Okay, we’ve tried victorious war generals. We’ve tried wealthy businessmen and representatives from the oil industry. My question is right out of the movie Fight Club; how’s that working out for us? None of our leaders have been perfect because perfection is something dreamed up by philosophers and television sports and awards shows. I think it is time we saw what a woman can do in the White House. Could her reception be any worse than the one afforded our first black president?

I’m basing this thought on a talk given at a management conference. Our guest speaker was a lady who had written a non-fiction study of The Glass Ceiling. Briefly, that ceiling is what women bump their heads on when they try to be upwardly mobility or struggle for equality in the male-dominated business world. I think it has global implications.

The speaker used a shopping analogy to point out what she saw as a fundamental difference in how men and women think. A wife comes home and tells her husband she needs a black cocktail dress. What the husband hears is that he needs to provide a solution. So, they go hunting. Striding into her favorite mall store, he finds a black dress that she thinks is okay and he buys/kills it. What his wife was really asking was could he spend some time with her.

Most men are very comfortable with a vertical chain of command. From the earliest days there is always someone in charge; a father, coach, Sergeant, professor, cleric, boss. In team sports, and surely in combat, discipline and unquestioning loyalty to the cause and orders insure succeed. Standing before the boss, most men patiently wait to be told how he wants a situation handled. I caused turmoil in one meeting when I told the seven supervisors in the room to decide on their next job rotation. I’d be back in a hour. After they gave me their lineup I said, “Fine.” Trying to get out the door for yet another meeting, the group asked, “When will we know your decision?” Uncomfortable myself at trying something new, I smiled and said “I said ‘fine’ so you decide.“ The rotation worked out. I got excellent feedback from the group. And my boss thought I was crazy.

According to our speaker-expert, women tend to think horizontally. What seems to happen is women meet and discuss things, usually not directly related to the subject, and then slowly approach the need and build consensus, then find a solution. It can be uncomfortable for a man. A female supervisor who reported to me did exactly that. I wanted to scream at her “Tell me what you want” but instead we discussed her PTA visit, her husband’s impending transfer, the weather and, finally, the problem at hand. Unlike a man, though, she wasn’t asking what I wanted her to do. She wanted my input. Input? I was the boss. I got to say what she, or any of her fellow supervisors, needed to do. She said she just wanted to update me on what she was doing with her people. Wow.

How would this bit of uncomfortable office repartee translate into the sometimes lethal world of international politics? I don’t know but I do know that there are many, many great candidates out there and I’d love to see what those ladies could accomplish. I don’t mean the women who learned to act like their successful male counterparts in order to be successful. I am talking about the horizontal method of approaching and analyzing a problem. It could work at our county level just as well as global summits.

Is this a lead in advocating or endorsing Mrs. Clinton? No more than it would be to promote Laura Bush. I am talking about a radically different way of dealing with important matters. I think a strong woman could be Commander in Chief. U.S. Grant showed us that winning the Civil War, or at least throwing soldiers onto Lee’s bayonets until he simply wore the better general down by sheer weight of numbers and attrition, did not qualify him to be president. His regime was rife with corruption. Mrs. Adams admonished her husband, John, to not forget the ladies when he and his rebel brethren began the process of drawing up our constitution. It took a future amendment to do just that and even suggesting that they give those “ladies” the right to vote was sure to bring on a fist-fight in our more hallowed halls of government.

Without pointing fingers across the various aisles of government, what harm could it do? One General even said, “we can’t bomb people into peace.” Westmoreland said we had to “destroy this village in order to save it.” Again, how is that mind set working for us? I think we need to rethink quite a bit of givens in our society. To think that women can’t handle the pressures (combat, diplomacy, hard-ball politics) is to be stuck in the past. They call it “Peace Talks” for a reason.

Jerry Tuck is a retired San Andreas resident and an indie author. Contact him at olwhofan@aol.com or use the Contact Form.