G2 OnLeadership


Considering all spheres of endeavor, who would you nominate as Leader of the Year in 2010? Why?


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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2010


Susan Peters is vice presi-


dent of executive develop- ment and chief learning officer at General Electric.


Aung San Suu Kyi has


spent 15 of the past 21 years under arrest for her support of democracy in Burma—and yet she has managed to serve as an inspiration for millions of people around the world. Suu Kyi helped found and lead theNational


League of Democracy, a political party that faced —and continues to face—steep odds in its fight to attain freedom and democracy for the citizens of Burma. Despite intimidation, retribution (including an attack on her life) and suppression, Suu Kyi remained undeterred in pursuing her ambitious vision for what Burma could become. We often hear about the traits of great leaders


—the ability to inspire and rally others around a clear vision or cause, being externally focused and inclusive—yet it’s not un til you see the courage and commitment of someone like Suu Kyi that you truly understand what leadership means, and the impact that great leadership can have.


Amy L. Fraher is a retired


Navy commander. I nominate Adm. Mike


Mullen for his influential leadership during the debate and repeal of the


“don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy. A career military man steeped in armed forces tradition and protocol,Mullen nonetheless exemplifies the innovation, resourcefulness and reflective action required in today’s challenging times.


Co-founder of Cambridge Leadership Associates, Marty Linsky teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School.


My candidates for “Acts of


Leadership for 2010” are Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and TomCoburn (R-Okla.), a very left- leaning Democrat and a very right-leaning Republican who voted in favor of the package of radical reforms recommended by the White House fiscal commission, chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. Both Durbin and Coburn incurred the wrath of their core constituencies. Both risked their reputations with their followers to help this country put its fiscal house in order. Both challenged their relationships with their closest colleagues. But their support lent legitimacy to the ideas and helped to ensure that the great national debate on real fiscal reform has begun.


A former U.S. senator and Washington state attorney general, Slade Gorton served on the 9/11 Commission.


The leaders of the year


were the tens or hundreds of thousands of activistswho made up the tea parties across the country. They represented the largest genuine mass movement in generations to enter the political arena with a clear goal. At one level, the tea parties cost the Republicans two, and perhaps three, Senate seats, but they won the election for a Republican Party that 18 months earlier was all but moribund.


Ken Adelman is co-


founder of Movers and Shakespeares.


Hands down, it’s the slash-while-smiling


twosome of British politics: Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg. Coming from opposite ends of British politics, they furnish a model of political and economic leadership. Protesters might terrify formal-attired Camilla


and Charles. But even that turned out fine. With budgets being slashed, there’s no way to avoid such resistance—whether from students with scant tuition or from beneficiaries with lavish government handouts. But the harmony, decency and rationality of


the Cameron-Clegg team undercut the resistance.


A retired U.S. Army


major, Don Vandergriff is a teacher, writer and lecturer.


Congressman Ron Paul, because he does not retreat


from his opinion in the face of hostile opposition and the corporate-controlled media’s “ignore strategy,” unlike the rest of the so-called leaders of both major parties.


Alaina Love is co-author,


with Marc Cugnon, of “The Purpose Linked Organization.”


The formerD.C. schools


chancellor, Michelle Rhee, and the president of Harlem Children’s Zone, Geoffrey Canada. Both are tough, determined and committed to reversing the appalling decline in the academic performance of children educated in theUnited States.


Canada has become a star among education-


reform advocates.He engages everyone who will listen in discussion about his quest to improve the odds for low-income children inHarlem.He works tirelessly to decrease dropout rates and to enhance the number of college-bound students graduating from the city’s public schools. The results are encouraging. Of the students who participate inHarlem Children’s Zone programs, 90 percent go on to college. Rhee took on theD.C. public school system, unarguably one of the worst in the nation, and held teachers accountable for student performance. She fired underperforming teachers and set standards for academic quality that won her as many enemies as it did fans.


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.


When that new gizmo gives you pain in high-definition BY MIKE MUSGROVE Special to The Washington Post It’s themorning after Christmas, and I bet you’re


jazzed about all that cool new gadgetry. Thank goodness you have an entire Sunday to figure it out. Iwas in that space, not long ago,with a newvideo


camera. Sure, the guy at the Apple store told me, maybe


Apple doesn’t support the high-definition video format known as Blu-ray. That could change down the road, though.Who knows? In any case,wouldn’t it be nice to have all of that precious footage of the kids available in a high-resolution format, years fromnow? There’s really only one answer to such a question.


And so itwas that I recently headed to Best Buy and straight into several days of high-definition pain. For years, the family’s tape-based camcorder had


done a commendable job. But after seeing those impossibly crisp sample videos of happy people at play on all those screens at the Apple store, the old model’s picture seemed blurry and weak. Suddenly, I craved a camera that could capture every crumb onmy toddler’s lower lip. I’ve had a camcorder glued tomy hand since the


day my daughter was born. The critical reviews of my efforts to make interesting home movies have been mixed. People don’t necessarily “get” it when you pair home footage with the music from “Requiemfor a Dream,” for example. Over at the big-box electronics store on Rock-


ville Pike, a Sony model called the HDR-CX110 looked pretty good. It was about $450, and a quick check on Amazon turned up favorable customer reviews. I’ve got Mac and PC computers at home,


although I find video editing to be easier on the Mac. No worries: On the side of the camera’s packaging was aMac symbol. “Works with iMovie,” it proclaimed, referring to Apple’s video editing software. An initial run with the new camera went well


enough. Then I tried to get the video off the device. TheWindows-compatible software repeatedly froze and crashed onmyDell;myMac, on the other hand, couldn’t “see” the camera when I plugged it in to transfer the files. Hmm. Was it just me? A few initial Google


searches turned up other Mac-using owners of the same Sony camcorder. Some complained that they couldn’t get the thing to work with their Mac. Another camp said the people in the first group were idiots and should be ignored. Feeling a little retro, I cracked open the camera’s


user manual and found a two-sentence passage aimed at Mac users. “The supplied software . . . is not supported by Macintosh computers,” it read. “To import themovies and photos to the computer, please contact Apple Inc.” This information was also offered en Espanol. Fairly off-putting, but not to worry. Last time I


bought an Apple laptop, I invested an extra hundred bucks for access to “one-to-one” sessions,


ELLEN WEINSTEIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST


One has to plug in the camera and turn on the software in the proper sequence.Do this correctly, and your Mac can connect with your fancy Sony camcorder; do this incorrectly, and you’re out of luck, pal.


in which you get to make an appointment and pester an Apple store worker for help. Typically, these visits are fruitful, but this issue


leftme and the resident video guru perplexed.After a while, we ended up Googling the same sites I’d already looked at.We learned thatmy video camera was not on a list of products that Apple officially supports. Maybe, it was suggested, I should return the camera and buy another. (Although the good folks at the Apple store


weren’t able to solve my problem, I did learn one thing: If you pull the power cable out of a floor-model laptop to borrow some juice, it’s possible to set off an alarm that briskly moves


staffers and security people toward the door. Exciting stuff.) From the mall parking lot, I called a local Sony


store but didn’t get any farther. The person answering the phone didn’t know anything about Mac compatibility, but he was able to tell me that I was the owner of a dated camera. His store hadn’t offered theHDR-CX110 inmonths.He kept talking, but I couldn’t hear a thing. Probably it was the blood pounding inmy temples. Eventually, I dove deeper into the Google search


results and found an answer on a page at the Sony site that had been buried beneath all the other online clutter. The solution was simple: One has to


plug in the camera and turn on the software in the proper sequence. Do this correctly, and your Mac can connect with your fancy Sony camcorder; do this incorrectly, and you’re out of luck, pal. Complicated?No. Intuitive?Well, not tome. And


during the time that it took to figure this little trick out, the camera’s selling price dropped about a hundred bucks. At $350 on Amazon, it’s a great deal. I have no


complaints, not anymore. My camera and my computer are talking to each other now, and you haven’t seen a boo-boo or a sippy cup until you’ve seen it in full 1080p.Maybe next year we’ll all have 3D camcorders. Can’t wait.


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