Vision to Reality: The Reut Blog

The Jerusalem Post reports on Olmert’s comments during roundtable discussions in the Knesset that Israelis have become “a nation of grumblers” who complain about almost everything.

This touches on the difference and tension between what Ron Heifetz calls Authority and Leadership in his book Leadership without Easy Answers.

“It must be understood that there are some things the state cannot do: It can’t combat the Iranian threat while caring for the education of Jews in the former Soviet Union, and also providing fully for welfare, education and housing needs…I want to define realistic expectations.”

According to Heifetz, Authority is given to someone by a relevant constituency and can be taken away. It is a covenant. The authority figure receives power and recognition etc and in return is expected to provide safety and security to the community and to resolve conflicts.

Leadership on the other hand is about changing values, priorities, habits or patterns of behavior in order to help the community face its challenges, to facilitate (or mobilize) adaptive change.

In other words, while authority figures have to make people feel safe, leaders will make some people feel uncomfortable. Authority figures resolve conflicts, leaders will orchestrate them.

Israelis look to authority figures to solve everything…but that’s not possible. What is needed is a leader to help people undergo a period of adaptive change in order to properly understood realistic expectations for life in such a region.