How it Gets Done

Start with the assumption that whatever is popular or getting attention is a ruse or in actuality trivial. The arguments about politicians trading insults, what team is at the quarterfinal or play-off, lottery winners, which celebrity is having an affair, or cause du jour (KONY, Arab Spring, Apple sweatshops, boycotting the Oscars, etc.) is distracting from actual important issues. Acknowledge that the difficult, long-term, prolonged, ongoing areas are the actual fight. Where does that put us?

The boards, committees, agencies, and departments are where we should be packing the benches, standing in line, buzzing and tweeting about. Because the less glamorous, the more un-sexy it is, the more substance it actually has. Development and zoning proposals are actual work and how things are done on a regular basis. The most arduous task is the grinding wheel of bureaucracy; those who can weather it are those who get things done. Certainly, it's easiest to pick a fight, to flip the bird, or pull the trigger.

Strength is strategy, persistence, and diplomacy; those who expect a different president to fix anything are shortsighted.