‘A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.’ — First lady Rosalynn Carter (1927-2023)
Editor-In-Chief, Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, MD, COL (ret.), MC, USA
I was saddened to learn of the passing of first lady Rosalynn Carter. She and President Jimmy Carter were a leading political team during a particularly turbulent time in America. Although the Carter presidency was marred by the energy crisis of 1979 and the Iran hostage crisis, which likely limited Carter to one presidential term, the husband-wife team had a remarkable list of accomplishments during their four years at the White House. Carter made some difficult and unpopular decisions during his presidency. He pardoned all Vietnam War draft dodgers, returned the Panama Canal, established the Departments of Energy and Education and shepherded, arguably, the most significant talks regarding Middle East peace through the Camp David Accords.
Although I was a young man during Carter’s presidency (1977-1981), I can recall his intense unpopularity on the heels of the Iran hostage crisis, followed shortly by his landslide defeat by Ronald Reagan. I was still too young to vote in that election, and my 17-year-old mind was preoccupied with high school antics, leaving little room for foreign and domestic policy concerns. As the decades have passed, I have enjoyed observing the Carters’ leadership in the longest post-presidency tenure in American history. I have developed a fuller understanding of the challenges Carter faced during his presidency and the decency and wisdom of his decisions. As Rosalynn so eloquently pointed out, Jimmy did not necessarily take the American public where it wanted to go, but he led us where we ought to have been. Carter was a brand of president who made decisions to benefit the country, even when those decisions were not personally beneficial politically. How I long for such a candidate today.
With the passing of Rosalynn and the start of the 2024 election season, I have been ruminating on what it means to be a good leader. Lately, politics has represented the antithesis of what leadership should look like. Congress’s paralysis to act from fear of losing individual power as opposed to working on America’s collective problems, politics seeping into our justice system and a leading presidential candidate who might not be able to vote in the coming election because he is possibly a felon and insurrectionist, are just a few examples. I find the outlook for the American political system bleak. If I were reading these events in a fictional novel, I would likely trash the book as too implausible. If you are interested in how not to be a leader or possibly fascism curious, just watch the nightly news. Since current politics seemed a bankrupt resource for my thoughts on leadership, I decided to evaluate my career. After all, I do not have to worry about “fake news” or “alternative” facts regarding my personal history.
Throughout my military career, I have been blessed with outstanding leaders, with a few duds sprinkled in for contrast. Despite the pain I endured with tarnished leaders, I likely needed those experiences to possess the erudition to recognize those bad pennies. The defining quality I observed in all worthy commanders of my past was a selfless commitment to the organization’s success. These rare men and women would work tirelessly to support those working for them. They would not micromanage, rarely take credit for any success, always assumed the preponderance of blame when things went wrong and never asked anyone to do something they would not do. They led by example, both professionally and personally. You would be mistaken if you assumed these leaders were always friendly or tolerant of low standards. On the contrary, these leaders were the most challenging and difficult to work for, but I grew the most in their presence.
Early in my military career, I had the misfortune (then again, perhaps it was a benefit) to observe poor leadership in action. I was a young Army cadet on a weeklong field problem. On this particular morning, the sun rose weakly, obscured by a stormy sky. Our platoon was spread out in a security circle lying flat on the pine needles beneath a Fort Bragg, NC, longleaf pine forest. It was raining buckets. We all were utterly soaked, although we found some comfort in the shared misery. Like it occurred just yesterday, I remember a quantity of rainwater building up behind a dam of forest floor pine needles growing in front of my position. We had been admonished by our “leader,” Capt. ‘Chinless Wonder’ (the platoon had named him secretly for his profound lack of a chin that likely had contained all his good sense) not to move a muscle under any circumstances. Understand that we were not tactical and were only waiting for our turn at the next training session. The water quantity continued to expand, and I waited for the inevitability of a dam break. When it came, the water rushed toward me, entered my military blouse, swirled around my testicles and exited my left boot. At that moment, I detected the savory scent of donuts and hot coffee emanating from the rear of my position. I decided my misery was pegged and thought chancing a look behind me would be worth any fallout I might incur. I turned to observe Capt. Chinless enjoying coffee and donuts from behind a jeep under a party tent he had brought. I noted some of my compatriots had also hazarded a look and were equally shocked and disgusted. We collectively shook our heads and returned to staring at the next pine needle dam break headed our way.
I have shared this story with others, and it has been suggested that Chinless was teaching the platoon something. I remain unconvinced. What training value comes from lying still in a puddle? This was just one example of myriad missteps by this “leader.” He only succeeded in sowing more doubt and distrust concerning his motivations for our platoon. Granted, he did provide a low mark upon which all others could be compared. So, thank you?
I begin this year discussing leadership because I am convinced that federal medicine will likely depend on good leaders more than ever in the present political environment. Institutions like the American military and the incredible federal health system that supports it are and will remain the backbone of our democracy. Federal medicine providers are known for their proficiency in medicine, and I believe we must also be great leaders. Politics might beguile federal medicine in directions that may appear initially easy and beneficial. Our clinical leaders need to take us where we ought to be—steadfast champions for our patients and the constitutional democracy that we defend.
