We can count the weeks on our two hands! Soon we will elect a President of the United States. Do the major candidates who spend most of their campaigning time hurling insults at each other and claiming bragging rights really get it?

Do they grasp the essence?

An insightful leader understands that he or she is at best a tenant farmer. Their job is to till the soil, sow the seeds, and get things to grow, all the while knowing that the space is not theirs to claim as their own.

They pay for the right to farm by the sweat of their brow and the work of their hands. Tenancy always comes with conditions: conditions of performance and conditions of time.

 Presidents, elected officials, corporate executives, and principals are expected to lead a nation, a state, a company or a school toward excellence and do so with diligence, honesty, and grace.

Performance is measured by goals set and goals reached while considering the path taken to get there. Questions will always simmer in the minds of some followers.

 What short cuts were taken? Whose toes were stepped on? Why was this direction deemed the right one? And when will these decisions come back to haunt us?

 Constituents are wary by nature, but even the hardened, “show me” skeptics want to believe that their chosen leader is worthy of the title. The last thing anyone wants is to be embarrassed by their leader’s personal or professional behavior.

When this happens, as it can in all arenas, progress in an organization slows to a crawl, and everyone suffers.

                   From The Principal’s Chair, Who Sits There Matters, A Secret

                         of School Success by Judith D. Knotts

This campaign season has been an embarrassment to many Americans—others have relished the reality show goings-on. But we are better than this!

We are electing the President of the United States— the leader of the most powerful and remarkable nation in the world, despite some of our short-comings.

I for one want to be inspired. I want to be proud to be an American. I want to be eager to vote for a candidate who gets it— this land is not theirs, but ours!