Saturday, August 29, 2009

LEADERSHIP: DOES JOHNSON HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

Anyone in an elected position is suppose to be a leader. From the President of the United States all the way down to a city council member or a city commission member. This is also true of our county elected officials. So that puts Barbara Johnson in this category since she is an elected official. Barbara Johnson – leader. She leads the Clerk of Courts office.

What is a definition of a leader? According to Mr. Webster, a leader is “a guide, a commander. Someone who shows the way; to direct; to persuade; to tend to….”

The February 2009 Reader’s Digest (pg. 180) has some excellent quotes on LEADERSHIP. Some of them are:



Doris Kearns Goodwim: “Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.”

Well, Barbara Johnson is surrounded by people with diverse perspectives. Can they disagree with her without fear of retaliation? Or does she just not listen to them?




Rev. Theodore Hesburgh: “You have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”

From what I’ve seen, Johnson has no vision. If she does, she obviously does not articulate it clearly and forcefully. She is blowing an uncertain trumpet.



Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (Michigan): “Sometimes leadership is planting trees under whose shade you’ll never sit.”

Forget about Barb planting trees….or planting ANYTHING for that matter. Remember, she is our “NOTHING” clerk because in the past 20 years, she has (and continues to do) “NOTHING!”



Gen. Bruce Clarke: “When things go wrong in your command, start searching for the reason in increasingly large circles around your own two feet.”

Well, Johnson doesn’t have to look at increasingly large circles around her own two feet; she just needs to look at her own two feet! !



H. Ross Perot: “Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.”

It is obvious that Johnson has no idea how to lead. That office is like a ship without a captain / an army without a general: there is absolutely NO leadership in that office whatsoever. One would think that one of the supervisors would at least step up to the plate and lead, but that has not happened. Why? It must be for one of two reasons: either they are not able (which I find hard to believe) or they are not allowed (which I would suspect to be the case).

If she were a true leader, she would have put one of her seasoned veteran employee into a position to “Manage the office,” so that she could actually then have the time to “Lead” the office. But anyone who is in that office on a regular basis will see that is not the case. She has proven over the past 20-plus years that she doesn’t lead, and she has no idea how to lead. After all, why would the “NOTHING” clerk want to do anything about anything, especially leading a county office that she was elected to be in charge of.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

To you the voter I ask: Does this look like she is doing the job that she was elected by YOU THE VOTERS AND TAX PAYERS of Erie County to do?

4 comments:

  1. it's obvious to me that in order to run that office, you do not need any leadership experience or know-how. she is the most worthless "leader" i have ever seen. maybe she should run for a more prestiage position such as county commissioner or city commissioner. she would fit right in.

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  2. How about running for prosecutor or judge. She would fit right in there too.

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  3. to anonymous poster above at 9:10 -

    whatever susan hurst!

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  4. Nah, Johnson would never fit in running for prosecutor or judge.....she's much too honest to hold a position like that.

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