Innovative Leadership Experience: The Honorable John Ashcroft

Definitely one of the highlights of my recent trip was visiting with John Ashcroft. He currently works in DC and has a consultancy firm. He was able to give us a half hour appointment, and squeezed more into that half hour than most people can. Some of the things I observed was his presence. He was a force in the room. I was traveling mainly with college students, and their insecurity was evident in stark contrast to his command and confidence. He invited us to join him around a table in his office. When students sheepishly stood looking around trying to figure out which seat they should sit in, Mr. Ashcroft started point, "You sit there, you sit there." It was A Game all the way. He let us know every moment that he was there to give his best, and we should bring nothing less to the table.

Mr. Ashcroft defines leadership as "changing the definition of the possible through the selection of noble objectives. Pursuing the possible with such intention people join in."

He then told us quickly about the difference between Leaders and Cab Drivers. The metaphor of the Cab Drivers represents someone that takes you where you are already going. Leaders don't do that, they take you where you need to go. In DC in particular Mr. Ashcroft expressed that there are many Cab Drivers that try to take on the title of Leader. The poll vault (his word play) ahead of the people. He means they conduct polls regularly to get a sense of where people are going, what will resonate with them, and then use that information to get ahead of the crowd so that when they arrive at the destination they were heading anyway, the Cab Driver says, "See I was here before you, and have led you to this place/outcome." A true Leader changes the definition of the possible, so that he/she can lead people to an outcome they never imagined on their own.

One thing that stood out about Mr. Ashcroft is that he is a man of deep faith. In fact, he pursued politics because he felt he could positively affect our country through godly wisdom that he would bring to the podium. He shared that there are only a few people who get the podium in our country: Professional athletes, Pop singers, Movie stars, and politicians. His effort was to be the light of Christ while he was at the podium of our culture. He took a lot of flack for that, in fact if you've paid attention he was pretty near crucified for his beliefs. Mr. Ashcroft held open devotions during non-work hours where people could come read the scripture with him and pray. The media charged him with imposing his religion on the American people. When he shared about these charges he said, "What I've told anyone related to this issue is this: It is against my religion to impose my religion." And he's right. Christianity is not a faith that seeks the power of imposition, rather it is a faith that offers freedom through invitation.

It was a great meeting. It was very inspirational, and the view out his ninth floor office overlooking the church that Thomas Jefferson attended while in DC wasn't bad either.

--Ben