Leadership, Hope and…Santa

(HMPRESENTLY in the Pagosa Daily Post)

HMPRESENTLY: The Characteristics of Great Leaders

I first became aware of leaders and leadership skills, when I was a kid. Around the time I was in the third or fourth grade in school, as I recall, when I got to spend some time at my dad’s office.

Like many others of his generation, he immigrated to America because of terrible circumstances where he was born. As he was getting his feet on the ground, out in the Midwest, my father had to figure out how he would make a living, and after many fits and starts, over many years, he, and someone he knew, found a way to start a construction business, in the post-World War II era, when infrastructure throughout the country was being upgraded and built up.

As I got older, I became aware of my father’s management style, of his knack for listening to what people had to say…

And then, as I was getting my feet on the ground in my corporate career, I was again seeing common threads in senior executives’ leadership style.

HMPRESENTLY: Squeezing Democracy Back in the Toothpaste Tube

I rode my bike the other day, exercising my body — and exercising caution, because of COVID.

Heading uphill, I was huffing and puffing more than usual, because of two face masks I was wearing. I had on a cloth mask with a filter inside, and another mask, under that, like the masks health care workers wear. I doubled up, not only for added protection, but also because the second mask kept the first one from slipping down my face. When I’m bike riding, keeping everything in place keeps me focused on traffic, pedestrians, and such.

But as it turned out, there wasn’t all that much to focus on. Only a couple of cars were passing by. The buildings and parking lots, along both sides of the street, were mostly empty. I was riding through a ghost town of commercial office complexes, that, pre-pandemic, would have been teeming with people.

It was eerie, but there may be light at the end of the tunnel, with precautions, like wearing face masks, already in place… and with vaccines on the way, that may help, as well.

For some reason, as I was peddling around the ghost town, I started thinking about current events.

I was thinking about something I’d heard someone, on TV, say about democracy. About having to squeeze democracy back in the toothpaste tube — I think those were the words — to preserve democracy, once we’re past the chaos of the past several years.

We’ll get there, I was thinking, with some optimism, empathy and…

HMPRESENTLY: Santa’s TV Interview

With us this morning, none other than Kris Kringle. Thanks for being with us, Santa.

It’s my pleasure, thanks for having me.

How’s it been, this highly unusual holiday season, with COVID challenges, and all?

It has been challenging! But we geared up, we made some adjustments. We’re social distancing at North Pole HQ. We’re a big, complex organization that’s had to adapt to all sorts of unexpected circumstances, over the centuries. To natural disasters, wars, and such. We’re accustomed to gearing up, no matter what!

We did have to get a handle on webinar technology, especially for our emissaries — that’s what we call them — all the Santas you’d, normally, see at shopping malls, bringing joy to children. We’ve been webinaring — is that a word? — remotely bringing joy. Our North Pole tech support people got us, and our emissaries, up to speed.

Have you seen, on TV, drones delivering items?

I have, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Those drones, I’ve heard, are pretty fast, but Dasher, Dancer, Vixen and the rest of our reindeer team are up to speed, too. So… for the foreseeable future, we’ll be continuing with… On Dasher! On Dancer! On Prancer and Vixen!

I get it, Santa. Tell us about some of the other things you’ve had to change.

Well, for the most part, we’re seeing what we’ve been seeing, in the past, good kids out there, adapting to sheltering in place and attending school remotely. We’ve seen a slight decline in bullying. Maybe because bullying, remotely, is more difficult. But, at the same time, we’re seeing an uptick in adults bullying one another.

Adults?

Yeah, sadly so. Adults should know better.

Can you say who’s been on your radar screen?

Well, with privacy in mind, I can’t name names. But, generally speaking, we’ve seen an uptick among dictators around the world, imposing their will on people. You always have that, but their behavior has been getting worse. And, there’s been bullying where we didn’t expect to see it, in various places, including America.

Can you be more specific, Santa?

Well, like I said, I can’t name names. But, generally speaking, we’re seeing bullying in politics. Bullying, bad language, lying, and such. You know what happens to bullies? They get a lump of coal in their stocking! We’ve had to factor that into our lumps of coal supply chain, figuring we’ll need more coal for adults, than kids.

We’ve had train loads of coal rolling into the North Pole, and 18-wheelers, day-after-day, at our loading docks. We’re trying to use clean coal, you know, with environmental concerns in mind. As I recall, someone in politics was making a big deal about clean coal, a couple of years ago.

You’re sure I can’t get you to name some names?

Nah. Privacy issues. We have no desire to be sued. Besides… you can probably guess some of the naughty adults we’re talking about. HO…HO…HO!!