Daily Times

Legendary auto executive Lee Iacocca had a question for every American: where have all the leaders gone? The iconic leader shares his lessons and issues a call to action to summon Americans back to their roots of hard work, common sense, integrity, generosity, and optimism. There is a need to learn from history and to create a national purpose. We need leaders who will show us the way.

Iacocca wrote, “The big question when it comes to trade is how we acknowledge global realities and move forward, without destroying our competitive edge. Free trade is one of the fundamental principles of our capitalist economy, but America has a bad habit of giving away the store. Free trade has to be a fair trade. And you have to guard against corruption.”

He goes on to write that we cannot afford to take our eyes off India. Not too long ago, India was known for its poverty. But today, India has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This is in large part due to its dominance in the high technology fields. The key to India’s emerging economy is its rapidly expanding middle class. While the American middle class struggles to stay solvent, India’s has more than tripled in the last twenty years to 150 million.

There is only one way to shift the trade balance. The United States needs to start acting in its self-interest. Iacocca admits he learnt this from Dr Tomito Kubo, the chairman of Mitsubishi Motors. Every country has an obligation to put its self-interest first on a global scale. About globalisation, Iacocca wrote, “to fear globalisation is to fear change. But like it or not, change is a constant in our lives. Before you can deal with change, you have to see it. Then you have to accept it. Sometimes that is the hardest part — acknowledging and then accepting that the way you have always done business or lived your life just won’t work anymore. This is just a basic life lesson, true of individual, families and companies, and of course, nations.”

Countries build walls when they lack the creativity to solve complex problems. And there is nothing more complicated than figuring out how we are going to relate to the world outside our borders

There are plenty of historical examples of nations that got knocked in the head because they resisted change. In fact, you can go back and track the success and failure of any nation in the world by how open it was to change. The technological/scientific advances are a cause of political and economic power. But nations are dragged down by their bureaucracy, which results in economic failure.

It is astounding to realise that until President Nixon’s historic engagement with China in the early 1970s, America was not even talking, let alone sharing technology. Ideas and innovation cannot be walled in or out. And nations cannot afford to go into isolation, for whatever reasons. In the United States, Congress was happy to approve the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico to keep the illegals out — which just points to the fact that the Congress was always ready to respond to fear. Security is a legitimate concern. It makes politicians nervous. There is a lot of grandstanding.

However, real problems on the ground may necessitate addressing situations like that on the Pak-Afghan border (the Durand Line). Fencing or building the wall would be essential to prevent terrorists from Afghanistan attacking Pakistan. A somewhat more suitable solution to defeating terror would be the early return of estimated three million Afghan refugees, approximately half of them undocumented. Their presence in Pakistan helps Afghan terrorists to melt and morph among them.

Returning to Lee Iacocca on the issue of building a three-hundred-mile wall to secure the United States border with Mexico, he said the border is two thousand miles long. That is like triple-locking the front door and leaving the back door open. Even if we built a wall that stretched the entire length of the border, it would not solve the problem. Iacocca wrote, “America does not build walls. It tears them down.” One of the most inspirational moments was when Ronald Reagan stood up and said, “Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall”. And the Berlin wall came tumbling down.

Countries build walls when they lack the creativity to solve complex problems. And there is nothing more complicated than figuring out how we are going to relate to the world outside our borders. “While we are at it, we have to have a plan for dealing with the eleven million illegal immigrants that are already here. Every immigrant, legal or illegal, comes to America because he wants to improve in life. Most immigrants work hard and make a great sacrifice to create better future for their children. It is the American dream.”

Lee Iacocca’s book ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ critically examines attitudes and approach of some of the Presidents of the United States to indicate the presence of positivity in them.

What is it going to take to convince our leaders that the road forward starts with a conversation? Iacocca had learnt this from his experience of meeting people like Castro of Cuba and leaders of the free world. When it comes right down to it, being a leader in the world is just a matter of winning friends and influencing people with a spirit of hope.

The writer is a former Director of National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), Government of Pakistan, a political analyst, a public policy expert and an author. His book post 9/11 Pakistan was published in the United States

Published in Daily Times, February 22^nd 2018.