What type of leader could put Oregon and the nation back on track?

Three examples of leaders who took on difficult challenges and succeeded because of a strong sense of purpose, integrity and the ability to persuade

When people ask me what it would take for the nation to break out of its destructive spiral of extreme partisanship, I don’t respond with a list of issues. In fact, it’s a one-word answer: leadership.

When the nation, or an institution, is faced with two almost equal sides with divergent, almost opposite ideas, forward movement is possible only if enough people on one side changes their minds. So far, both political parties have made little effort to change minds. Instead, they have tried to accumulate enough power to force the other side to change. That strategy rarely, if ever, ends well. But one reason they do this is because changing minds is really hard, and it only can be done through extraordinary leadership.

Neither President Biden nor former President Trump has the leadership skills necessary to change minds. Trump doesn’t even try. He’s fully committed to change through power. And leadership never has been a strength of Biden’s. At one time, he was an effective behind-the-scenes manager, but that skill set is more suitable to his former jobs (senator and vice president) than his current one.

Who would be the type of leader who could change minds and the direction of the country? In the context of national politics, I don’t know. But I can identify three leaders (two definitely have no ambition to be president and the other probably doesn’t) who have achieved more than would normally be expected of people in their positions because of extraordinary leadership skills. Each has some specific traits that we should seek in national leaders.

Les Zaitz, journalist

Zaitz, a longtime Oregon journalist, retired from The Oregonian in 2016 with intentions to retire to his ranch in Eastern Oregon. But he’s spent less time on his ranch than planned because he’s co-founded the Salem Reporter digital news site and has turned the family-owned Malheur Enterprise into a rural journalism powerhouse that has earned national praise. He also was founding editor of the nonprofit Oregon Capital Chronicle.

I worked with Zaitz at The Oregonian. In fact, we left The Oregonian at the same time. His leadership style probably isn’t well-suited for politics – he’s more aw-shucks than awe-inspiring. But he has several traits that would serve any president well: a rock-solid sense of priorities, which enables him to focus on what is most important, and the drive and integrity to keep moving forward in the face of resistance.

At a time when the line between journalism and entertainment is more blurred than ever and many news organizations remain addicted to click-bait stories, the three news organizations with which Zaitz has been associated since 2106 show admirable devotion to serious, difference-making journalism.

Imagine what would happen if our political leaders discarded all their sound-bite talking points, replaced their social media staffs and talked only about the most important issues facing the country, providing detailed plans of how they hoped to solve our shared problems.

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, U.S. Representative for Washington’s third district

Gluesenkamp Perez is a first-term member of Congress who has received an outsized amount of attention. Unlike other congresswomen who burst into the spotlight during their first term, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex of New York, for example, she’s not from media hotbed nor does she represent a powerful constituency within the party. In fact, she won her race in southwestern Washington in large part because she did not fit the typical political mold. Gluesenkamp Perez is blue collar, talks in plain language instead of sound bites, and takes a mix of positions that defy political algorithms. Her greatest strength is the ability to understand and empathize with voters.

Some leaders – Trump and former President Bill Clinton are two examples – are able to project empathy to segments of the electorate with whom they have something in common (whether it be beliefs or background). Gluesenkamp Perez’s background is so different from that of most people in Congress that her empathy, which comes across as sincere though I’ve never met her, extends to anyone who doesn’t fit a precise mold. That happens to be almost all of us.

She’ll likely face a tough re-election campaign, but I’m betting that her honest, straight-forward approach will be rewarded by Southwest Washington voters. Continued success by Perez and other outside-the-box moderate candidates from both parties is important to show other elected officials and voters that pragmatic policy-making is politically possible.

Mark Hallock, Calvary Family of Churches

Hallock is the least-known of these three, but he might have the most impressive resume. In 2009, when he was in his early 30s, he became pastor of a struggling Baptist church in Englewood, Colorado, that attracted maybe 50 people on Sundays. Today, that church draws more than 10 times that number some Sundays. But that’s a small part of the story. Rather than expand the Englewood facility and grow Calvary Englewood into a megachurch, he chose to create the Calvary Family of Churches, helping other struggling churches – first in the Denver area, then the rest of Colorado, then the Western United States. Today, there are 30 CFC churches stretching from Nebraska to California and Oregon. The newest one is in Beaverton.

Hallock’s leadership superpower: encouragement. In fact, one of the books he’s written is titled The Relentless Encourager. Hallock has other strengths. He’s an outstanding organizer, a good public speaker and writer, and knowledgeable theologian, but the first thing anyone who meets him notices is the warm, inviting, encouraging personality. The more times you meet him, the more you know it’s sincere.

Ronald Reagan was the most successful modern president at harnessing the power of encouragement. While critics mocked him, the nation rewarded him with two landslide victories. Encouragement alone doesn’t ensure success – and there was more to Reagan than a big smile despite critics’ caricatures – but it can be the fuel that pushes good ideas toward a successful finish.

While none of these leaders had to survive a national election, they did succeed in difficult circumstances through a combination of leadership skills and a willingness to try approaches that many others considered too difficult or outside-the-box to try. It would be refreshing to see a national candidate show that type of courage.

Mark Hester is a retired journalist who worked 20 years at The Oregonian in positions including business editor, sports editor and editorial writer.