G2 On Leadership
Time for Pelosi to step aside?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week confronted a dilemma faced by many leaders: whether to step aside when things go wrong.What should be the criteria guiding such a decision? Did Pelosi make the right choice? Should she have offered to resign but let her caucus make the decision?What about Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid?
EZ EE
KLMNO Marie C. Wilson is
founder and president of The White House Project, co- creator of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.
Women and men need to see an example of a
woman politician who has had to face a loss but refuses to back down. Too often, women leaders become discouraged after an initial loss, or are encouraged by others to step down following a failure. What would happen if instead of backing down, we came back with even more fire in our hearts, and passion for change?
Todd Henshaw is director
of executive leadership programs at Wharton. Previously, he directed the leadership program at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
It’s often difficult for leaders to know when
they’ve become a net negative for their organizations. As leaders, we would like to think that we are good for the organization, and will work very hard to overcome tough times. InNancy Pelosi’s case, she’s presided over the
least popular Congress in history, she’s been a lightning rod for the opposition and Republicans have artfully associated her with increasing the debt, rushing through unpopular health-care legislation and preventing necessary bipartisan efforts to bridge the increasing gap between left and right. Pelosi has become an anchor around the neck
of the once hopeful Democratic Party, and the election should have been signal enough for her to move on. Any attempt on her part to linger, to continue to represent Democratic ideals and intentions, will further set the party back.
JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS
Democrats’ losses in the midterm elections put House SpeakerNancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her congressional allies in a tough spot.
Excerpts from On Leadership, a Web feature exploring vision and motivation by Steven Pearlstein and Raju Narisetti. To see videos and read the entire panel’s comments, go to
www.washingtonpost.com/leadership.
Ken Adelman is co-
founder and vice-president of Movers and Shakespeares. Republicans are delighted
that the Democratic faces in Congress remain those of
Pelosi and Reid. Their decisions to remain leaders is bad news for Democrats. Yet it’s surprisingly unsurprising. Even great historic leaders like Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle,Maggie Thatcher and many others simply hung on too long.Why do they, even after achieving great feats? Shakespeare puts the reason simply: “How sweet it is to wear the crown.”
Edit Ruano is a Coros
fellow, engaged in a graduate-level leadership training program. Pelosi’s ability to manage the party and get the votes
necessary to make lawis what separates the Obama presidency from political failure. Additionally, while Democrats faltered across the board and sawdistrict mandates slip or vanish, Pelosi actually made gains. Yes, it is true that she remains a lightening
rod; however, Republican politicians who used the past two years of just-say-no politics would be remiss to forget that, with a majority, voters will demand action. Rather than just blocking legislation, they will be expected to make it. Rather than criticizing bill proposals, they will be expected to submit their own for public scrutiny. This is a process that Speaker Pelosi is all too familiar with.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010 Ed O’Malley is president
and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center, a training center charged with fostering large-scale civic leadership for healthier communities.
House SpeakerNancy Pelosi faces a situation
many authority figures face when they are linked to poor results. But Pelosi can take heart, she has a kindred spirit here in the heartland.University of Kansas head football coach Turner Gill isn’t a politician, but his job is political. Gill is in his first year atKUand the year has
been awful from most perspectives. The season kicked off with a 6-3 loss to the lower-division University ofNorth Dakota. A series of blowouts followed, including from in-state rival Kansas StateUniversity. Sports pundits have called for Gill to step down. Political pundits have called for Pelosi to do the same. Whether they should is connected to trust, competence and progress. Gill and Pelosi need the trust of their colleagues but have found themselves mired in nightmarish football and elections season that have strained those bonds of trust. Gill and Pelosi should hang in there as long as their bonds of trust are strong with players and administrators and with key donors and party loyalists. Losses can mount on the gridiron or at the
ballot box for many reasons. Context is one thing, competence is another. A lack of competence can translate into losses. A coach could find himself overwhelmed by the competition and at a loss about how to proceed. A speaker of theHouse could undertake an overly ambitious agenda out of touch with everyday Americans. Stay in the game if it’s the context. Let
someone else take over if it’s about your competence. Real leadership actually creates conflict, casualties and distress. Progress is difficult. The old axiom “two steps forward one step back” applies. But “one step forward two steps back” is unacceptable. Pelosi and Gill should move aside if they fit the latter.
COLOR OF MONEY MONEYBOX Women and the myth about money BY HANNAH SELIGSON A few years ago, Kimberly
Palmer, the personal finance col- umnist for US News & World Report, decided towrite amoney guide for young women. She planned to give advice on saving, investing and paying off debt be- cause, after all, women are bad withmoney and need extra help. This iswhat the book industry
andthemedianever tireof telling us.
Amazon.com has a special “money management for wom- en” category but no equivalent category for men. Major banks likeCitigroupandWachoviahave special departments to guide women with their finances. Suze Orman—thedoyenneofpersonal finance—hasbuiltamultimillion dollar industry selling books like “Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny.” Such titles help women address, as one
Amazon.comreviewer put it, “The complicated (and often dysfunctional)
DAVE HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES
Even if women don’t need extra help with money, more of them think they do. The authors of women- focused financial books reinforce these insecurities and perpetuate stereotypes about women and money with their “girl, get a clue” tone and titles that imply we are all out-of-control spenders on shoes and clothes.
women have with personal fi- nance.”More books on this shelf: “SHOO, Jimmy Choo! The Mod- ernGirl’sGuide to Spending Less and SavingMore” and “DoesThis MakeMyAssets Look Fat?” Apparently, we’re all a pay-
checkaway frombeinglikeCarrie Bradshaw and blowing $40,000 on Manolo Blahniks instead of saving for a down payment on an apartment. We all have an inner Rebecca Bloomwood, the protag- onist inthe Shopaholic series.We need help. Not really. After a look at the
relationship
data, Palmer changed her mind. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that singlemenandwom- en between the ages of 25 and 34 spend at similar levels. Themain difference is that single men spend more on transportation,
while single women spend more on apparel and services. (Men, incidentally, spendabout twice as much on alcohol and $600more on car purchases.) As for credit,men and women
aren’t thatdifferent.Ahigherpro- portion of women carry some credit card debt compared with men — 76 percent to 67 percent. Butmen on average carry higher dollar amounts of debt. Accord- ing to Experian, a global credit group, credit scores—ameasure of fiscal responsibility — show nearly no difference between men andwomen. When it comes to investing,
womenmight actually be savvier. A 2001 study titled “BoysWill Be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence and Common Stock Investment” analyzed 35,000 households and found that men traded stocks about 50percentmore oftenthan women, driving up their costs and lowering their returns. And women, it appears, are less likely to invest in the types of exotic financial products that caused the Dow to go spiraling. In a nationwide surveyofhundredsof investors in March 2009, one in eight men, but only one in every 40 women, had “made riskier in- vestments looking for long-term growth” in the previousweek. On the savings front, women
could certainly do better. The Transamerica Center for Retire- ment estimates that a single woman should have $500,000 by the time she retires. Yet only one in 10 singlewomenwho respond- ed to a survey saved more than
$100,000, and one-third saved less than $25,000.Only 6 percent have calculated how much they will need to fund their lifestyle once they stop working. But this isn’t a female problem; it’s an American one: There is little evi- dence that women save less than men. A survey from TD Ameri- trade about financial goals for 2011 found that 68 percent of women said they resolve to save more money in 2011, up from 60 percent in 2009,while 62 per- cent ofmen said the same. With all these facts showing
thatwomen are no less financial- ly informed than men, Palmer broke out of the pink ghetto and wrote a gender-neutral personal financebookfor twenty-andthir- ty-somethingscalled“Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing and Giving Back.” Still, the advice books aimed at women continue to be published and bought. “Does ThisMakeMy Assets Look Fat?” is the 30th most-popular book in the Money Management forWomen category. SHOO, Jim- my Choo!, a year after its release, is the 54th most-popular book. Why? The market for money-advice
books for women may reflect a confidencegap.RamitSethi,28,a personal-finance blogger and au- thor of “I Will Teach You To Be Rich,” surveyed 1,200 of his read- ers in 2007. A third of themwere women. Sethi found that 58 per- cent of the men, compared with 44 percent of the women, said theyfelt “confident”aboutmoney and finances. Even if women don’t really
needextrahelpwithmoney,more of them think they do. The au- thorsofwomen-focusedfinancial books capitalize on and reinforce these insecurities and perpetuate stereotypes about women and moneywith their “girl, get a clue” tone; their covers and titles that imply we are all out-of-control spenders on shoes and clothes; and their tendency to put finan- cial concepts in the language of dieting andweight. However, it’s possible that the
bullmarket for lady financial-ad- vice books won’t last forever, as the financial confidence gap ap- pears to be closing. Women in their20sand30saremore sureof themselves financially than older Gen-XandBoomerwomen.Find-
Law.com, a legal-affairsWeb site, found in a 2009 national survey that married women between ages 18 and 34 were more likely thanmarriedmen or olderwom- en to play a significant role in understanding a couple’s financ- es.
Youngwomenarealsooptimis-
tic that they’ll rebound fromthis battered economy. Prudential’s 2010 study on women’s financial experiences and behaviors found that 59percent ofwomenaged25 to 34 said they were confident they would recover their market losses, comparedwith 45 percent overall.Howabout themassets?
Seligson, a journalist and author, contributes to Slate.
MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST
Kelly Brown with son Trevon, 11, at home in Baltimore. Brown is an ex-offender who was fired from her job because of her record.
Outrage and sympathy color from G1
looked at the difficulties ex- offenders have managing their personal finances. In a statement last week
about the firing, a spokesperson for Ratner said: “Kelly Brown did indicate on her application that she had been convicted of a crime; and yes, she explained her circumstances to the salon leader.Unfortunately for all involved, this information was not communicated to our Human Resources department; had it been, the application would have been denied. “Our company does not
begrudge any person’s attempt to make a positive transition in his or her life, but we have an obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of our stylists and our clients.” Dunning sent the company e-
mails, which he shared with me. “What I find troubling about
this is that the people that hired her—presumably the ones in the best position to make a judgment call like this—must not have been concerned about this threat,” Dunning wrote. “While I support your company’s concern for safety, I find it hard to believe that the decision to fire Kelly Brown was based on any real threat. Does your company believe that people can change? Do you always judge people for actions of the past, regardless of potential for present and future behavior?” The company did not respond
tomy requests to specify whether it had received complaints from customers such as Dunning. It did reiterate Ratner’s hiring standards. The outpouring of support for
Brown has been overwhelming. I’ve received notes from the parents of ex-offenders distraught that, having served their time and staying out of trouble, their adult children also can’t find work. Ex-offenders wrote begging for help in changing policies at other companies that keep them from working. E-mails fromHair Cuttery
customers also poured in criticizing the chain for its policy.Many people recognized what advocates for ex-offenders have stressed for years. With
about 730,000 people nation- wide released from prison each year, there is a crisis for the formerly incarcerated who can’t find jobs, even low-wage and low-skill jobs, because so many employers have blanket bans on hiring ex-offenders. “I experience what you are highlighting in the case of Kelly Brown all day, everyday,” said Tony Lewis, a job developer for the federal Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia. “People want to work and they can’t, and it’s really frustrating. What are they supposed to do?Never work again?” Lewis is charged with finding employment for released prisoners. The high unemployment rate has made his job that much harder. Lewis said he hopes that what happened to Brown will serve as a catalyst to change employment policies aimed at ex-offenders. So far it’s at least inspired compassion amongHair Cuttery customers. MarkNell, who retired as a
police officer inNorthern Virginia after 28 years, said he and his family would also stop patronizing the chain. “I’ve seen people act stupidly,
make big mistakes and suffer a heavy penalty,”Nell said. “But when does it end?” Vivienne Schmeisser of
Jacksonville, Fla., wrote: “I will not useHair Cuttery ever again. I am sure they won’t missmy little business, but if many people do this, they may want to reconsider their stand.” Peggy Sclater, who lives in the
eastern panhandle part ofWest Virginia, noted: “Everyone makes mistakes. The questions are:How should they be punished, by whom and for how long?”
Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o TheWashington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20071. Her e-mail address is
singletarym@washpost.com. Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer’s name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.
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