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Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics by Al Sikes

March 30, 2020 by Al Sikes Leave a Comment

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, has noted that with infectious diseases you are always behind. Translated, we do not know as individuals the likely trajectory of Covid19 and of most concern the health care professionals do not know. At least they are humble enough to say so and informed enough to talk intelligently about the variables.

I watch with some pain much of the news. Most news professionals are generalists; if they are better informed than their audience, it is about what questions to ask politicians. And that brings me around to my opinion.

Unsolicited advice to President Trump. You do not want to play Sun King when unknowable is in charge. It is like betting a single number in roulette. And in your case you are betting lives.

Similar advice to the media. Send your reporters to our good allies, South Korea and Italy. Their systems and institutions are relatively open; they think well of us and will share their insights. And most importantly, their cycles are ahead of ours and we can learn from their scrambles to adapt. Similarly watch our domestic hotspots.

A signal advantage of our federal system of government is diversity of response to challenges; it is our laboratory. Cover the daily show from the White House, but cover much more what is happening on the domestic front lines. It is on those vivid lines that lessons will be first learned and hero’s first discovered—in short, that is where much of the real drama is located.

The numbers today, and I am typing on March 29th, show that many more young people are showing up in the statistics. It is no wonder. For weeks the elderly have been told the virus is lethal. Let’s see, should I go to a bar at the risk of death?

Conversely, the message to the young has been the reverse. The content of messages makes a difference and those who don’t know should be very careful. I will add, given circumstances, partisan name-calling is not only boorish but radically counter-productive. Hyper-partisan content is by its very nature laden with divisive and often misleading content.

We also need to understand our own weaknesses. We are inclined to hear what we want to hear and particularly if it is spoken by somebody we like. My advice: listen to Governor Larry Hogan. First, he checks his ego at the door. Secondly, he draws on some of the best health care professionals on the globe. Third, he is Chair of the National Governors Association. And finally, he is our neighbor.

One Further thought: the multi trillion dollar rescue packages will more than double the national debt. We are exceedingly fortunate as the U.S. dollar is the dominant international currency, giving us the most important economic crisis asset: liquidity. If we don’t want to lose this extraordinary advantage, we better move more and more of the response to hardship to neighbors caring for neighbors.

Even with the Federal Reserve, Congress, and the White House taking unprecedented actions to shore up the nation’s financial health, there will be many business and household shortfalls.

There is an online application referred to as crowdfunding or “go fund me.” We need to collectively put it to use so that those with liquidity can help those without.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

To Bruce, With Love by Al Sikes

March 26, 2020 by Al Sikes 2 Comments

The article headline in the New York Times was: “How Do Christians Fit Into the Two Party System? They Don’t.” The author, Tim Keller is the founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York.

I spent dozens of mornings with Tim in a small study group while living in New York City. His voice is deeply informed and telling. Tim’s essay in the Times, noted above, stated that the reason for separating faith and politics is to not create the impression that “those considering the Christian faith…need not only to believe in Jesus, but also to become members of the (fill in the blank) Party.”

Bruce Sundberg

Good Friday and Easter, indeed the Lenten season, are intended to replenish the soul. And, this moment in our history is for many, soul-wrenching. While our bodies need care, so do our souls – the physical needs the spiritual. Human distinctiveness is in many ways our soulful presence.

Most persons can, if pressed, provide a skeletal summary of Jesus’s life. Few, indeed a diminishing number, are students of his life—most of us are busy leading the only life we know for sure.

I will offer, however, a countervailing thought.

Early in my career life, I met Bruce Sundberg, who at the time had a Midwestern portfolio of Young Life organizations. He lived in St. Louis and was the staff hub of Young Life in Missouri and close-by States. Young Life is a Christian organization that, and I quote, “provides fun, adventurous life-changing and skill-building experiences.”

Bruce became not just a close friend, but also a spiritual presence in my life. His words were encouraging, but his presence was profound. As it is said, “he walked the talk.” His friendship guided me toward attempting to subordinate the challenges of my career to a faithful presence. I should add, “at least I tried.”

Bruce’s health is now in decline. My wife and I stay in touch through his loving wife, Beth. At an early point in their marriage they lived with their two daughters in the Philippines as they opened up Southeast Asia for Young Life.

Circling back to Tim Keller’s admonition about faith and politics, I can say for certain the former is a gift and the latter is too often an expression of our flaws. It would be perverse indeed if people thought the gateway to faith was somehow through political affiliation.

The divinity of Jesus, and that is my belief, is in part reflected in the extraordinary actions of His most devoted followers. Mother Teresa, for example, was informed by the transformational condition of belief, love. And when crisis, or simply hurt, confronts humanity, you find the Red Cross and so many caring organizations that were founded and continue to be led by the devout.

The world, before and after Jesus Christ, has a deep need for love. The events leading up to Good Friday and culminating with Easter are enduring gifts of God’s love. And to Bruce Sundberg, who has been a transcendent treasure in my life – Thank you.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

Reflections on the Crisis by Al Sikes

March 20, 2020 by Al Sikes

My mind wanders. Worlds are changed by severe crises. What will our many faceted world look like in 2021?

I have a faint recollection of the polio epidemic. And especially Jonas Salk and his invention, the Salk vaccine. It came over 60 years after the first polio epidemic occurred in Vermont.

Today our rhythms of life will not accept two years, much less 60; we are impatient after ten minutes. Impatience can be constructive energy. I suspect, looking back and forward, we will once again be in awe of the technologies that allow us to shrink time. Science, not opinion. Capitalism will also help.

One thing is certain; the world was not prepared for a biological threat even though, in a general sense, one had been forecast. Looking back, we prepared for a potential nuclear strike during the Cold War 60 years ago.

In September 1961, the Federal Government started the Community Fallout Shelter Program. A letter from President Kennedy advising the use of fallout shelters appeared in the September 1961 issue of Life magazine. The 1961 widely viewed thriller, Twilight Zone, featured an episode “The Shelter”, from a Rod Serling script, dealing with the consequences of actually using a shelter.

We, to the extent we think about it, believe we have shaped a world in which physical risk has largely given way to the psychological kind. If we take our shots and pills we will be okay. But what if there are no quick remedies and we are forced to change our lives—prepare?

What happens if the planet is critically ill? Humanity is much better with discrete and contained threats that submit to laser focus. When threats unfold, over time, our habitual reaction is that we can adapt—we are anesthetized by the present. We have, on reflection, seen this phenomenon often, as we have made nature subordinate and then found that something we did poisoned the water.

Perhaps our response to the virus portends some level of hope. Dr. Fauci comes to mind. Opinions on how concerned we should be have rained down. Police carry guns; politicians and pundits carry opinions, often informed by prejudices. Dr. Fauci has been data driven and succinct. He has been the first Federal Government spokesman in some time that chose not to edit his comments to make the President happy.

America has pivoted. At first it was said we could only use Center for Disease Control (CDC) test kits. As it became apparent there wasn’t an adequate supply, nationalism met its limits and we bought them from the World Health Organization (WHO).

COVID 19 quickly breached borders. Global supply chains were threatened. America’s citizenry discovered our pharmaceutical companies depend on China for the supply of some critical elements for important medications.

Is this a time for international organizations to invest their resources in renewal? I believe it is, but it must be based on equitable reciprocity.

What about rebalancing our spending or taxation as we emerge from this debt laden rescue? What about an adequate response to climate threats? What about a reengineered supply chain to reduce our dependence on foreign rivals?

What about an election process that rewards real performance and not the theatrical kind? Is it time to do some soul searching? Or is soul searching out? What happens when the physical leaves no room for the metaphysical? Or to put it another way, who has my back?

Let’s see: social distancing, no sports, no cruises, and staying at home. Whew!

Drama is the state of the affairs of humanity. Viruses mutate requiring medicine to catch up as we look on helplessly. The new, new thing arrives making jobs obsolete. Global supply chains break down. We find out that nothing we do is beyond the knowledge of the Masters of the Internet. And who knows, our neighbors might be infected so we forego neighborliness.

We are a bit over seven months away from choosing a new President. We need to do some real soul searching! Debate moderators need to ask 2021 questions.

Beyond Polarization

Perhaps a good project for Gallup or Pew or some polling/research firm would be a straightforward analysis of the universe of opinion writers. Each morning I browse a sample of news sites including Real Clear Politics. It is as if most of the writers are embedded in amber. At the risk of oversimplification, they divide along Trump lines. The President draws a vivid line each day and few of those who are given by-lines by news organizations cross the line regardless of the subject or action.

I wonder whether any of these worthies took courses in analytics, statistics or even history. Today’s divide is over diagnostic testing. Did the Federal Government effectively roll out methodical testing for Covid 19? It didn’t, but Trump apologists excuse him.

Presidents earn their marks in history as their decisions and actions are parsed by credible historians. Historians, as they look back, research the news. I wonder how the 4th Estate will be graded.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

Teenagers – Traps and Windows by Al Sikes

March 6, 2020 by Al Sikes

Perhaps all parents from the lens of the present are thankful their children were raised in an earlier time. Or, maybe not. It is hard to imagine the anguish of a parent hugging their child as he/she goes off to war.

But I know that analog parents worry about their digital children. The good, bad, and ugly seem infinite from the screen of a cell phone. And in the teen years curiosity fills the spectrum – the bad and the ugly will intrude.

Recently I visited with a friend who is a mother of teenagers. We talked about relationships and thinking. Her concerns were wholly human; technology was mostly on the periphery.

She looked back to her teenage years and recalled the necessity of working out problems in person, face-to-face. Today, she worries, misunderstandings often escalate as shallow text messaging or social media scrums are too often the intermediary. I would add that few careers are impersonal – social maturity is empowering. Person-to-person is the only way to reach enduring solutions.

We also talked about writing. Keyboard shorthand is quick and can be deadly. In a world filled with shades of colors, not just black and white answers, expression needs a vocabulary. Too often crude expressions displace vocabulary’s depth.

Especially in the early years gifted and demanding teachers are crucial. As I sought to express myself, I had to change the way I wrote. My earlier career experiences were as a lawyer. The style of expression was often formal and jargon-based. Later, an especially demanding book editor bruised my ego before my first book was published.

Plus, writing always has a judge in the feedback loop. Resume writing is judged by an employer. Legal writing by a judge. Business plans by investors. And as I write this essay, I know I will be judged by my neighbors.

Education improvement is too often monetized. We are told we need to spend based on numerical thresholds – spending per pupil, average salary of teachers and the like. The more useful debates will be much more granular. And from my perspective, they should start with language and how it is taught and used.

Pick a subject. Any subject. Then write, say, 400 words that others might find interesting or informative or preferably both. We, and we are all students, should be stretched well beyond our current skills because two things are happening. We are learning or improving an essential skill – self-expression – and if we do a thoughtful job, writing will teach us something we haven’t previously known. Writing and thinking are twins. We are forced to learn what we don’t know.

As I look back with the lens of the present, one thing is clear. I began my career when the job market was not in continual disruption. The youth of today enter a radically different jobs market where few traits are valued more than thinking and expression.

And, as I reflect on the discussion about teenagers, I see message apps and social media sites as traps. We should be looking for windows.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

What a Mess! By Al Sikes

February 28, 2020 by Al Sikes

What a mess! The law of unintended consequences (I assume) has consumed the most important selection process we engage, choosing a president. If the United States is the citadel of democracy, the non-authoritarian world is in trouble.

Let’s see. In 2020 we will elect the next Commander and Chief. He/she will be the first and final step in most consequential government decision-making. And, the most often viewed and heard human being in the world.

History tells us that America is at its peak of influence and power when there is a semblance of unity. Indeed, our over-arching theme is “out of many one.” When was the last time that occurred? We all know – it took smoldering ruins and body bags to unite us, and then the President, George W. Bush, led us in the wrong direction. Choices have consequences; so let me get back to choice.

We have chosen to give the two dominant political parties overwhelming advantages. Mathematically they have a 1 in 2 chance of winning. In business, they call that a duopoly and our laws do not favor that concentration of power. But here we are and the chances of structural change are slim.

Political party leaders must be enamored with Frankenstein. They have designed a process of campaigning that is long, arduous, costly, shaming, depleting and frequently arbitrary.

And, it is overseen by a press that recalls the warnings of Neil Postman. This is Wikipedia’s brief summary of his insight: “One of Postman’s most influential works is Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. In Amusing, Postman argued that by expressing ideas through visual imagery, television reduces politics, news, history, and other serious topics to entertainment. He worried that culture would decline if the people became an audience and their public business a “vaudeville act.” Postman also argued that television is destroying the “serious and rational public conversation” that was sustained for centuries by the printing press.”

There are, of course, global forces at work as well. Technological disruption has been fierce. The Arab Spring’s aftermath flooded Europe with immigrants and corruption in Mexico and much of Central America has resulted in a similar dynamic in the United States. Most, including persons who are pro-immigration, understand the destabilization that results. Among other things, labor watches as its pricing power deteriorates.

We live in times that challenge the most able political leaders. But we don’t live in times that encourage the most able to seek office and especially the office of President.

In 1952, America was in the third year of the Korean War and Harry Truman was President. Both Democrats and Republicans sensed a need for new leadership and began an effort to recruit General Dwight Eisenhower as their nominee. Eisenhower choose to seek the Republican nomination, was elected and served two terms.

Can you imagine Democrat and Republican leadership both recruiting the same person today? Yet, in many ways, the threats in 2020 are greater than those Americans faced in 1952. But today our political leadership is too often theatrical, polarized and petty. And we, the voters, are too often tribal to the point of applauding thoughtlessness and worse.

Our republic is 234 years old. Today’s technology tools allow us to mine America’s history in seconds. We can analyze the central government’s actions and fortunately have 50 states we can add to our universe of knowledge. Is it possible to seek more knowledge-based solutions?

Are there persons, who aspire to political leadership, who might shape a platform around efficacy? Would anybody listen? Indeed, is it even possible to package knowledge into debate sound bites and theatrics?

Recent debates have often featured attacks on capitalism. Yet, in capitalism efficacy matters—poor choices, poor results, jobs and capital lost. Politicians however, specialize in evasion and spending other people’s capital.

Businesses, at least those that are thriving, have adapted to the tectonic shifts. Indeed many of the most successful have caused them.

America will not get another Eisenhower. Persons acceptable to leaders of both parties no longer exist. Hopefully, knowledge tools and intuitive judgment might be fused to produce a far better selection process then we are now enduring.

Finally, I recall the words of Jim Lehrer, formerly of the Lehr NewsHour: “I am not in the entertainment business.” I would suggest that debate moderators study Jim Lehr, the moderator both parties recruited. At the very least we need better debates.

If you would like more background on Jim I invite you to read an earlier column.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

The Real Loser by Al Sikes

February 22, 2020 by Al Sikes

Confucius: “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”

The results are in. Michael Bloomberg will not be president. He, the pundits agreed, is a lousy debater and perforce, will be rejected in his campaign to be the nominee of the Democrat party. We’ll see.

The real loser last Wednesday evening was NBC/MSNBC. They produced a terrible debate. I was reminded of a cockfight (which is outlawed). According to Wikipedia “Being a spectator at a cockfight is prohibited in 43 states and the District of Columbia.” I wish I had known—several hours would have been saved.

The only way to have a real debate is with rules and enforced order. Talking over others should be ruled out of order. As should distracting hand-waving; I thought Elizabeth Warren might take flight. And there should be a timekeeper who muted microphones when time is up. But, not intending to write a handbook on debate rules, give me a minute of your time on questions.

The question of the night seemed to be asked of Senator Amy Klobuchar. She was asked why she could not remember the name of the Mexican president. She said and I paraphrase: I forgot it and want to apologize and went on to talk admiringly of her work in the United States Senate on matters pertaining to Mexico. Self-admiration is not in short supply in the debates. After she was asked a second time about her failure Senator Warren admonished the questioner. Perhaps the questioner forgot she had answered.

In lieu of questions intended to provoke the verbal equivalent of a cockfight, let me suggest a few alternatives.

First, Senator Sanders we live in a federalist system, please tell me which State programs you believe are making measurable progress in reducing poverty?

The next question is for Senator Warren. What steps would you take to resolve the nuclear crisis with North Korea?

Mayor Buttigieg, climate change threats will require the central government to issue command and control regulations. What do you favor?

Vice President Biden. What would you do as President that you couldn’t talk President Obama in to doing when you were his Vice-President?

Senator Klobuchar, are there steps we should take in post-secondary education that would provide a less disruptive career path for young adults?

And finally to Mayor Bloomberg. You have been an active philanthropist. Have you gained any insights on what works that would cause you to change the government’s approach to intractable problems?

Finally, I thought Mayor Bloomberg made a telling point when he asked of his debate contestants whether any had started a business. Doing things is often more instructive than talking about things.

And, NBC/MSNBC should now understand that voters do not choose saints. The election of Donald Trump was instructive. Probe for the sinners choices—for how they would lead our government.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

WOKE! By Al Sikes

February 19, 2020 by Al Sikes

WOKE! The original definition identified a woke person as “conscious to racial discrimination.” Today it has a more expansive meaning as someone being “with it.” At considerable risk, let me suggest a third meaning as in awakened — aware of what is going on—comprehending, the opposite of gullibility.

We have all been drawn into campaigns or voting by overarching themes. Marketers work on our hopes and fears in branding political candidates. I recall Lyndon B. Johnson’s artful use of an atomic blast to characterize the risk of electing Barry Goldwater. The TV ad was viewed as so incendiary historians say it aired only once. It was, however, considered a news event so most viewers saw it, with commentary, multiple times.

And then there was Ronald Reagan with his “Morning in America” narrative. Atmospherics have long been used to create overarching themes. John F. Kennedy spoke of a New Frontier and more recently Donald J. Trump called on followers to “Make America Great Again.” These themes, it is widely agreed, were quite influential.

Fair enough — political marketers are not new and do their best to elevate their client while disparaging the opponent. But, there is a new game in town and that is where “woke” comes in.

Domestically and internationally there are operatives and government agents who specialize in targeted fiction made to look like fact. They exploit both digital tools and a vast network of user profiles that reveal our political predispositions and emotional appetites.

Digital manipulators are not going away. They are a new version of PT Barnum and they are not selling circuses. Donald Trump uses them. His ultimate opponent will likely do so. The Russians, Iranians and others who sow confusion specialize in this machine gun media. They have intimate profiles of us and know our “hot buttons.”

I know of nothing in human history that suggests the ambitious will not use whatever power tool is available. Once these master manipulators identify our weaknesses they target us with a continuing stream of reinforcing messages. Reinforcing messages are shaped around our biases, not the truth.

There are, of course, calls for government regulation and for Google, Facebook and others to police ads. In the final analysis the constitution and courts say free speech is free speech. If you want to research the futility of government regulation of speech, go to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website where you can review its history of defending the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis right to free speech in America. And, of course, Russia or China or North Korea aren’t constrained by warm feelings toward our country.

There is only one option; we must awaken from our tendency to believe people whose messages seem to be in our shared interests. And, we should be especially careful with our own reputation—the shill wants to hijack it.

I can recall a moment some years ago when my Mom received a direct mail piece from a candidate she favored asking her for yet another donation. She said “Son, do you think he will be mad at me for not sending another check?”

Over time most of us have become immune from efforts by phone and mail marketers to trick us into buying their spiel. But, today’s media and digital tools go way beyond the potential of letters and phone calls. We are confronted with fake news sites, photoshopped images, illusory organizations of like-minded people and on and on. We are asked to share these bogus messages by liking (Facebook) or linking or forwarding. When we comply we are using our reputations and good will in a cynical game.

If these tactics become the prevailing tactics, cynicism will thicken and our democracy will become a hollow shell propped up by constitutional scaffolding.

Only awakened Americans can truly sustain America’s greatness. And we need to understand that finding truth and discerning consequences are more than a click away.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

Jim Lehrer, Life as a Standard by Al Sikes

January 27, 2020 by Al Sikes

“I am not in the entertainment business.” Jim Lehrer, formerly of the Lehr NewsHour.

Jim Lehrer died a week ago. The obligatory obituaries have been published. The next obituary was written seconds after the one about Jim Lehrer. Life is like that. His death might have drawn more attention than the next one but in my view not enough attention.

Journalism schools should create prizes with his name on them. Each person who is privileged to be a journalist, especially on the hard news beat, needs to be able to recite Jim’s principles—the principles that shaped his conduct in digging and digging until he found the truth and then reporting it in a clear understated manner.

Allow me to digress. Jim Lehrer was graciousness in a town known for the opposite. I met him shortly after moving to Washington—he was on most invitation lists, I was not. We compared notes—among other things both of us had degrees from the University of Missouri. He was one of the few persons I could talk to who cared whether its football team won or not.

And he was one of the only people I talked to who cared passionately about journalism as both a profession and calling. Importantly he was one of the only broadcast journalists who both Republicans and Democrats agreed was evenhanded. He moderated “twelve presidential debates between 1988 and 2012.”

In the larger news organizations, print and electronic, there is a news editor. The editors make important decisions regarding what is included, where it is positioned and how it is written. At some point most editors yield to influences that compromise their profession and the public’s trust. In broadcast news many became intoxicated with performance elements—often looks and theatrics. Some become intoxicated with the fumes emitted from the conference room where opinion writers shape editorial direction.

In the last several decades, journalism, the most important link in a democracy has been compromised and the falling trust of the American public is the result. I offer this link to the Pew Research Center if you would like to go beyond this column. https://www.pewresearch.org/2019/06/05/an-update-on-our-research-into-trust-facts-and-democracy/

Jim Lehrer, you will remain a beacon. Hopefully as the distance lengthens from your work there will be conservators, educators and activists who will repeat and repeat your standards so the next generation of news reporters will go forward by looking back.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

Tall Cotton by Al Sikes

January 20, 2020 by Al Sikes

Is there a top? There has to be if there is an “over the top.” If there is an “over”, what is its definition? The dictionary says “excessive.”

At the risk of abstraction, let me push this inquiry a bit further.

My Dad used the phrase “tall cotton”. He meant better than should be expected, as in “son, you are in tall cotton” when I went to work in New York City. He was right.

New Yorkers are always looking for an experience that exceeds their expectations. But then how do you beat The Sound of Music on Broadway or a jazz set at the Village Vanguard featuring Wynton Marsalis? The truth is you shouldn’t expect it. Great effort, creativity and at least some luck might, just might, draw even.

The ambition to exceed is often debilitating and that is where much of the world finds itself today. In the media, which I know best, exceeding often translates to copying the original but throwing in something outrageous.

Kim Kardashian, the new Marilyn Monroe? Let’s see what iPhone number are we on? Can the Snickers bar get any longer to justify another price increase?

Marketing is awash in “over the top.” As is life; better abs, sex, looks, relationships! The travel Ads write of “unspeakable beauty” and then after hours of unnerving travel you find yourself among the hordes taking selfies to show they have been there. I take no selfies amidst unspeakable beauty or for that matter any time.

Speaking of life, is stability possible? Jobs? Relationships? Family? Books, Ads and Apps are always promising yet more excitement or satisfaction just up the road. Doesn’t seem to be working, as the real growth is about a longing that is often both desperate and elusive?

We certainly know there is growth in new diets for both ourselves and the climate. Both suffer from “over the top.” And we know there is continuing deterioration in civic cohesion and church attendance. What is the cause and effect? Do we spend enough time working toward the answer?

Sometimes when the cotton is tall it is, well, too tall—too much plant, not enough cotton. As the new decade begins, I am looking for understatement and over-delivery. I, we, will have to look hard and not get our hopes up too high. If we find that sublime moment, it is likely to be close to home and with friends and family.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

Quick Take on an Important Moment by Al Sikes

December 4, 2019 by Al Sikes

In 1993 I had an insightful meeting with Michael Bloomberg. I had gone to work for the Hearst Corporation to build a digital business and one day was interviewed at Bloomberg News on the digital future.

At the beginning of the back and forth the reporter said that Michael wanted to visit after the interview. The interview ended and Michael came to escort me to his office for what turned out to be a twenty minute or so window into his leadership style.

Michael set the tone. He wanted to know about my political background with Jack Danforth and Kit Bond (then Missouri’s two United States Senators) and what I had gleaned from those experiences. He then turned to my job as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and inquired about the challenges faced in leading a government agency. And then the interview was over.

Absent were Midwestern pleasantries and there was certainly no invitation for me to quiz him about how he saw technology affecting his own business. I left his office, as I later told my wife, “feeling that I had been strip-mined.”

Bloomberg went on to become Mayor of New York City while we lived there and by almost all accounts did a good job. Not a perfect job, but a good one. Not bad when you consider that many felt New York was ungovernable and his adopted Party, Republican, was institutionally weak in the City.

Recently Bloomberg, after equivocating for some months, decided to run for the Presidential nomination of the Democrat Party. I was pleased.

The roll-out of his campaign gave journalists and columnists who write about politics a new target. While I have not consulted artificial intelligence for a word or phrase count, I would guess that the highest volume count would yield the following descriptors: “billionaire”, “too late”, “switched Parties”, “stop and frisk”, “too old”, “buying the election”. If you feel insufficiently informed about any of the above, do a Google search.

After being a bit startled at the efficiency of my visit with Bloomberg, I became an admirer. He did not, after all, build Bloomberg News on pleasantries. He did not become a billionaire on idle talk. He didn’t successfully make the transition from business to New York’s “best Mayor”, by spending words unnecessarily.

Maybe nostalgia requires me to remember a time when “accomplishment” was defining. Today the filter is much different. We strip mine a person’s life and then accentuate apparent mistakes as if humans cannot change. We apply sensitivity filters and woe be to the person who showed insufficient sensitivity regardless of the generational context. And if somebody is theatrically skillful, many translate such skill into a good White House fit.

So let me emulate Bloomberg’s efficient use of words. He is a man of rare accomplishment. He built a very impressive business and then effectively presided over America’s most complicated city.

Should he become the Democratic nominee? I’ll leave that to my Democrat friends to answer, but barring unforeseen developments, he would certainly get my vote.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

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