One has to try to find compromises with mutual respect, but also with a clear opinion. That’s politics [and leadership] – always looking to find a common way forward. ~Angela Merkel

I wrote my first blog post on leadership in August of 2011. That means I’ve now blogged through a number of election cycles. I scanned my blog posts around previous elections and unfortunately, not a lot has changed. We seem to be stuck. Maybe even losing ground when it comes to Merkel’s perspective – “always looking to find a common way forward.”

When you think about it, through the electoral process we are collectively making some very significant decisions. Yet, the politicians aren’t appealing to our ability to make decisions through careful discernment. They are manipulating us through emotional appeals. Unfortunately, because that’s a very successful strategy when your primary goal is short-term: “to win.”

Author John P. Kotter begins Leading Change with this statement: “The single most important message in this book is very simple. People change what they do less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.” All those “truths” about their opponents that candidates are blasting at us 24/7 to influence our feelings.

Real diversity is experiential capacity.

Quentin Schultze offered me the opportunity to read a manuscript for a book he’s now published, 30 Days to Great Communication for Leaders. I came across this sentence: “Real diversity is experiential capacity.”

“…diversity comes from the inside of people, not from the outside. Diversity has more to do with culture than color. Real diversity is experiential capacity. Perhaps we servant leaders have to stretch beyond contemporary notions of diversity that are limited by simplistic categories (30 Days to Great Communication for Leaders by Quentin Schultze).”

The more politicians keep us on their side, the less likely we will be to participate in real diversity as Schultze describes through experiential capacity. If politicians can limit our experiential capacity, they can more successfully influence our feelings. Hence, get our vote (a very short-term mindset).

Learn how to reason with one another.

During previous election cycles I’ve quoted N.T. Wright a number of times. Wright said, “We need to learn how to reason with one another. When you don’t have reason, you just collapse into a subhuman morass of non-engagement.” Wow, that still sounds all too familiar.

Leadership: always looking to find a common way forward.

Maybe there’s hope. Leadership from the bottom up. I stood in line this year to vote longer than any previous year. The line extended outside, in the rain, and yet everyone seemed to be taking the situation in stride. We followed the directions as the line weaved back and forth through the lobby to keep us dry. Not only were people coming out in record numbers, we were adding to our experiential capacity by engaging in conversation with people we didn’t know. We were all there to exercise our right “to vote” – to find a common way forward.

If as leaders we simply practice reasoning with one another and stretch our experiential capacity, I believe that “always looking to find a common way forward” may not be that far out of reach.