Moral Authority

“Who can argue with a life so well-lived?”  This was the response from President Bill Clinton when we was questioned on the speech that Mother Teresa gave at the White House prayer breakfast that he had hosted.  It was there that the frail Mother leveled the the crowd with a speech on abortion and how it was the greatest evil of our time.  Ideologically, this crowd was quite opposed to what she was speaking on but ,after the speech, there was an awkward silence followed by thunderous applause.

So what brought this hostile crowd to commendation instead of hissing derision?  She had the one trait that an effective leader MUST have: Moral Authority.  I could type a volume on the philosophical nature of this term but let's simplify it to "walking your talk".  Mother Teresa could have given medical, existential, philosophical, or ethical reasons why she thought abortion to be bad but her greatest arrow in her quiver was her unassailable character and congruence of her walk/talk.  Because when you have moral authority on your side, your opposition throws their hands up and say "Who can argue...".  

The situational ethics, ends justify the means, and myopic business culture we find ourselves in now is the natural out-workings of morally relativistic culture-at-large that has lost its' moorings.  Vision statements have been replaced with PnL statements, professional development with quotas, and corporate civic duty with fleecing. The bottom line is that a leader can have wealth, influence, charisma, good looks, charm and not have any sway over us whatsoever if they do not have moral authority.  

We are in dire need of leaders who will be examples not only of savy business acumen but also moral authority.  A message to current or would be leaders: There is only life.  There is not personal life and work life.  Stop pretending that we can continue leading duplicitous and compartmentalized lives and command respect at the same time.