[A version of this essay 
was first published in September 2016] 

If the world got really strange and I were asked to create a format for the 2020 presidential debates, here’s my starting point.

No gotchas.  Just simple, open-ended, non-judgmental queries a candidate can either knock out of the park or hang themselves with––depending on how well they know the person in the mirror, and how willing (and able) they are to be frank. 

The suggestions below are designed to reveal a couple of things.  

• • One, the values and priorities the candidate carries in their heart.  Leadership, after all, is perspective that helps those we serve make healthy choices.  Clarity on values and priorities at the deepest place within us is where a healthy perspective begins.  
  • Two, how well a candidate employs life’s most important activity: learning from our experience––embracing what is, no matter how painful, and allowing it to teach us.  

Further, I wouldn’t spring these requests on the candidates.  I’d give them a few days to prepare their responses.  While none of these inquiries should be that foreign to a thoughtful person, what we want from them are answers that represent what they consider their best thinking.  Which is why I would also scrap the traditional debate format.  Out-snarking the other guy isn’t as illuminating as how appropriately naked each is willing (and able) to be.  Read More