My six-point plan if I ran for President
Why not think about what you’d do if you ran for President?
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My Six-Point Starting Plan
The environment affects everyone, therefore my strategy starts:
Top-down, bottom-up, everywhere, all at once, starting with you and me, here and now
- 75 in 75: I will increase Presidential effectiveness by reducing the White House’s footprint by 75 percent in 75 days. This is top-down role modeling.
- National Security: The U.S. military just spilled jet fuel in Pearl Harbor’s drinking water. The Secretary of Defense had to speak about it. It revealed inefficiency hurting Americans, undermining national security. I will work with the Secretary of Defense to improve national security by reducing the military’s footprint. Recall that our current Secretary of Defense wrote about my book Leadership Step by Step:
- Great leaders aren’t born with a “leadership gene”; great leaders develop the necessary skills and gain confidence through practice and hard work.
- In Leadership Step by Step Joshua Spodek presents a thoughtful approach to becoming a highly effective leader that emphasizes the importance of experiential learning. It will serve as a valuable resource for leaders at all levels in any profession.
- Indeed, Joshua’s practical exercises will help prospective, as well as experienced leaders, to master their craft and ultimately to succeed in leading and inspiring others in their various pursuits.
- Influence Influencers: The President of the United States is not just another person, but wrapped in tremendous power and reach. I will work one-on-one with influential Americans to share embracing living joyfully sustainably—think Bill Gates, Taylor Swift, LeBron James, and the CEO of Exxon. 330 million Americans and billions around the world will see joy, freedom, and fun where they once saw deprivation.
- Inspire Joe and Jane Six-Pack: We will create workshops based in the Spodek Method I use in workshops and the podcast for average Americans to restore and act on their intrinsic values of the Golden Rule, stewardship, and common decency—the bedrocks of sustainability. This bottom-up action will help 330 million Americans change fast, joyfully.
- Lead World Leaders: Some say America could lead environmentally. Tragically, we are leading . . . toward collapse. When we stop polluting and depleting more than nearly anyone, we can lead others to reduce as much as we do. I will work with other world leaders to achieve for their nations what we do.
- Clean Up Our Act: If highways exist, people will drive on them. We will rewild highways in cities, starting with the hated Cross Bronx Expressway, following San Francisco’s Embarcadero Highway. When it was gone, nobody wanted it back, like smoking in bars and restaurants. We will save costs and increase health, safety, and community by systematically reducing infrastructure that drives growth: removing highways, decreasing the national grids as people lower use, replacing buying material stuff with cultural activities like education, arts, sports, and community service.
Great American Role Models
I would lead in the style of many role models, but especially:
- Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, who helped create the Thirteenth Amendment, banning everywhere a practice that once divided the nation.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose calm fireside chats helped a nation act together to stave off runs on banks by everyone acting for themselves.
- Theodore Roosevelt, who said “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”
- Benjamin Franklin, who understand and advanced science, remaining humble to nature.
- Harriet Tubman, who said, instead of giving up, “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
- Robert Carter III, the American who voluntarily freed the most slaves, over his neighbors’ objections, finding it improved his life. Americans contribute disproportionately to tens of millions of deaths annually. We can stop causing this suffering, improving our lives.
- The first woman to wear pants: her name may be lost to history, but she influenced billions of people by simply acting by her values, despite having to weather scorn.
- Dwight Eisenhower, who mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to protect our freedom, leading through intrinsic values. He called leadership the art of getting the other person to do your thing for their reason.
- Muhammad Ali, who, in risking his career and reputation to resist being drafted to live by his values, ultimately became The Greatest of All Time. The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision supported his choice.
- Martin Luther King junior, for leading through love, without formal authority, effecting change beyond what politicians dream of.
Common interview question: What would I do if I were dictator?
Interviewers sometimes ask what I would do if I were a benevolent dictator and could pass and enforce any legislation I wanted. Since so many people ask it, I find it boring and unoriginal. In any case, it gets my values wrong. I like democracy and would not try to work outside it.
If I were emperor or dictator, I would not exercise non-democratic control. I would call for democratic elections as soon as practicable.
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