Lessons from successful politicians: Bashir Ahmad who engaged mintority ethnic communities

29 November 2010 Leave a comment


In 2007 Bashir Ahmad became the first Asian and first Muslim member of the Scottish parliament when he was elected one of the four SNP regional members representing Glasgow. Four years later he was elected an MSP. He took his seat at Holyrood wearing traditional Pakistani dress and swore his oath in both English and Urdu. He served on various cross-party groups, for human rights and civil liberties, for carers, for older people, age and ageing, and the group for Tartan Day (see Guardian Obituary)

Bashir Ahmad has sadly died but he was revered for his character and his trail blazing active compassion for a better, more inclusive society. Many people have come forward since his death to tell how they had been touched by his warmth and kindness.

If we all allow our natural compassion and humanity to be a factor in how we behave as politicians, perhaps that will be a fitting tribute to Bashir Ahmad – Anne McLaughlin MSP

Bashir Ahmad has since been honoured with awards recognising his contribution in Politics. Since his death, the prominent Minority Ethnic Awards have named an award in his honour known as ‘The Bashir Ahmad Spirit of Scotland Award’.

Compassion in politics has not always been seen to mix, but he has shown how it can; how we can affect people by compassion and how it can engage elements of society usually disengaged by politics. He has shown that compassion can be an electoral asset.

Filed under Political Party, Solution Focused Tagged with ,

Lessons from successful politicians: How Canada’s junior coalition partner went on to win more votes and seats

27 November 2010 5 Comments

Jack Layton.

Image via Wikipedia

Jack Layton has been the leader of the New Democratic Party in Canada since 2003 and was the junior partner in a Coalition Government but has managed to take the party beyond the Coalition to win more votes and more seats with his party now near the party’s all time high.

Under his leadership, the NDP considerably increased their support, almost doubling the party’s popular vote in the 2004 election. Layton’s NDP held balance of power in Paul Martin’s minority government, where in May 2005 the NDP supported the Liberal budget in exchange for major amendments, in what was promoted as Canada’s “First NDP budget”. The NDP saw further gains in the 2006 and 2008 elections, in which the party won more seats than it had since its 1980s peak. The NDP’s current number of MPs under Layton is just six seats short of the party’s all-time high.

According to a poll by Angus Reid Global Monitor, Layton is the best-ranked federal party leader in Canada. Looking at these polls has thrown up some interesting reading when people were asked to use words to describe the leaders of the parties:

Stephen Harper Michael Ignatieff Jack Layton Gilles Duceppe
Secretive (45%)

arrogant (43%)

out of touch (34%)

intelligent (34%)

uncaring (32%)

boring (30%).

 Out of touch (39%)

arrogant (37%)

boring (36%)

intelligent (33%)

inefficient (31%)

weak (26%).

 Intelligent (36%)

down to earth (31%)

compassionate (31%)

honest (28%)

open (26%)

out of touch (22%).

 Arrogant (34%)

out of touch (32%)

intelligent (23%)

inefficient (19%)

boring (19%)

dishonest (17%).

While the words used to describe most do not distinguish them from many politicians, Jack Layton is seen as compassionate and down to earth, which offers him a unique standing in Canadian politics. His leadership has been a success for his party and turned the tide on their electoral fortunes and these qualities have played their part.

Filed under Political Party, Solution Focused Tagged with ,

Arguments within the Coalition would benefit the Lib Dems and the Government

26 November 2010 4 Comments


So we have a change of strategy – one from not picking ‘synthetic fights’ with the Conservatives to one of pointing out Liberal Democrat victories. The narrative by which this is being seen in the party is toxic in itself and has been holding the party back. The fear that the coalition would be seen as unstable or indecisive has been brutal for the Lib Dems as it seems to have fallen on the Lib Dem leadership to steady the ship and not stop the Tory-decision-making-machine.

This is not a battle or a war to achieve victories or wins and neither is it a unified single party where there are no disagreements. So the change is welcome but the narrative needs to change so disagreements are seen as healthy, and highlighting what the party are proud of is seen as beneficial to all.

We all learn lessons from history but we don’t always learn the right lessons being influenced by current events. Andrew Rawnsley makes a very good point over at the Guardian which the Lib Dem leadership would do well to take note.

Opposition to and divisions within the coalition are not such a boon to Labour as they might appear. Consider what happened to the Tories for many of the long years they spent in opposition to New Labour. The uncivil war between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown often generated bad headlines – even when most journalists underappreciated just how toxic that relationship had become.

The TB-GBs frequently rendered their government dysfunctional. Yet those battles also made it seem that all the crucial political arguments were taking place inside New Labour which had the effect of casting the Tories as even more irrelevant. Ed Miliband and his colleagues should beware. Disputes within the coalition could similarly make it seem as if all the big debates are happening in the government.

If the Lib Dems are to see this coalition as a marriage then the lesson many learn in marriages is that arguments are not only beneficial but necessary to deal with and manage the inevitable conflict. How you conduct arguments/conflict is the debatable point not whether arguments are needed. While arguments may be going on behind closed doors it does not give the public the chance to ‘go with the government’ working through the conflict themselves. It leaves Lib Dem members, voters and sympathizers feelings left out, uninvolved and disillusioned.

The lesson to be learnt is that arguments in government are healthy, beneficial and will make the Lib Dems seem relevant and worth voting for.

Filed under Liberal Democrats, Political Party, Solution Focused Tagged with ,

Lessons from successful politicians: Ted Kennedy’s secret weapon – Compassion

25 November 2010 3 Comments

Ted Kennedy

Image via Wikipedia

Ted Kennedy is the 4th longest serving senator in US history and is considered to be one of the greatest senators in history. While he may have been helped by his family legacy this in itself is not what allowed him to be held is such high regard by almost everyone without ever becoming all things to all people.

Ted Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, which have had a dramatic effect on people’s lives including cancer research, health insurance, apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS care, civil rights, mental health benefits, children’s health insurance, and education. With his passing away there has been some reflection on what he brought to America.

Overwhelmingly, it has been his compassion that has been seen to be a major factor in his outlook, the causes he fought for and how he went about his business. While he was a Liberal he stood out from others in his party. His compassion guided him and gave him a vision for his country. This allowed him to work with anyone, even those outside of his philosophical comfort zone.

His compassion was real, not contrived, and it extended to individual human beings and not just to the masses who cheered him and will keep cheering for a long time.

Kennedy had his own experience of suffering, made large mistakes and acknowledged he was imperfect. But the suffering and the failures fed a humane humility that led him to reach out to others, to empathize with people, and to understand humanity in all its complexity.

He fought the fight for justice in an arena where greed and insensitivity often is the formidable opponent. He pushed against the status quo pushing compassionate legislation in a place and time when compassion was not so much valued.

We could learn a lot from Ted Kennedy. A man who was not seen as perfect but fought to improve the world, a man who worked with every wing of every party showing great skill in achieving what he considered to be good for his country, bringing in legislation which has helped many, being seen in such high regard and being one of the most successful politicians in American history. Compassion has been his ally. We could all learn more about how to be compassionate for ourselves, the people our decisions will affect and for the country.

Filed under Solution Focused Tagged with ,

Personality characteristics of ‘successful’ politicians

24 November 2010 1 Comment


The personality traits of many political leaders is important for a number of reasons and some have looked at successful politicians as compared personality traits with the performance of their governments. This showed four personal characteristics on which success of a political leader crucially depends.

  • Rationality
  • Authoritativeness
  • Adventurousness
  • Inspiration

They then went on to form a test which scores politicians on these traits (take the test yourself here).  The political performance index ranges from 0% to 100% with the higher score meaning more successful. See full results here

PerformanceIndex % Rational % Authoritarian % Adventurous % Inspired %
F.Roosevelt

M.Thatcher

R.Reagan

B.Clinton

T.Blair

J.Kennedy

W.Churchill

 

 93

93

86

83

83

83

79

 

 53

54

53

48

56

47

68

 

 14

32

32

43

11

12

21

 

 0

3

1

10

22

6

5

 

 39

33

26

39

44

24

58

 

My issue with it is that being ‘successful’ is not an end in itself. While politics is about winning elections, essentially it is about a lot more than that; it is about the fate of the nation, the people, the world. Many of these politicians who have scored highly in this analysis are controversial figures and many will say have made some people’s lives worse.

I am interested in making politics accessible and success meaning we improve the lives of the people in the country (and this has nothing to do with money). Any analysis can only analyse what is being looked at and so some characteristics won’t show up in the results. Maybe if we changed what ‘success’ means and looked for other characteristics we would be looking at a very different list of people.

Therefore my lessons from successful politicians will have a different focus.

Filed under Solution Focused Tagged with ,

In Praise of the Lib Dems: The Lib Dems finally finding stengths in themselves

23 November 2010 1 Comment


Yesterday we heard that Liberal Democrats are to start highlighting their ‘victories’ talking in terms of ‘wins’. The Independent believe this is a deviation from the initial strategy of not doing this for fear of creating a ‘synthetic fight’ as Nick Clegg put it.

The Solution Focused approach taught us that people do not always remember what works or what has made things better but they usually remember what has made things worse. It has taught us the need to be pro-active in looking for things which have been working and things which have made things better. We don’t call these victories as this is not a battle. We call these strengths as these changes were created by the party.

So yes we should be highlighting what we have done to make this country better, what policies are in place which will help people and what we have done to prevent things being worse. This is the first step to changing the mindset of the public – focus them on where we are now. The next step is to focus on where we are going. So we focus, in specific terms, on what the plan is and how this will help.

Basic SFP Approach:

  • Find strengths
  • Highlight what has worked
  • Highlight what has prevented things from getting worse
  • Find future opportunities
  • Highlight what is going to make things better
  • Highlight what will stop things from getting worse

The Lib Dems have been good at this in the past and so shouldn’t be too hard to be good at it again. There seems to be some nervousness in the party and maybe the opinion polls are a reflection of this?

Filed under Liberal Democrats, Political Party, SFP Approach, Solution Focused Tagged with , ,

Clegg’s attacks on Labour will turn voters away from the Lib Dems

23 November 2010 5 Comments

42 Days: Nick Clegg - 1

Image by lewishamdreamer via Flickr

Nick Clegg has finally realised that the strategy in government needed to change. He now needs to realise that his strategy towards Labour needs to change as the current one will only make them stronger and their supporters more supportive. This is digging a hole for the Lib Dems who share a proportion of voters and will want more Labour supporters to vote for them if they want to increase their presence in British politics.

Nick Clegg today attacks the Labour party for being ‘old’ progressives and pronounces the Lib Dems as ‘new’ progressives. After not wanting to pick ‘synthetic’ fights with the Tories, he seems to want to pick fights with the Labour party. The problem is that when he attacks the Labour party, he is attacking those who vote for them, support them or sympathise with them. It sounds very much like ‘old’ politics and it is difficult to see how we can build the plural, new progressive politics which he so wishes.

Perhaps he would be wise to note the research by Northwestern University who have found that when people’s confidence in their beliefs is shaken, they become stronger advocates for those beliefs. They carried out three experiments involving issues such as animal testing, dietary preferences, and loyalty towards Macs over PCs. In each one, they subtly manipulated their subjects’ confidence and found the same thing: when faced with doubt, people shout even louder.

People feel discomfort when they try to cope with conflicting ideas. This feeling is called Cognitive dissonance and people will go to great lengths to reduce this conflict. Altering one’s beliefs in the face of new evidence is one solution but for many this is too difficult. The alternative is to try and gain social support for your ideas. If other people also believe your idea, the internal conflicts will lessen.

Doubt turns people into stronger advocates and this effect is stronger if someone’s identity is threatened, if the belief is important to them, and if they think that others will listen. Just look at this response to Nick’s article. If you want more Labour voters, or potential voters, to ignore what the Lib Dems are saying, then the approach of attacking them is a great way to go.

So if the end game is to make Britain a more progressive and liberal country as Nick Clegg seems to want

But I am convinced that even in these difficult times, the prospects for a plural, new progressive politics are bright.

Then it would be a better approach to look for similarities, shared values, shared goals, show people that voting for the Lib Dems is not a challenge to their identity or a betrayal of their background. The Lib Dems start from a smaller base than Labour and the Tories and only through widening our appeal will people want to vote for us. We need to appeal to Labour voters not turn them away.

Filed under Liberal Democrats, Political Party Tagged with ,

The Lib Dems need to get more emotional to win over voters

22 November 2010 7 Comments


When people find out that our favored politician may be dishonest? Do we take the trouble to really find out what they are supposed to have done, and so possibly have to change our opinions (and our vote), or do we experience that nasty ‘cognitive dissonance’ and so seek to keep our minds comfortable at the possible cost of truth?

An understanding of emotions has given a lot of insight into politics after people noticed that when political candidates assume voters dispassionately make decisions based on “the issues,” they lose.

The evidence shows that three things determine how people vote (in this order):

  • their feelings toward the parties and their principles,
  • their feelings toward the candidates,
  • and, if they haven’t decided by then, their feelings toward the candidates’ policy positions.

In the book The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding The Fate of the Nation by Drew Westen he argues that the question for politics isn’t so much about moving to the right or the left but about moving the electorate.

Westen believes that the political left has not been very good at using emotions in their election campaigns saying that there is “an irrational emotional commitment to rationality“. He goes on to say that “the left has no brand, no counterbrand, no master narrative, no counternarrative” … “It has no shared terms or ‘talking points’ for its leaders to repeat until they are part of our political lexicon . . . If this is how Coke marketed itself, we would all be drinking Pepsi.”

Neil Stockley pointed out earlier this year that The Liberal Democrats’ are too rational in its approach and, perhaps, too romantic about its policies and beliefs, which may give a reason as to why the result was so disappointing.

Some research has shown that when partisan voters were given a series of openly contradictory statements from each candidate each overlooked the contradictions of his or her candidate while protesting indignantly the follies and howlers of the other guy. So in terms of attracting voters to one particular party you cannot rely on the strength of argument and the facts as this is not how the brain works.

In politics, when reason and emotion collide, emotion invariably wins.

Filed under Liberal Democrats, Political Party, Solution Focused Tagged with ,

A ‘New Politics’ needs new politicians: traits we should be looking for

20 November 2010 3 Comments

President Bill Clinton with Nelson Mandela, Ju...

Image via Wikipedia

The notion of self-esteem resonates powerfully and is referred to frequently in our culture and we seek out politicians who present as having a high self-esteem. Some scholars have examined the motives and ambitions of politicians and found that many of them are self-confident and exceptionally well prepared to handle the stresses of public life (while others seek to compensate for unmet personal needs).

Self-esteem has been found to have significant influence on voting behaviour, showing that the self-esteem of individuals strongly influences the decision to take on who/which party to vote for in an election. Certainly looking at some Prime Ministers we may conclude that they have a high self-esteem as exemplified by Margaret Thatcher’s words of “I wasn’t lucky, I deserved it”.  This sense of confidence draws votes.

However, while this may be desirable for many voters it is not necessarily what produces a successful politician, in the sense that hindsight may look back and believe they made the country better for all citizens. Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair have been successful politicians in that they won 3 elections, however, their record is hotly debated as to whether this was good for all in the country.

A high self-esteem can make people feel superior and therefore believe they know better than others which prevent them from listening. Constructive feedback is not taken on board and less accountability is taken for harmful actions. This distorted self-view leads to divisive policies which benefit a few and is seen as a lack of concern for the others. Politicians are therefore doomed to repeat the failures of past politicians unless they do something different.

By looking at politicians who have made their country better for all we may start to learn more about what we need to be better politicians and build a better politics. One example is Nelson Mandela. When receiving an honorary degree in Australia it was said

We honour Nelson Mandela… for his compassion – perhaps rarest and most precious quality in a political leader. By offering reconciliation to his enemies, he enabled all peoples of South Africa to come together as a nation for the first time.

Nelson Mandela said that the most powerful forces of change for him was thinking about the generosity and compassion expressed toward him. He learnt from others compassion and when he came to power showed extraordinary compassion towards all South Africans

Thus, as a changed man, and as President of South Africa Mandela set out to transform the nation through compassion, which brought understanding to those wronged by injustice as well as those accused of perpetrating the injustice.

Maybe we should be judging our politicians not only on perceived confidence and competence but on perceived compassion – do they want to understand about the country, the people, the issues of all citizens to truly make informed decisions that will benefit everyone.

“One of the most difficult things is not to change society – but to change yourself” – Nelson Mandela

Filed under Policy, Solution Focused Tagged with , ,

Self-esteem is killing our country, time to end policies which promote it

18 November 2010 6 Comments


In our society self-esteem is a highly desirable trait and many policies area focused around improving people’s self esteem. This has principally been because self-esteem is associated with less depression and anxiety, and with greater happiness and life satisfaction. While this is all well-intentioned maybe we should relook at this and the true effect of high-self esteem for society in light of the debate on our society and building a ‘big society’.

Connections between self-esteem and many positive benefits seems to be ‘common knowledge’ and politics has sought to capitalise on these assumptions leading some to coin the phrase ‘the politics of self-esteem’.  This idea is that politicians and policies are designed to make people feel good about themselves — elevating their sense of self-worth and affirming their belief in their moral superiority. However, research has been finding negative consequences to high self-esteem for some time such as here and the more research that comes out the more we see a worrying pattern that high self-esteem

  • is associated with a steady rise in narcissism over the last 45 years
  • is associated with the need to feel superior to others in order to feel okay about oneself
  • encourages us to maintain an unrealistically high view of ourselves in comparison to others. This has a particularly devastating effect when we face failure
  • tends to dismiss negative feedback, trivialize their failures, and take less accountability for their own harmful actions
  • is associated with a distorted self-view, self-centeredness, and a lack of concern for others

Once instilled with a sense of high self-esteem we form a strong concept of ourselves yet when that self-concept is threatened it is often met with prejudice and even violence and aggression. Indeed, counter to common wisdom, bullies tend to have high self-esteem. In short, self-esteem can create distance between us and others.

If we are aiming for a more tolerant society which is able to understand and provide for the citizens of the country we need a more all encompassing view. In comparison to self-esteem, self-compassion has been seen as an alternative as it has been argued to have nearly all the benefits of self-esteem but with fewer downsides.

Self-compassion does not require that we feel superior to others and is not an evaluation of ourselves, but an attitude we adopt toward our own failure and suffering. Self-compassion promotes tolerance and loving toward ourselves when faced with pain or failure. It allows us to see our own failings and feelings of inadequacy as part of the human condition shared by nearly everyone.

This is in contrast to self-esteem which has been shown to produce self-judgment where people are tough and intolerant toward themselves; isolation where people feel alone in their failure; and over-identification where people obsess and fixate on failure and view it as evidence of personal inadequacy. This is not too distant from the policy objectives of governments – ‘tough’ legislation where some believe it is intolerant, politicians who highlight people’s failures, and political parties obsessing over mistakes leading to expensive reviews and inquiries. Some may say a reflection of society?

So with detrimental effects of self-esteem maybe we should be considering policies which promote self-compassion to build a more tolerant, accepting, understanding society, where people feel they have a voice and it matters, where the country that they live in is a place where they feel proud of. Is that the country people see today? If not maybe it is worth trying something different?

Filed under Policy, Solution Focused Tagged with ,

← Older posts

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 545 other followers