Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Good Leaders Lead with Open Minds – a Harris / Trump Example

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I have written several blogs about various attributes of good leadership, and in this blog I want to explore leading with an open mind and contrast US Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Interestingly enough, I almost think of Kamala Harris being sort of a Princess Leia (aka General Leia Organa) and Trump as Kylo Ren, the evil love child of Leia and Hans Solo. Do check out my 2016 blog, “Leadership Lessons from Star Wars – The Force Awakens.”

The best leaders are open to listening and considering ideas from many diverse sources to arrive at the best solutions, whereas poor leaders have a “NIH – Not Invented Here” attitude. “If the idea is not mine, then it is not worth considering. Everything has to come from me.”

So what are two examples from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris?

Starting with Trump: when the Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate worked together to pass the bipartisan Immigration Reform bill to address immigration issues and border security by a 68 – 32 vote, Trump killed it. The bill, mainly developed by Sens. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), represented the most significant changes to immigration policy in thirty years, reimagining the asylum process and the ways border officials deal with migrants requesting humanitarian protection.

Donald Trump, instead of supporting a positive bill agreed to across both political parties, directed his allies in the US House of Representatives to vote it down since a positive step for our country would hurt his election chances. Trump would only support his own drastic measures like continuing to build a costly and ineffective border wall and deporting millions of immigrants. Any idea that is not Trump’s personally is not worth considering.

The best leaders consider ideas and input from multiple diverse sources,

Now let’s look at Kamala Harris’ approach. A few months ago, Donald Trump floated the idea of not taxing tips of service industry workers. Instead of an attitude of opposing the idea since it was not hers, Harris supported the idea and pledged to do likewise. Of course, Trump complained that “Kamala stole his idea,” but my view is that a great leader embraces all good ideas no matter where they come from.

Instead of opposing or discarding ideas that are not their own, enlightened leaders listen to all input from multiple sources and arrive at conclusions that come from the collective minds of a large diverse group instead of just their own limited thinking.

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Blog author Stan Kimer is a DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging) consultant and trainer who also focuses on inclusive leadership.  In addition, I have dynamic transwoman Deanna Jones on my team who is a fantastic key note speaker discussing her journey being her authentic self.  Please be in touch to book Deanna or myself.

 

 

Evangelical Christians Supporting Trump – I Don’t Get It – Five Points

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Jesus Weeps

“Jesus Weeps” – John 11:35

As a person who identifies as a Christian with a deep faith and a personal walk with Jesus Christ, I cannot fathom why so many evangelical Christians embrace President Donald Trump with such fervor. I would think that if Jesus lived in someone’s heart, and they professed a personal faith in Jesus Christ, they would desire a leader who embodies Christ’s teachings. Instead, I truly am shocked with the large number of evangelicals who unabashedly support Trump while giving no heed to the many ways he is the complete antitheses of Jesus.

Here are the five points where I feel President Trump is diametrically in opposition to the Christian faith as taught and lived by Jesus and as recorded in the Bible.

1) Being kind. Ephesians 4:34. President Trump spews hatred and nastiness instead of showing respect for all humanity. Mocking a person with a disability, calling Senator Kamala Harris a monster, telling Muslim-American Congresswomen that they should “go back where they came from,” demeans fellow human beings.

2) Seeking truth. John 8:32. Jesus taught that Christians should seek the truth. President Trump has continued to lie from the time he spread the birther theory that President Obama was born in Kenya to lying about the seriousness of COVID-19 to proporting that Vice President Biden has dementia. Too many evangelicals embrace these lies and preach them with as much passion as the gospel.

3) Loving your neighbor. Mark 12:31. Jesus taught that all people are our neighbors and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. So many evangelicals are following Trump’s direction of not needing to wear masks to curve the spread of COVID, denying that systemic racism persists in our country, and providing tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting crucial services to those less fortunate. It is a disgrace that middle class and upper middle class white evangelicals continue to amass wealth at the expense of marginalized communities and then claim that they are wealthy because God has blessed them for their righteousness.

Christ welcomes the foreigners instead of locking them out and demonizing them.


4) Welcoming the foreigner. Leviticus 19:34.  A theme throughout the Old Testament and then continuing into the gospel is welcoming the visitor and foreigner. Trump wants to build a wall to keep “them” out, separate children from their parents, and lock the kids away in cages. I don’t see many evangelicals calling Trump out on this.

5) Respecting women and the sanctity of marriage. Ephesians 5:25. Many evangelicals fume over same gender couples committing their lives to each other in marriage, yet are totally fine with Trump going through three wives, having multiple affairs, paying off a porn star with hush money, and feeling he can grab any woman’s private parts whenever he wants.

I feel that when Jesus sees how his so-called followers are twisting His words to pompously support their own materialistic self-centered and self-serving lifestyles, that as John 11:35 says, “Jesus Weeps.”

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Blog author Stan Kimer is a diversity consultant and trainer who handles all areas of workplace diversity and with a deep expertise in LGBTQ+ diversity strategy and training, Unconscious Bias and Employee Resource Groups.  He also is a former President of the North Carolina Council of Churches and a long time leader within in Metropolitan Community Churches.  Please explore the rest of my website and never hesitate to contact me to discuss diversity training for your organization, or pass my name onto your HR department. [email protected]