“Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny” (Charles Reade, 1814-84)
‘Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast’ is an aphorism often wrongly attributed to management guru Peter Drucker. It was more likely first coined by Apple founder Steve Jobs, or long-time General Electric CEO Jack Welch. Either way, ‘the vibe will always outweigh the best of plans,’ is a loose translation that’s very relevant in today’s political climate.
No matter how well intentioned, and well thought out, your plans and execution strategies are, the prevailing culture of the day will wipe them away if you don’t have a positive alternative vibe to offer.
Today’s predominant culture seems to be a shallow clickbait chasing, soulless media frenzy of commentary on the theatre of politics, as if that’s the actual substance of government.
In contrast, Paul Keating always used Policy as his starting point, from which he launched many winning public debates. Even “the recession we had to have” comment ended with him winning the 1993 Federal Election against all odds.
Over the past three years, Labor has worked hard at restoring the nation’s fortunes, but done nothing to improve the vibe. Their apparently now inbuilt reticence has too often left them like rabbits in the headlights of the clickbait chasing possies, rather than lightsaber wielding agents of innovative policy change leading the way forward.
Meanwhile, the electoral cycle has now caught up with them, and they’re too often caught on the backfoot, rather than ‘taking the ball up,’ as Hawke and Keating showed us can be done with confidence even in tough times.
Across the Pacific, America is facing an existential crisis, with the strong prospect of a second term presidency for convicted felon and well known shyster Donald Trump. And Australia is being media-managed towards a similarly cliff hanging election, where the Abbott and ScoMo breeding LNP might return to office led by Sergeant Dutton, just one term after their chaotic and corrupt decade in power. Weird or what?
Which brings me to Breakfast of Champions the famous satirical novel by American writer, and WWII Dresden Allied carpet bombing survivor Kurt Vonnegut. In this darkly comic tale, titled after the advertising slogan for the popular US breakfast cereal Wheaties, Vonnegut pokes fun at the way America had become a nation where ordinary people were treated like trash.
The novel came out in 1973, 51 years ago, but it is strangely relevant for today’s MAGA (‘Make America Great Again’) take on things. It posits that there is only one creature with free will in the universe, you, the reader of the novel, and everyone else is a robot. The book is critical of American society and its treatment of its citizens, many of whom Vonnegut writes “were so ignored and cheated and insulted that they thought they might be in the wrong country.” Anyone looking for an affordable place to rent, or a leg up into the Australian negatively geared housing market?
Vonnegut presciently focused largely on race, the poor, and the destruction of the environment in 1973, criticising the hypocrisy of a land that claimed to be based on the principles of freedom, while having been founded by people who “used human beings for machinery” (slaves).
The protagonist of Breakfast of Champions, Dwayne Hoover, suffered a major mental breakdown, which Vonnegut said was caused, in society at large, by an abundance of “bad chemicals” in the brain which, when combined with bad ideas, form “the Yin and Yang of madness.”
Hoover’s character seemed to be signed over to the powers that be, riding the roller coaster of fate like a boogie board lost in the surf.
And Character will no doubt be raised as a weapon in the upcoming Federal Election, so it might pay to reflect on the status of our two leading political protagonists in the Character department.
American writer Gail Sheehy (famous for Passages in 1976 and Pathfinders in 1981) wrote the book Character in the run up to the 1988 Presidential Election, eventually won by George (‘old man’) Bush. In it she described the ‘step-style’ of each of the six candidates, as their “characteristic mode of reacting to the changes and chances of this mortal life.”
Sheehy saw three main types of step-style personalities, i.e. their characteristic ways of attacking the tasks of personal and career development: Cautious, minimising risk; Sink-or-Swim, waiting for life to happen to them and reacting only when they absolutely must; and those who appear to change dramatically, but it’s All An Act, masking the essential fear of confronting the real ‘me’ of childhood frustrations.
George Bush Snr scored high on the amiability stakes and seeking consensus (or, wanting to be liked). He wasn’t seen as a strong leader. Yet he served as Vice President under Ronald Reagan from 1981-89, and President from 1989-93. A one-termer.
So when we soon start hearing the inevitable references to ‘the character of this person’ in the approaching election campaign, see what you think about our two would-be Prime Ministers and their step-styles.
As Sheehy put in 1888: “At this point in our political history… the concentration on character issues is unparalleled in its intensity. The reason, as I see it, is simple and stark. By the time they become national leaders, the candidates’ characters are sown. And if character is destiny, the destiny they reap will be our own.”
Robbie Lloyd
Dr Robbie Lloyd has been a national journalist, public affairs director, education and community health reformer for over 50 years. He works with First People and those with Lived Experience of mental health challenges, disability, alcohol and other drugs, DFV, ageing and trauma.
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