Regardless of your political persuasion, you’ve probably enjoyed the Republican debates in recent months more than in past presidential primaries.  That’s largely because the leading candidate is putting on an entertaining show by appealing, in many cases, to the anger some Americans feel about the political process.  So this raises in my mind the question of whether someone’s behavior in the form of inappropriate verbal attacks and gross insensitives, even indecencies, are appropriate in leadership, especially when it concerns a bid for the highest office in the land.

I’m not making a political statement here.  I’m asking the question of whether a leader in any capacity has the right to bully and denigrate people who either work for the person or oppose him in the political process.  My answer is yes.  People have the right to say or do what they want, provided it is lawful.  But just because something is lawful doesn’t make it appropriate.  What concerns me is that Americans have become so numb to reality television that they can’t distinguish between program entertainment and inappropriate leadership behavior.  And this is the issue that has so many of us shaking our heads and wondering how the election process will unfold in the coming months.

Entrepreneurs by nature are risk takers who lay a lot of their time, money, and energy behind a cause.  Often that cause is a business venture, and people have a free choice to either hitch their wagon to the leader’s vision, or not.  No one has to keep working for someone who bullies his staff or blindly disparages people behind their backs.  But it often takes courage for followers to say they’ve had enough.  In the months ahead, it will be interesting to see how the political process unfolds, but in the meantime, it will be equally interesting to see how many of you will continue to work for someone who doesn’t treat you the way you feel you should be treated.  The latter may be the most important question for you to ask in this election year.

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