Perspectives on Leadership I
Posted November 2, 2007
Being asked to run for President-Elect of this prestigious but troubled organization leads me to reflect on the nature of leadership. What qualifies a person to assume such a challenging responsibility? In my reflections, the following words came to mind: Vision – Integrity – Intelligence – Initiative, energy – Open-mindedness, balance, respect – Steadiness, consistency – Interpersonal skills, approachability – Breadth of interests – Sense of Humor – Articulateness – Organization, efficiency – Experience, understanding of complex issues – Ability to see both sides of an issue and achieve a resolution – and most daunting…Wisdom. It feels intimidating and a bit presumptuous to realize that, consciously or unconsciously, the members are assessing me for these very qualities.
My web site presents a great deal of information about me, a lot more public exposure than I’d ordinarily be comfortable with, to help you, the reader, form your own opinion about who is better qualified to lead the American Psychoanalytic Association over the next four years. I hope you will go there and look at the biographical material as well as my carefully thought out positions on a number of issues. Please feel free to write me at naclemens@cs.com or call my home (216) 371-4373 or office (216) 381-4850 if you have questions or something you want to discuss.
I’d like to tell you about some things I have done that will help you assess those leadership qualities in me. Some are directly related to psychoanalytic organizations. Others are not specifically psychoanalytic, but they could qualify as applied psychoanalysis or advocacy for psychoanalytic practice. So as not to afflict you with too long a message, I am going to elaborate in two subsequent messages over the next week. For the reader to sense what actually happened, I’ll have to go into some detail. Please bear with me. Till the next installment…
Drew Clemens