Exit Stage Left: Tim Hudak Pulls a Michael Bay

There was this time blow-'em-up action movie director Michael Bay was pitching Samsung's ultra-high definition curved TV at the Consumer Electronics Show.  He was probably paid decently to do the gig.

Problem was, the teleprompter froze.  Suddenly, there was Bay with nothing to say.  Without a prepared script, he was stumped - he froze, too.  

Instead of ad-libbing it, maybe expressing his own actual thoughts about the product, maybe making a joke out of the situation - Michael Bay walked off stage.

Bay likes to present himself as a tough guy and has a rep for being hard on his actors.  When he found himself under pressure, though, he took off, leaving those he was supporting high and dry.

I thought of this as I watched Tim Hudak's now-infamous walk-off during his campaign launch while talking about how he'd cut programs like the Ontario Music Fund and how that would create jobs.  

The reason he walked off was because he was asked a question for which he had no prepared script - that, in fact, proved the company his team had chosen as a backdrop while he promoted his Million Jobs plan got money from the Ontario Music Fund - which was how it created jobs.

Hudak's been in politics his entire adult working life.  He's been leader of his Party since 2009. He's got one general election and a number of by-elections under his belt.

Yeah, we can say it's early in this campaign and Hudak's still working the kinks out, but - seriously, how much longer does he need?

What's really sad is that, when he went, his entire team was left hanging.  Watch the video - you can see them hesitating, unsure whether they should pick up the torch for their leader or walk off too, which they eventually did.  

Even the poor business owner who'd opened his doors to Hudak was left with egg on his face.

This isn't the first time Team Hudak has been left to try and clean up after a leader who seems incapable of budging in a position or adapting to a situation.

Of course, had Tim taken my advice on empathy and leadership, he wouldn't be in this situation.  In fact, the reason his policy ideas run contrary to what actually works is likely because he isn't good at adapting to situations, gathering opinions, generating consensus - all those niggling things leaders do.

But that'd be too much like flexibility, wouldn't it?

If he'd rather walk off the stage than lead, that's his choice.  I wouldn't want to be left defending poorly-conceived policy ideas, either.

Were I his Party, though, I'd be making sure there was a stand-in ready.