnessed either or both these phenomena?

a) You tell someone you associate yourself with "Green". You are immediately labelled as being financially irresponsible and unrealistic. You are told you have bought into the biggest lie in the history of the world which is that Climate Change is real and threatens our planet. They write you off as a gullible idiot.

b) You tell someone you are for the expansion of the TransMountain Pipeline and support the families and workers across Canada's natural resource sector. Bad move because you are immediately seen as a heartless human being without a soul. Your only concern is money and to hell with the planet as long as you get through your retirement. Its about money, sex & cars baby. Thats you. They right you off as a selfish, greedy and sore excuse for a human being.

While those descriptions are admittedly somewhat extreme, I have both seen those reactions and had fun writing them down!

The judgmental attitude that comes with polarization obviously isn't healthy. It both destroys relationships and limits future potential by capping people's perspectives to what they currently see & know as they refuse to truly listen to any other point of view.

That leads me to the 2nd aspect of Vision i want to end this blog with:

2) Leaders should always help expand what people SEE.

I have a personal rule that I am always open to feedback. I know that the perspective of this blog comes from a heartfelt place which is what I genuinely see today. The danger of that is that I and actually no one on the face of this planet has to themselves a complete 360 degree view of any issue. The power in any corporate body or nation is the ability for the diversity in that body to teach each other. I believe a communicated and common vision for any body(corporate or country) allows people to be open to listening to those diverse opinions.

When leaders don't create environments that expand the vision of its occupants through the intentional and regular exposure to new things people can become increasingly entrenched in their own limited views.

Here are a couple practical and current examples of how it could play out.

1) Quebec Premier Legault labels Canadian resources as "Dirty & Unclean". In the absence of exposure to any other facts, Quebecers might associate that with visions like the horrible tragedy in Lac Megantic and fall into line with their premier's communicated vision. The result will be an increasing unwillingness to colloborate in getting other province's resources to market. And truthfully, if what they believed was actually the truth, you wouldn't blame them.

2) Ontario was the first province to commit from a structural point of view to a Green Economy. I heard they are already around 80 percent there towards meeting the Paris Climate Accord targets. But many Ontarians found that fact hard to celebrate as they increasingly live in a state of "energy poverty" illustrated by single mom in Peterborough coming to a Justin Trudeau town hall asking how she was supposed to make ends meet with a surging $1500 a month energy bill for the starter home she had recently managed to save up for and buy. If you leaned towards being suspicious of Green and Climate Change those events could be used to justify your complete unwillingness to even explore if the Ontario example represented the honest reality of the case for Green or was a bad implementation of a plan that could otherwise work.

The sad result of entrenched rigid views like these will be increased animosity between provinces and its people. Canada won't be able to be competitive on the world stage because it can't get its own team in order.

It's doubly sad because so often what we see is neither complete nor the truth.

Here are some facts that should expand the "view" of both sides of the energy discussion in Canada if you are willing to consider them.

1. Canadian Oilsands are in fact some of the most responsibly developed fossil fuel sites in the world. I had the fortune of sitting next to a global environmentalist on a flight from LA last year. We got talking and what she said wasn't what I expected to hear. "Energy companies, especially in Canada and the USA are the not issue. They actively engage people like me to pursue environmental solutions to their activities in an attempt to minimize their impact on the environment. Northern Oilsands are some of the most responsibly developed oil assets on the planet. They are the wrong target. The assault on them is not motivated by the environment, its very much motivated by competitors and financial incentive to limit Canada's competiveness in the global market. If you want the truth, the real issues to global environment are over population and exploding consumerism"
2. If you see fossil fuels in the future the same as they've been in the past, you are throwing out the diamond with the rough. Just as in most every industry today, technology is a disruptor and game changer. For example, I personally have toured and seen new working technology that will completely eliminate emissions from oilfield pumping sites while also offering resource companies substantial cost savings on the alternative.
3. Green Energy companies are one of the leading sources of great paying new jobs both in the USA and provinces like British Columbia & Ontario. They are and can be a tremendous new source of economic prosperity for regions that embrace them.

The problem with limited vision is that you have trouble seeing a win/win. It creates an environment where you feel that if they win, you lose and they feel if you win, they lose. In Canada today for example, it almost seems like provinces feel that somehow if Alberta succeeds in getting their resources to tidewater that BC will lose the ability to develop Green initiatives that are a part of their identity, that Quebec will lose the ability to successfully develop and market Hydro, that Ontario will have to shut the doors on the new Green industries they've worked hard to develop. Put your emotions aside and one quickly sees that is nonsense.

Canada, the truth is you are bigger than that. Way bigger. What would happen if a well communicated Vision for this country allowed room for each and every one of those and they weren't seen as opposing each other but rather supporting each other to fulfill a common vision?

That is the power of a leader who communicates vision. They give purpose to every part of the organization even when those parts have different authenticities.

My point: Stand up Canada. Innovation and Excellence are in our DNA. Stop focusing on what we can't do and drive home the things we CAN. Our soldiers at Vimy Ridge did what others couldn't and thus thought couldn't be done.. they found a way to overcome. So CAN we.

So with the CAN part of Canada in mind, here are some things I see for our nation, You don't have to agree but i'm asking you step back from any entrenched opinions you may currently have long enough to truly consider and weigh them:

1) I see us able to be leaders in the innovation and adaptation of new energy sources. We'll show the world how to do it right by delivering in the right timing, environmental excellence with economic opportunity for its people.

2) I see Canada as a leader in developing and implementing technology that dramatically changes the environmental footprint of fossil fuels. Those fuels and technology will be much needed much by developing countries who are taking the step of transitioning away from older forms of energy. I see Canada as a place with a lower reliance on fossil fuels ongoing but with a thriving export business that helps other countries develop responsibly.

3) I see Canada actually being a disruptor in the global energy marketplace by developing that technology that eliminates the vast majority of negative environmental implications the development of fossil fuels have today. What if Canadians through innovation took fossil fuels out of the "bad and must get rid column" and our education, health and other social systems could benefit from the wealth that would come from not shutting down the resources our country is blessed with?

3) I see a Canada where each province uses its natural strengths towards a common vision of being a world leader in environmental stewardship across all areas of energy. Environmental stewardship that creates an economic advantage as we export technology and clean fuels to all other parts of the world.

My Christmas Wish is: Canada, stop looking at either or and embrace the word AND.

Responsible development of our fossil fuels AND the innovation of new energy sources for the future.

BC / Ontario's expanding green sector AND Alberta / Saskatchewan / Quebec / Newfoundland's powerful resource sector.

Either / or pits us against each other and robs all of us of our potential. And allows for the strategic development of each region according to its strengths. And creates an environment where regions don't feel threatened by others rather open to collaboration where they can help/aid each other's success for the benefit of all.

What's required to make this happen?

Leaders with a Vision.

As we set to enter 2019 and a Federal Election, let Vision be one of the things you vet your candidates for. If they don't have one, they shouldn't get your vote.

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and every success in 2019!

David