Skip to content
Who's in the Video
Older man with white hair in a suit and red tie gestures with his right hand while looking forward against a plain background.
Bill George
Bill George is a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. He is the author of Discover Your True North, The Discover Your True North Fieldbook, Authentic Leadership, True North, Finding[…]
Go to Profile
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

It’s not clear you can get elected by saying what you believe.

Question:  Is the American political system broken?

Bill George: The fact . . . Well certainly politics and how our politicians all around the world, particularly in the United States, don't say what they believe. Every time I give a speech, I get asked, “Do your ideas about authentic leadership apply to politics? And I say, "I really don't know if you could get elected. Because today, it's not clear you can get elected anywhere by saying what you believe. And I think the lack of . . . the compromise that' taken place in public life is a tragedy. And to me it's gotten much worse over the last 40 years, to the point where good people . . . young people today don't want to go into that life.

Recorded on: 7/6/07

Up Next
Related