Annie Loyd for Congress

Effective leaders transform walls into trampolines

A colleague, Denise Meridith sends out weekly “Thoughts While Chillin’,” one of her quotes today promoted these thoughts. “Effective leaders transform walls into trampolines.”  

While creating our “policy statements” It became obvious to me that there is culpability on both sides of all of the topics of great interest to us, of great interest to – “we the people.” It is unacceptable at this point in the game to point the finger and place the blame on any one individual, organization, special interest group or political party – we all have played a role in the creation of our current situation and all have a role to play in building the road that will lead us forward. Blaming creates walls and hurdles that individuals, organizations or institutions feel compelled to tear down, crawl over or under, or maintain or defend.

Today, we have an opportunity to believe together – we can, to believe together we can transform these existing walls into trampolines that can propel us up and over the fires of fear and forge a new path for opportunities, sustainability and resiliency. Transformation of our existing systems into processes will take a concerted effort by all of us.

For example, let’s look at healthcare. Currently, we have a system that evaluates and regulates sick care. Let’s transform this system into one that creates incentives and supports the health care of the individuals, the providers, the organizations and the institutions. This requires acknowledging we all have a role to play and all sides of the coin have responsibilities to accept. We the people are being challenged to take responsibility for the “care of our health” – we have a responsibility to eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, create and maintain a healthy physical, spiritual, emotional and mental balance in our individual lives and encourage and support that in our families, friends, co-workers and community. Our health care providers have a responsibility to create a working relationship with their patients, stay up to date on their area of expertise, deliver responsible, efficient practices and participate in the civic engagement of policy decisions. Our payer system, i.e. insurance companies and our governmental agencies must support the effective and efficient patient – health care provider model thus instituting best decisions for health care are made between the doctor and the patient – from a medical standpoint, and not one of “cost first” – quality second. Our hospitals and medical institutions have the responsibility of accepting input from nurses, doctors, and payers – I think you get the point. Accept responsibility for failures and be part of creating solutions. 

Immigration: The U.S. government has the responsibility to go beyond enforcement of security at the border educating the American people with facts and not fanning the fires of fear. Real immigration reform policy begins with a political solution with governments and stakeholders south of the boarder and with our corporations and stakeholders in the U.S. thus creating solutions for effective equitable immigration reform. Responsibility rests with migrant workers seeking the American dream and adhering to the rules of this country. American employers have a responsibility to provide their workers with a safe, equitable and a law abiding environment. We the people must accept the responsibility for acquiring knowledge from all sides. Let us be part of the solution and not continue to build on fear. 

Education: Again, this is a multifaceted approach – parents have a responsibility to participate in the education of their children; children have a responsibility to understand they are part of the equation; teachers have a responsibility to be inspiring, and learn the new technology; administrators are the liaison of information – they are responsible for providing teachers with the necessary tools to teach, students with an environment that is safe and healthy to learn in, to interact and engage the participation of parents, include all in the decision making process and make the necessary adjustments to the system– be part of the solution. 

We all have a role to play.

We all have a responsibility to the creation, development and implementation of solutions. Together we can demonstrate to each other while reaffirming it for ourselves there is hope in creating a better America. When we combine personal responsibility with the understanding that our engagement or disengagement effects our community – one by one we will create the path to a sustainable community and resilient economy we all striving for. 

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