---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have a crisis of leadership in America…"
description: "\"“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, ..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg"
---

#  We have a crisis of leadership in America because our…

![“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask…” quote by William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg)

> ““We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of exper­tise. What we don’t have are leaders. What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision.””

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Leadership lacks vision and critical thinking; technocrats excel in narrow tasks but fail to ask essential questions or set meaningful goals.

**In simple terms:** Leaders need vision, not just technical skill.

Key Takeaway

Cultivate broad, critical thinking in leadership.

Themes

leadership vision critical thinking

Mood

thoughtful inspirational

Type

philosophical motivational

When to use this quote

- corporate management
- government policy
- educational reform

Key Concepts

philosophy organizational behavior

Questions to Reflect On

- How can leaders develop questioning skills?
- What structures foster visionary thinking?

A Different Perspective

Technical expertise alone cannot replace visionary leadership.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Crisis Leadership](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crisis-leadership-234465/) [Doing things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-things/) [First place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-place/) [Leader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leader/) [Leaders Complacent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leaders-complacent-3796106/) [Leaders Don](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leaders-don/) [Leadership](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership/) [Leadership America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america-239110/) [Thinkers People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinkers-people-297783/) [Too long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-long/)

## Related quotes

> [“When people love their church, its leaders can sometimes get complacent and lose touch with how essential their own transformation is to the effectiveness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-l-hawkins/when-people-love-their-church-its-leaders-can-sometimes-get/)

[Greg L. Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-l-hawkins/)

> [“The greatest crisis in America today is a crisis of leadership. And the greatest peril of leadership is a crisis of character.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-rigsby/the-greatest-crisis-in-america-today-is-a-crisis-of-leadership-and/)

[Rick Rigsby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-rigsby/)

> [We don't have a crisis of leadership in Washington. We have a crisis of followership.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-rauch/we-don-t-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-washington-we-have-a-crisis/)

[Jonathan Rauch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-rauch/)

> [“Today's Arab crisis is not one of money, men, morale, land or resources ... The real crisis is rather one of leadership, management and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-bin-rashid-al-maktoum/today-s-arab-crisis-is-not-one-of-money-men-morale-land-or-resources/)

[Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-bin-rashid-al-maktoum/)

> [There is a crisis of leadership and governance in Africa, and we must face it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mo-ibrahim/there-is-a-crisis-of-leadership-and-governance-in-africa-and-we-must/)

[Mo Ibrahim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mo-ibrahim/)

> [We also can't try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. That's not leadership; that's a recipe for quagmire, spilling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/we-also-can-t-try-to-take-over-and-rebuild-every-country-that-falls/)

[Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/)

> [We have an opportunity to have real leadership. America's going to have that kind of leadership and continue to promote principles of peace to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitt-romney/we-have-an-opportunity-to-have-real-leadership-america-s-going-to/)

[Mitt Romney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitt-romney/)

> [Today, the world looks to America for leadership. And America looks to its Corps of Marines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/today-the-world-looks-to-america-for-leadership-and-america-looks-to/)

[Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/)

> [You have to give people a reason to believe that, under your leadership, America will be better. Rick Santorum has done that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-dewine/you-have-to-give-people-a-reason-to-believe-that-under-your/)

[Mike DeWine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-dewine/)

> [Bad leadership is like a flat tire. It's very hard to go anywhere until you change it. Let's put new leadership in America!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/bad-leadership-is-like-a-flat-tire-it-s-very-hard-to-go-anywhere/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Yes, America must do the right thing, but to provide moral leadership, America must do it in the right way, too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cameron/yes-america-must-do-the-right-thing-but-to-provide-moral-leadership/)

[David Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cameron/)

> [Under Mr. Trump's leadership, America continues to lead the free world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-c-o-brien/under-mr-trump-s-leadership-america-continues-to-lead-the-free-world/)

[Robert C. O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-c-o-brien/)

> [“Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of the car is separate from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-de-bono/many-highly-intelligent-people-are-poor-thinkers-many-people-of/)

[Edward de Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-de-bono/)

> [We need true free thinkers, people who really say what they feel and have good, genuine intentions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jpegmafia/we-need-true-free-thinkers-people-who-really-say-what-they-feel-and/)

[JPEGMAFIA](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jpegmafia/)

> [The New York Times is filled with Ivy League graduates and so is the Washington Post. I mean, it's all the same club. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/the-new-york-times-is-filled-with-ivy-league-graduates-and-so-is-the/)

[Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/)

## More by William Deresiewicz

> [Life, if you live it right, keeps surprising you, and the thing that keeps surprising you the most…is yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/life-if-you-live-it-right-keeps-surprising-you-and-the-thing-that/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [ “\[Jane\] Austen was not a novelist for nothing: she knew that our stories are what make us human, and that listening to someone else's… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/jane-austen-was-not-a-novelist-for-nothing-she-knew-that-our-stories/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“No real excellence, personal or social, artistic, philosophical, scientific, or moral, can arise without solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/no-real-excellence-personal-or-social-artistic-philosophical/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [If you're oblivious to other people, chances are pretty good that you're going to hurt them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/if-you-re-oblivious-to-other-people-chances-are-pretty-good-that-you/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [Don't play it safe. Resist the seductions of the cowardly values our society has come to prize so highly: comfort, convenience, security, predictability, control.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/don-t-play-it-safe-resist-the-seductions-of-the-cowardly-values-our/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“there’s a bigger social reward for being able to talk about books than for actually reading them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/there-s-a-bigger-social-reward-for-being-able-to-talk-about-books/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [We proceed by doubt, by trial and error, by resisting the impulse to lunge after certainty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-proceed-by-doubt-by-trial-and-error-by-resisting-the-impulse-to/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“...Novels--which, after all, are training grounds for responding to the world, imaginative sanctuaries in which to hone and test our ethical judgments and choices.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/novels-which-after-all-are-training-grounds-for-responding-to-the/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [People’s stories are the most personal thing they have, and paying attention to those stories is just about the most important thing you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/people-s-stories-are-the-most-personal-thing-they-have-and-paying/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“Life is more than a job; jobs are more than a paycheck; and a country is more than its wealth. Education is more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/life-is-more-than-a-job-jobs-are-more-than-a-paycheck-and-a-country/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“By the time they finish high school—after years of learning how to please their teachers and coaches, not to mention schmoozing with their parents’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/by-the-time-they-finish-high-school-after-years-of-learning-how-to/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“Getting A’s no longer means that everything’s okay, assuming that it ever did. “We have students, who, no matter what else is going on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/getting-a-s-no-longer-means-that-everything-s-okay-assuming-that-it/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“Both kinds of parenting, finally, are forms of overidentification. The helicopter parent turns the child into an instrument of her will. The overindulgent parent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/both-kinds-of-parenting-finally-are-forms-of-overidentification-the/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“A friend who teaches at a top university once asked her class to memorize thirty lines of the eighteenth-century poet Alexander Pope. Every single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/a-friend-who-teaches-at-a-top-university-once-asked-her-class-to/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“A man never rises so high as when he knows not whither he is going.” The desire to eliminate uncertainty eliminates life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/a-man-never-rises-so-high-as-when-he-knows-not-whither-he-is-going/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

[Explore all 42 William Deresiewicz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

## More Doing things quotes

> [I love casting against type and doing things you wouldn't expect, because I think you get more interesting performances that way. Hollywood loves to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-s-goyer/i-love-casting-against-type-and-doing-things-you-wouldn-t-expect/)

[David S. Goyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-s-goyer/)

> [Doing the right things is more important than doing things right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ko-wen-je/doing-the-right-things-is-more-important-than-doing-things-right/)

[Ko Wen-je](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ko-wen-je/)

> [“Standards are just the most accepted ways of doing things. They're usually unquestioned, not challenged, not the most efficient, and not the best way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-otton/standards-are-just-the-most-accepted-ways-of-doing-things-they-re/)

[Rick Otton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-otton/)

> [As opposed to getting into arguments about, well, these folks have been treated fairly so now we're going to be doing things that, very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/as-opposed-to-getting-into-arguments-about-well-these-folks-have-been/)

[Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/)

> [Either you let your life slip away by not doing the things you want to do, or you get up & do them](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-von-oech/either-you-let-your-life-slip-away-by-not-doing-the-things-you-want/)

[Roger von Oech](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-von-oech/)

> [Life is all about doing things you like and being surrounded by people you like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/regina-cassandra/life-is-all-about-doing-things-you-like-and-being-surrounded-by/)

[Regina Cassandra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/regina-cassandra/)

> [There are those that say, if you do the uncomfortable thing long enough, it will become comfortable. But we are really not encouragers of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-hicks/there-are-those-that-say-if-you-do-the-uncomfortable-thing-long/)

[Esther Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-hicks/)

> [I'm closer to being happy. I'm doing things that make me happy. In football I loved to practice and I loved to play, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-williams/i-m-closer-to-being-happy-i-m-doing-things-that-make-me-happy-in/)

[Ricky Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-williams/)

> [“If you aren't in love, Willow Vaughn, then my name isn't Miriam Brigham." Willow started out of her daydreaming and glanced up from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-mcpherren/if-you-aren-t-in-love-willow-vaughn-then-my-name-isn-t-miriam-brigham/)

[Charlotte McPherren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-mcpherren/)

> [The story being told in 'Star Wars' is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-lucas/the-story-being-told-in-star-wars-is-a-classic-one-every-few-hundred/)

[George Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-lucas/)

> [When you study history and look at every civilization that has grown up and died off, they all leave one remnant: a major sports…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-study-history-and-look-at-every-civilization-that-has-grown/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Well I think that what we're seeing now is that the people feel like they, the people in Congress don't have their consent to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingraham/well-i-think-that-what-we-re-seeing-now-is-that-the-people-feel-like/)

[Laura Ingraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingraham/)

> [It's sad that women characters have lost so much ground in popular movies. Didn't 'Thelma and Louise' prove that women want to see women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-quivers/it-s-sad-that-women-characters-have-lost-so-much-ground-in-popular/)

[Robin Quivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-quivers/)

> [I spent a lot of my life schlepping around New York with people not doing things for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debbie-gibson/i-spent-a-lot-of-my-life-schlepping-around-new-york-with-people-not/)

[Debbie Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debbie-gibson/)

> [This is your life do wat you love, and do it often. if you don't like something, change it. if you don't like your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amiea/this-is-your-life-do-wat-you-love-and-do-it-often-if-you-don-t-like/)

[Amiea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amiea/)

[Browse all 1,822 Doing things quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-things/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of exper­tise. What we don’t have are leaders. What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "William Deresiewicz"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-america-because-our-overwhelming/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Doing things"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-america-because-our-overwhelming/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier…” — William Deresiewicz",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "William Deresiewicz",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“We have a crisis of leadership...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-america-because-our-overwhelming/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-america-because-our-overwhelming/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```