Mitt Romney – Bright, shiny objects!

Pat Hopkins of Imaginasium in Green Bay [yes, we have very smart people here too!] wrote:

Steve Jobs had it. Bill Gates did, too. Their successors? Not so much.

Don’t get me wrong — Apple and Microsoft may still be successful. It’s just that they’ll never be the same companies that they set out to be.

These days, they’re operating based solely on sound business practices, rather than rallying around a unified, inspiring vision that made them the undisputed leaders in their field.

Same scenario in government: In 2008, Barack Obama had it in droves. This year? Both he and Mitt Romney have played it safe — relying on tried & true tactics rather than a bold vision to rally around. Thus, there’s been no clear leader in the race to date.

And remember good ol’ George H.W. Bush? After serving as Vice President to Reagan — an unequaled storyteller with a clear, compelling vision — he sought to continue the same successful policies for another eight years. Yet, he only served one term.

Bush 41 had an incredible resume — on paper, there was perhaps no one more qualified in recent history than he to serve as president. As he focused on the comfortable role of handling issues one-by-one and in the here-and-now, his advisors urged him to speak to broader themes. He referred to it as “that vision thing,” and didn’t see it as important as solving problems and letting his record speak for itself.

It cost him the election — voters instead rallied around a new candidate who urged them to “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.” (And Clinton went on to serve two terms, with unparalleled popularity even today).

Vision is what every successful leader and company thrives on, yet one of the hardest things to truly communicate and achieve. In fact, it’s the most critical long-term success factor and challenge you’ll face.

You can get by for a while without it. But you won’t lead your industry. Or make as much profit as your competitor. Or retain the best talent.

And unless you also weave it into a compelling story and get good at telling it, you’re likely to face the same fate.” via About That Vision Thing….

Takeaway? Find yours — vision, that is — and pursue it while you still can…

You might be thinking to yourself “Hey, what’s this political crap doing on Todd’s blog?” Well, I got my start in political blogging and stopped 3 years ago because I found it wasn’t healthy for me or my family or my business. The things I learned as a political blogger I now apply in my business practice and to the ideas I post here…

I’m going back to politics for one post simply because I feel that this recall election affects everyone in the country — not just us cheeseheads — but at the same time, I think people don’t have much bandwidth for civic issues they perceive don’t affect them. Here’s ABC’s perspective on the Wisconsin recall…

“In a battle viewed largely as a barometer for November’s showdown between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, Wisconsin voters on Tuesday will decide whether to oust Gov. Scott Walker for what Democrats contend is an unacceptable attack on organized labor by the GOP lawmaker.

During the winter of 2011, the Badger State became locked in a standoff as Walker pushed to roll back union rights for many public employees, infuriating labor groups in the state and around the country. While the governor ultimately succeeded in signing a law that stripped most public employees of their collective bargaining rights on pensions and health care, and limited their pay increases, the backlash against Walker set the stage for this week’s recall vote.

“It’s a statement about what role we think the public sector ought to play,” said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There are fundamental differences between the two parties here, and they mimic the debate in Washington. Republicans want to reduce the size of government, and they view the public sector as a hindrance to job growth, while Democrats want to use the public sector to spur job growth, promote fairness and serve as a safety net. We can’t do both. Wisconsin is a swing state, and it represents a lot of the diversity we find in the country in general, so for that reason I think the recall here is a symbol of the larger argument going on.”

Recent polls show Walker leading his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. A survey of likely voters conducted by Marquette University Law School from May 23-26 showed Walker with a 52 percent to 45 percent advantage over Barrett. But public polling can be unpredictable because of the special nature of the summertime election, and that poll came before the two opponents engaged in a heated debate Thursday night.” Get more here: Wisconsin Scott Walker Recall Election Viewed ss Referendum – ABC News.

In 2008, I stepped down from my position as 3rd Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin due in large part to bad experiences in dealing with campaigns and party officials. While I never had a bad experience with Scott personally I did have one with his campaign. Despite the bitter taste in my mouth, I’ll be voting for Scott tomorrow. For me, there is an important issue at stake; namely, from my perspective powerful forces like unions outside our state are trying to influence how we live here for their own purposes. Scott Walker promised to bring fiscal sanity back to Wisconsin and for the most part he has kept those promises. Of course people and organizations who have been feeding at the public trough are pissed but Wisconsin and the United States cannot continue handing out public monies they way they have. Scott Walker has been good for Wisconsin and the US; I encourage you to support him tomorrow…

PS Did you know this is only the third time in our nation’s history that a governor has faced a recall election?