Is ‘Change’ the New Political Buzzword?

We are in uncharted political territory: is “change” the new buzzword? In her speech at the Democratic National Convention [last week], Kamala Harris posited the idea that America should not go back, rather it needs to “chart a new way forward.”

For people like me who live to challenge the status quo, this was music to my ears. Could it be the case that both candidates for the US Presidential election are campaigning on their intentions to move America forward?

On one side we have supposed ideological progress – arguably synonymous with right-wing extremism – that will “Make America Great Again”; as outlined in The Project 2025 document, the four main policy aims are broadly to “restore the family as the centrepiece of American life; dismantle the administrative state; defend the nation’s sovereignty and borders; and secure God-given individual rights to live freely”.

On the other side, we have a different sort of progressivism, that promotes the interests of young, climate conscious, foreign policy engaged voters who have strong views on reproductive rights and capitalism.

Same, same… It is easy to draw parallels between the upcoming US election and the recent general election in the UK insofar as there has been consensus that change is needed, and limited consensus on what that change ought to look like from a policy perspective.

The fact that Harris’s Presidential bid wasn’t even on the cards five weeks ago is part of what makes it so hard to predict the outcome of the race. Further parallels might be drawn from the commonly held idea that the leadership we have now and what we have had in the past hasn’t propelled society forward.

One of the most controversial elements of Trump’s campaign is his criminal record and the embattled dialogue about the propriety of exoneration for criminal offences carrying a conviction.

Speaking with great conviction at a campaign event in Potterville, Michigan on 30th August 2024, President Trump states authoritatively that “nobody knows who [Kamala Harris] is […] She’s the sitting Vice President of the United States and nobody know who the [****] she is.”

There’s nothing quite like a linguistic generalisation to remind audiences that they are not listening to a balanced or factual opinion.

Once a prerequisite for those holding the highest political office in the land, Harris referred to serving the American people, placing “country above self” and this election offering a “precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past.”

[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/us/politics/kamala-harris-speech-transcript.html]

But the parallels between the leadership choices don’t stop there. Trump is a self-professed successful businessman (not a career politician) and Harris a former public prosecutor.

CEOs tend to struggle in politics because business leaders expect operational efficiencies in the ordinary course and are expected to manage disorganisation proficiently and adeptly.

Business leaders are expected to take calculated risks, and they expect to see a hefty payoff in return. But where politics is rife with bureaucracy, and people don’t want to feel like their leaders are gambling with their lives, perhaps that is why lawyers, particularly prosecutors, are having their moment being paraded on the world’s political stage.

Lawyers, like Harris, like Sir Keir Starmer, who have forged their careers prosecuting criminals thrive in environments that are black and white. Lawyers are generally expected to be risk averse but their ability to look around corners and steer clear of a danger zone is a skill to be admired.

We must, therefore, hold one truth to be self-evident: that those qualities we perceive as handicaps fuel our greatest strengths. Even where a diversion from the status quo elicited fear, something outside of them, their control, or their environment may yet catalyse change. …but different Because what if change isn’t what we need at all – neither from blue politics to red politics or from businessmen to lawyers – but rather leaders with different mindsets?

Leaders who think divergently, who are willing to make critical decisions without all the information to hand. Who are willing to take chances and accept that sometimes they will fail, but when they fail, know that they have the support of their teams and communities and country to continue committing to chart an unconventional path.

Buyers beware, we may well be entering into an era where our greatest blindspot is a fear of the very complexity that has kept democracy on the straight and narrow.

A time where we refuse to operate in shades of grey, and life’s oxygen is the polarity of news media sound bites, of debates where we intentionally speak over each other, and refuse to flex the muscles required to disagree well.

An era where integrity is not shown, but is spoken about ad infinitum; and an era where power is fought for but extorted, perverted or squandered once it has been won.

Why am I so cautious? Because, humans are creatures of habit and are inherently resistant to change, even there is consensus that change is necessary to move forward.

It takes more than grit to get to play in the major leagues and more than broad shoulders to stay at the top. And therefore while we want to celebrate promises of change, we must always assess our political leaders on the presentations of their egos – do they comply and explain, or deny and blame?

Do they accept failure and ask for forgiveness? Do they feel the fear and do it anyway?

We must become more concerned not by what they say, but what they do. Because if what they are really showing us that they are willing to maintain the status quo, we may never realise the change uncharted territory has to offer. And what a great shame that would be.

Leah Brown FRSA is Founder & CEO of org change consultancy, The WayFinders Group which helps leaders and organisations navigate uncharted territory. She is a lawyer, mediator, writer and speaker based in Broadstairs, East Kent.

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