Leadership is Difficult

April 20, 2026

Good morning! It’s a tax quinfecta!   Federal — State — County — City — School (not to mention sales!)

But, as my friend reminds me, where can you get less for more?

I hike down to the local court house to pay our taxes… somehow it seems more patriotic and it’s also an expression of citizenship.

I miss hiking  to the locally-owned hardware and grocery stores just down the street from us, now vacant buildings sadly collecting dust and urban debris.

Coachella came and went — and I didn’t even know it was coachella season yet!

(It is also turkey season, counterintuitively… still yet another feather in Ben Franklin’s famous fur hat.)

• According to The Guardian, Dolly Parton is the most popular human on Earth…
  • These pollsters haven’t met my granddaughter.
• Leaders almost always give themselves a higher score on listening than on the flip side by those who want to be heard.
  • (Guilty!)
  • Leadership is difficult (duh!?) and a leader will often be in a problem-solving mode rather than in a listening mode.
  • It is humbling — and at times humiliating — to be told you’re not a good listener… most of us aren’t, but we think we are.
  • Here’s the good news:  It’s a skill that CAN be learned and it’s a skill that CAN be improved upon, though not by those lacking humility.
• Today’s most competitive organizations aren’t those with the most artificial intelligence tools — they’re the ones with the most adaptive mindsets.  (Unknown)
• There are lots of sources for advice if you have lots of money…
  • and if you don’t have lots of money — or even if you do — there are lots of sources offering free advice.
  • Here at Without A Vision Consultancy LLC we are always hoping to be in that first category.
    • Pass the word.
• Book:  When the (U.S.) Declaration of Independence Was News, Sneff, Oxford Press, 2026.
• “We cannot reform our forefathers.”  (Eliot)
• We are a culture fixated on physical prowess.
  • What is the greatest of all — the rarest of all — human physical attributes?
    • Hitting an orb farther/ faster/ quicker than anyone else on Earth, ever — or catching one?
    • Running (Jumping/ Walking/ Vaulting) farther/ faster/ higher/ quicker than anyone else on Earth, ever?
    • Lifting more weight or moving a heavier object than anyone else on Earth, ever?
    • Climbing an unclimbable mountain, or running an impossible distance, or surviving a tsunami or tornado or avalanche…?
    • You get the idea:  Swimming, sprinting, archery, spear throwing, canoeing… what is the greatest of all — the rarest of all — human physical attributes?
• Beyond a strategic-level awareness and appreciation of travel within our vast universe, beyond Earth, I can’t claim much expertise.
  • We were introduced to an analogy recently by a Hawking-esque scientist:  There are likely more Earth-like (planets) than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of this Earth.
• Sovereign wealth funds; i.e., bank accounts of kings, queens, dictators, and rulers, Etc. are flush with cash.
  • Trillions and trillions of dollars are controlled by as few as a dozen different humans around the world.  (Dangoor, Etc., et al.)
  • Why is this important?
  • Liquidity is sometimes needed by a nation short of cash (think United States).
  • Cash is king — and queen — and rook — and knight…
  • Some of the largest caches of cash are in the oil-rich Middle East…
    • Remember the total amount of our skyrocketing national debt?
• Across the United States, March 2026 was 9.4 degrees warmer than average when compared to the last 125 years.  (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
  • You may choose to not believe the data, but these are the only data we have.
  • (These data are for the entire United States, not cherry-picked anomalies.)
  • March 2026 was the #1 warmest month we’ve ever had (greatest distance from the mean), on average, when compared to 125 years of averages.
  • For fair reporting and/ or for contrarians, March 1910 was the 4th warmest of all time — 7.9 degrees warmer than average.
  • And, February 1954 was a scorcher at 7.6 degrees (F) warmer than average.
  • Six of the nation’s ten hottest months have happened in the last decade, 2017 – 2026.
    • (Note to self:  Why was our heating bill still so high?!)
      • (Another note to self:  Eight days ago the temperature in our backyard reached 83 degrees F.)
• There are more births than deaths annually in the United States, but fewer than half that ratio compared to a quarter century ago.
  • Back in the 1950s there were approximately 3,000,000 more births than deaths.
  • Today — 2025 — there are approximately 500,000 more births than deaths.
  • The number of women giving birth in a given year throughout 2025 was about 5% of all who were of (ages 15-45) child-bearing age…
  • whereas throughout much of the 1950s and 1960s it was approximately 13%each year.  (U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 2026)
  • Note to self:  Please don’t blame the messenger… we’re NOT calling child birth a disease.