XIPE: The Corporate Gap Year and Professional Renewal

Failed Leadership - Con Un Nudo En La Garganta.

The last few months have elapsed rapidly and quite awkwardly. Watching our Country’s leader provide cringy updates has been next level nightmarish. His ramblings are the least of our concerns these days. His unclear, knee-jerk decisions, uncollaborative nature, lack of empathy, and accountability are but a handful of traits demonstrated by our President. All of these character flaws are unbecoming for any leader.

What scares me most is his ability to lie and provide false information that directly harms the most vulnerable within our population. Trump irresponsibly shares his stream of consciousness without neither facts nor science to support his statements. His following looks to him for leadership. They are not wrong to do so. They chose him as our President. He was elected to guide and protect his constituents, but he has shown us time and time again that he is team Trump all the way. He is not looking after anyone’s best interests but his own—another leadership flaw. In my experience, successful corporations do not tolerate the lack of leadership now on display within the White House. The best organizations I have ever worked for would have fired him already, but I guess this is politics. How does this make sense, though? How can we, in good faith, watch this train wreck and do nothing? Is this where we talk about the upcoming election and discuss making a change? Well, what’s stopping us? Let's open this can of worms. The way I see it, our Country’s political system has failed us. The two-party system is now parading the patriarchy at its best. Both Republican and Democratic candidates have a sketchy history with women amid the #MeToo movement. It is shameful to receive two bad options when it comes to women’s rights and advancement. Where's the democracy in that? Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate lining up against our President in the upcoming election. Biden is undoubtedly more experienced and qualified for the job of leading our nation. It should be a slam dunk. Still, his less than appropriate past dealings with women are coming to the surface and giving us pause, much as it did with Donald Trump four years ago. Many voters are considering dropping out of the democratic process and choosing not to vote at all. I get why. This political circus is disheartening. Let’s be real here, the sexual harassment allegations both of these presidential candidates have against them would be enough for most companies to render them unqualified for the top leadership role within an ethical, high profile organization. Good companies, at least any worth working for, would take these accusations to the very last consequence. Why are we not using these standards at the highest office we have available within the US government?

All of this is upsetting. Xolotl, the Aztec god of misfortune, known for his composure, is helping me process the chaos around me. Sometimes, I too want to give up and not vote for either of the poor choices we have been presented; selfishly, that would be the most comfortable thing for me to do. But my spirit doesn't stop nagging me about a few things. For one, the idea that we deserve better. Americans deserve stronger leadership options. I believe that as citizens, we have the right and responsibility to fight for change. We need more women, and diverse leaders voted into office. We need to bring balance to our government. We are a diverse country; our leaders should be representative of the nation they lead. Otherwise, we will continue getting more of the same. Perhaps even worse, like children in cages, or seventy percent of the Chicago Covid-19 deaths coming from communities of color when they only compose about thirty percent of the population in that city, or hearing from the wealthy that it wouldn’t be horrible to sacrifice the elderly in the name of capitalism. I don’t think either the Republican or Democratic parties are our leadership path forward unless we see some significant changes. For now, they have both failed at identifying presidential candidates worthy of our vote. We need forward-looking candidates who are supportive of women and human rights. If we are to survive as a mighty nation, we will have to refresh and modernize the way we seek and select our leaders. We exist in a new age; most organizations I follow are going through this process of renewal, so should the US government. But like with any societal and political change of this magnitude, it will take some time. This fact is a hard pill to swallow, but look at the civil rights movements throughout history, we have made some advancements, and have a long way to go even still. For now, we must do something. We cannot afford to shrug this election off. As a Mexican-American woman, I cannot withstand the sight of immigrant children inhumanly and cruelly treated and have the elderly deemed as disposable. I will not sit in the comfort of my AC and do nothing. I will not witness as Trump is elected into the White House once again when thousands of people of color are disproportionally dying of a pandemic that could have been mitigated by decisive, kind, and empathetic leadership. The marginalized and vulnerable communities don’t have the privilege to snub a candidate and sit the election out. They must vote for survival. Like Xolotl, I will retain my composure and vote with them. With a lump in my throat and struggle in my choice, I denounce the political system that got us to this non-choice and is once again making us fight for fundamental human rights. My vote will not be for a candidate but against a candidate. Not a proud moment for America, but not surprising either.

We must hold our leaders to a higher standard. We must voice our needs for reform and fight for those who need us the most. First step, is undoing some of the wrongs the current President has created. Let's vote him out.

Stream of Thought

Xolotl,

giver of composure, help us comprehend, the unnecessary deaths. Failed leadership, different in effect. Children lost in cages, sitting on cement. Sacrificing lives, in exchange for gains. A title makes no leader, that should go unsaid. Shortness of breath, a collapse is next. Composure, against all anguish, is my new fresh air. Human rights remain the matter we need to move ahead.