Print edition: 
Before the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS, children played with colorful, spinning tops. They weren't nearly as complex as the aforementioned contraptions. All you had to do was rip the cord, send the top spinning, and watch the patterns swirl and merge into a dizzying dance of color.
Sort of like the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations of the past few weeks.
The protesters have inspired similarly impassioned events nationwide and worldwide. But the whirling momentum holding it together has blurred a myriad of causes into an incoherent mass of energy. In civic leadership parlance, that speaks not only to a lack of focus on an issue, but the need to translate energy into the kind of heat that pressures people into actually doing something.
The Kansas Leadership Center's theory of staying in diagnosis asks anyone exercising leadership to stay in observation mode longer. Then we're less likely to design round solutions for square problems.
But demonstrators must adopt a clear and common purpose. "Corporate greed" isn't specific enough.
One sign hoisted above the crowd wanted to make children a priority. Another decried union busting. A third said, "You are free. You will live free and you will die free. Don't ever forget that."
The prophets of rage, at least for now, have given way to the prophets of vague.
There's light in these protests regardless of what you believe. Average people have ignited an international movement. It reflects KLC's core belief that anyone, regardless of station, can exercise leadership at any time.
But the movement will dissipate without heat. Protesters must manufacture enough creative tension to pressure whomever they eventually target to act. Their current message is just spinning out of control.
Heat has driven past social movements, from the literal — riotous shouts of "burn, baby, burn" from smoldering cities like Watts and Detroit — to the figurative — civil rights leaders and marchers explaining to their fire- hose-toting attackers that the movement had a kind of fire that water couldn't extinguish.
A lack of heat characterizes the inert status quo. Too much heat reflects mindless rioting. The object is to generate enough heat to move people from inaction to action without overwhelming them or damaging your own credibility.
Vague rage has been all the rage across the political spectrum in recent years.
The tea party legitimately has raised the heat and won important political victories, but at times also has struggled with focus. Earlier this summer, for example, its influence helped bring the nation to the brink of default. This high-heat approach blazed new leadership trails but may have cost the tea party credibility in some corners, too.
As for the Occupy Wall Street protesters: Despite lacking focus, media attention has soared. Labor unions have joined along with some celebrities. For now, things appear to be spinning like a top.
But they should realize that a top needs a point to balance its momentum and energy. They'd better get to it soon.
