This Election Cycle—What Are We Communicating to Our Young?

What a crazy election year it’s been. I have been voting for a presidential candidate since 1980, and I’ve never seen anything like it. A presidential assassination attempt days before his party’s convention, an 81-year-old candidate deciding to drop out just months before his party’s convention, opening the door for a minority woman to run.

I’d like to return, however, to the debate last month to offer my biggest beef.

Now that we’ve heard the pundits assess both President Biden and Trump after their debate last month, I felt something was missing.

Everyone said the obvious:

  • People questioned Donald Trump’s accuracy.

  • People questioned Joe Biden’s acumen.

Sadly, I heard no one mention what I consider to be the most important takeaway from the debate. Amidst the drama, let’s not miss the glaring leadership lessons for all of us.

First, we all know both candidates are beyond retirement age.

Call them senior citizens. I have nothing against elders—I’m heading in that direction myself. But to remain in office eight decades into your life and to focus on staying in power rather than passing the baton to someone younger seems wrong to me. It showed. Mr. Trump got his facts wrong, and Mr. Biden couldn’t complete some of his thoughts. Is this the best we’ve got to show to younger generations? What message are we sending? Let me summarize it: hold on to your power as long as you can, stay in the spotlight as long as you can and keep grasping for more money as long as you can. This is pitifully short-sighted.

Is this the message and model we want to give to our young?

Second, let’s be honest. The candidates were inaccurate and hyperbolic in the debate.

Both called each other the worst president in U.S. history. They exaggerated numbers and lied about facts, modeling for young people that leaders (at least political leaders) don’t need to worry about the truth or getting the issues right. Accuracy and honesty appear to be outdated. What’s worse—this has been normalized. Social media rants leave us with a different report card. To get heard, just exaggerate in sound bites. No one seems to fact-check and correct wrong information. The winner needs only to shout louder than his opponents. Do we realize our youth will eventually stop believing us? The debaters noted our worry over inflation. I think the inflation of our words is an even bigger concern.

Is this the message and model we want to give to our young?

Third, the way our federal government recklessly spends our taxes seems to imply self-absorption and image-building.

We can’t seem to delay gratification. Case study: both presidents are guilty of increasing the national debt. But we demand it. The programs (sometimes special interest programs) that we feel we deserve, intoxicate us. It seems we care more about ourselves than we do our children and grandchildren. We will be handing off a national debt to the tune of $35 trillion dollars. My question is: can we expect our kids and grandkids to manage money well if we can’t as their elders? Instead of following the wisdom of my parents’ generation: pay now, play later, we tend to live by: play now, pay later. Except that the bills to be paid later will be inherited by our offspring. It is selfish and sad.

Is this the message and model we want to give to our young?

Capturing a Long-term, Big Picture Perspective

To be honest, I wouldn’t want to trade places with Joe Biden or Donald Trump. They’ve shown incredible tenacity to be running for office eight decades into their life. I wonder, however, if their time might be better spent investing somewhere else. My hat’s off to Joe for dropping out of the race, albeit under pressure from his own party.

Over fifty years ago, British psychologist Raymond Cattell revealed his research on our brains. He taught us that our brains morph as we age, moving from fluid intelligence to crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is prominent in our first half of life and crystalized intelligence is prominent in our second half.

  • Fluid intelligence is about innovating, learning, and adapting.

  • Crystallized intelligence is about summarizing, clarifying, and teaching.

In short, once we reach mid-life, we should spend increasing hours coaching younger team members. I founded a non-profit called Growing Leaders twenty-one years ago. While I am not yet 65 years old, I’ve already turned it over to younger staff who will take it further than I did. My primary role at this point is to mentor. I did not quit, but I did redirect my energy. I moved from adding to multiplying value.

What if our government leaders, business leaders, educational leaders and non-profit leaders all became consumed with our future, not their status? What if they cared less about staying in power and instead began to empower younger generations? Their legacy, then, would be remembered for giving away power not gripping it as long as they could.

What if you and I identified younger team members (or our kids) and made time to invest in them one-on-one? Our legacy could be enhanced and their memory of us would be far, far better.


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