OPINION:Recent Passport Office scenes send a pernicious message to an external world whose confidence we need to inspire
THE EVENTS of the past 10 days have really brought home some serious points about leadership in our society that I believe have to be considered by more than our political leaders.
Ten days ago, I spent some time on the west coast of the United States. I attended a number of events, some also attended by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, designed to emphasise the positive attributes Ireland offers for investment by businesses such as my own.
The Irish delegation had a strong story to tell. Armed with the new IDA strategy, the IDA/Enterprise Ireland plans for third-level research competence centres and the report of the Innovation Task Force, it was very much a case of a glass “half-full”.
It was deflating then to turn the corner into Molesworth Street early on Monday morning and see the queues and the tension around the Passport Office. That dispute exposes a truly felt sense of grievance on that part of many different groups. But this is not the forum to discuss its specific merits, as my concern lies with the wider issue for which it is now the symbol.
Part of the story Ireland needs to tell the world – and not just America – is that we have dealt with the immediate challenges of recession, stabilised our economy and society and can offer real value to employers and investors.
Talk of “wrapping the green flag around us” has become unfashionable of late. We might want to change the descriptor but it’s a simple reality that if we can’t play as a cohesive team when facing to the outside world, we are adding to our problems.
In that context we all – Government of course, but also non-government parliamentarians and elected representatives, business leaders, union leaders and social leaders – need to redefine our sense of leadership and start acting accordingly.
Much is being made of the prospects for “recovery” – have we started, when will it start, and how long will it take? While the definition of recovery is “the end of a recession or depression, marked by renewed growth”, I challenge all of us that have roles of leadership to question the expectations we are allowing to build up around what recovery means.
We may find in the course of this year the economy has stopped shrinking. That does not mean no further steps need to be taken on managing costs or creating competitiveness. Furthermore, to grow we need to invest and the money for that investment needs to come from somewhere. That’s our reality.
Far from being able to let our breath out, the catch-up this economy faces requires that costs tighten again – we will all feel a pressure to do more with less.
That is where we need to be realistic in the leadership that we offer. Leadership is not just about creating a burning platform to amplify the losses of one’s constituents and make loud claims for reparation. Neither is it about defending the “we didn’t cause the problem” position. That is the position of a follower.
Real leadership now will take a dispassionate view of the world ahead. It will seek to explain and influence those around it to understand that view, what they can realistically expect, why and how to get there. The quicker we collectively get all of society to the point of understanding where we really are and what we have to do next, the quicker we will have opportunities to look for growth and renewal.
The visit to the US showed that there is revived activity in key corners of the global market. The opportunities coming off that uplift will exist for a finite window of time. Strategically our economic planners have marked out the foundations to play a role but we are not the only locations where that opportunity can be revived.
We cannot afford therefore to let our future be defined by the differences that are being formed in our society as one segment after another seeks to limit its exposure to a reduced economy.
Yes, we must deal thoroughly with the errors of the past, and provide direction to avoid repeating those errors, but we cannot define our future and that of our children by past leaders’ mistakes. The longer we spend fighting over who takes the blame and bears the brunt of the cost, the longer we are out of the game for a share of renewed economic activity.
We are not solving our problems either by pointing to lack of leadership elsewhere in our society. Leadership has to start first at home and now for every sector. We then have to look practically at collaboration because a small economy cannot hope to transform itself and be competitive if it is not uniting its resources. A big part of delivering it is that we each take responsibility for what is happening in our own area of influence, point the way forward for others around us and give them assurance and clarity as to the role they have to play to make their contribution to the greater cause.
Two days after listening to my US colleagues talking about the future potential that exists in investing in Ireland, they were then hearing about the barriers to that future potential that exist in our system.
There are no entitlements to opportunity but it can be earned. If we cannot find it in ourselves to do that in each sector of our economy, how can we claim to deserve a share of what growth is coming? If we can, however, then it is fair to talk about “recovery”.
The choice is ours – to lead and therefore have influence and the possibility in time of control, or to follow and take what is given.
Martin Murphy is managing director of Hewlett-Packard Ireland and a member of the steering committee of Your Country Your Call