You're Gonna Pay for That!

     I ran across this article today that was very interesting.  The article was found at environmentalleader.com and is titled, "National Manufacturers Would Be Forced to Dispose of Products under R.I. Bill."  The article is about the governor of Rhode Island and his administration signing a bill that would ultimately force certain manufacturers to pay for their wastes.  The governor, Lincoln Chafees, ultimately wants to expand this bill to other sectors since it will only be in effect in the Rhode Island area.  If the bill passes, certain products will be decided on whether they are needed to be paid for in order to dispose of them.  From the article, items like; mattresses, paint, and syringes need to be paid for because they are either harmful to our environment or cause an increased cost to the government in order to dispose of them.  Obviously this is a step towards a more sustainable future, even if it only starts with Rhode Island.

     After reading the article, I think that it would be beneficial to analyze Lincoln's leadership through the Authentic Action Wheel portrayed in Chapter 10 of our text. The wheel was developed by Robert Terry in which it portrays six components that are used to locate a problem on the wheel (pertaining leadership), and to strategically select an appropriate response to the problem.  As for the wheel, I went through all six components for Lincoln.  My reasoning behind each components are as follows:

Meaning: Lincoln and his administration are guided by their values, principles, and ethics to make a difference when it comes to being able to dispose of harmful materials so freely.
Existence: Manufacturing plants have been freely disposing of harmful substances without realizing the overall detriment to the environment (History).  Also, Lincoln is the Governor of Rhode Island which lends him power and credibility (Identity).
Resources:  Lincoln controls a vast amount of resources due to the position held. (people, time, capital, etc.)
Mission:  Lincoln wants to reach a more sustainable environment in Rhode Island and later expand his objectives and policies further throughout the U.S.
Power: Has power due to the position that is held, through motivating his administration, and for maintaining high morale through times of change.
Structure:  Has a great deal of structure through the government and also through the policies (like this one) that he makes and incorporates into law.

Thus, all six of these components revolve around the idea of fulfillment.  Fulfillment is the stage that an Authentic leader will see themselves at once the process has been completed.  For Lincoln, I would argue that he will find himself here once the bill is passed and put into practice.  Thus, this wheel is usually for finding a problem with leadership, but after going through the process, I wasn't able to find any.  The only thing that is wrong here, is that the process is not 100% complete.  Therefore, I will state that the Governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, is most definitely an authentic leader.

If you read the article, do you think that Chafee is an authentic leader?  Do you think that it is safe to say that most politicians should be able to classify themselves as authentic leaders (be there no criminal tendencies)?  Let me know what you think.

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-Jeff Parrish