Some people were born great leaders, but for everyone else, either we rise to the occasion or we study and learn how to be effective leaders. A good place to discover practical management skills is by reviewing the Presidents. They were chosen to lead our country for a reason. Some defeated great odds to become legendary pioneers. Others had some of the qualities to be great but lacked the skills to follow through. Today’s leaders are constantly looking to the future and attempting to make forward progress. But, it is always helpful when in a state of moving ahead to take a moment and remember the past.
Failure can be a great learning tool for leaders, but if we can learn from other’s mistakes, maybe we can avoid it all together. Phillips
…show more content…
He explains that the external dimension is what steps a president takes to accomplish particular directives. For example, reorganizing staff or creating a budget would be considered part of the external dimension. Benze’s definition of internal dimension lists the dispositions of an effective leader. He indicates that the internal dimensions of presidential power “stem primarily from personality and character”. By reviewing various presidents’ internal dimensions, we can discover strengths that we may be able to apply in our leadership …show more content…
President
George W. Bush was at a Florida elementary school promoting an education bill. Our 43rd president’s management skills came into question early in his presidency, but after the
September 11th attacks, he took charge and made some challenging decisions (Greenstein 2008).
The former Texas governor who is described by Greenstein (2008) as the “Lone Star State product” was not perfect, but there is still much to be learned from his leadership. As a leader, there will always be some form of pressure or crisis to face. Hopefully, it will not appear in the shape of terrorism like it did for George W. Bush. One of the skills that assisted Bush while facing the War on Terror was his emotional intelligence. Greenstein explains that Bush appeared to not let his emotions get the best of him during this national crisis (2008).
Keeping control and not panicking has a calming effect on others. Staying in control demonstrates confidence and helps to create positive results. One popular quote sums it up in nine words, “when the going gets tough, the tough get
The Evolution of the Power of the Presidency The views of the presidency by the first sixteen presidents varied widely but all of their actions set precedents for their successors to use, expand, or even curtail the power of the office. Some believed in the Whig theory of strict adherence to the constitution, while others believed the president was the steward of the people with a loose interpretation of it. The power of the office expanded through the years, however it only expanded as far as the public and congress allowed. George Washington was the first President of the United States of America and realizing this he acted carefully and deliberately, aware of the need to build an executive structure that could accommodate future presidents.
Bush opens his speech by acknowledging the events of September 11, and those that lost the lives of loved ones and to those that gave their life trying to save others in the buildings. He appeals to those that remain strong by saying that, “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.” His use of pathos helps Bush to calm and control the public in order to keep the country together. This
was his usage of anecdotes. These instances seem to serve as great instruments for the performance of a variety of rhetorical functions. This is first demonstrated in the President’s reference of the first and second ladies; who he says, “ helped bring down childhood obesity rates for the first time in thirty years” and, “encouraged employers to hire or train nearly 400,000 veterans and military spouses.” Having introduced the notion that the government can serve as a benefactor to the public, Mr. Obama then proceeds to note that, “[t]aking a page from that playbook, the White House just organized a College Opportunity Summit, where already 150 universities, ...
Greenstein, F.I, (2005). Presidents, their Styles and their Leadership. Working Papers, Center for Public Leadership: Princeton University.
Failure and learning have a complicated, yet important relationship with each other. In ‘A Nation of Wimps’, Hara Marano writes about through trial and error humans can become successful. An article by Robert I. Sutton of the Harvard Business Review, talks about a method of learning from failures. Dr. Everett Piper describes in the article ‘This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University!’ that students who do not repent their sins can not learn from them. In the speech ‘This is Water’, by David Wallace he explains how learning to think is in a way knowing what to think about. An article by Bob Lenz titled ‘Failure Is Essential to Learning’ addresses the notion that failure is a key importance in the process of learning. Failure is an essential and important step in the difficult process of learning.
When the constitution of the United States was formed, the framers specifically designed the American Government structure to have checks and balances and democracy. To avoid autocracy the President was give power to preside over the executive branch of the government and as commander –in –chief, in which a clause was put into place to give the president the power to appeal any sudden attacks against America, without waiting for a vote from congress. While the president presides over the executive branch there has been ongoing debate over the role of the president in regards to foreign policy. Should foreign policy issues be an executive function by the president or should congress play a much greater role? With the sluggishness of our democracy, foreign policy issues most times need quicker response compared to how domestic policy is decided in the United States. Many believe to maintain openness and democracy both the president and congress need to agree on how the United States handles issue abroad. Although the president has been given much power, his or her power and decisions are sometimes limited based on decisions by congress and challenged and shaped by various bureaucracies throughout the government system. I shall discuss the Presidents role and the role of governmental bureaucracies (Department of Defense, Department of State and the National Security Council) that work together and sometimes not together to shape and implement American foreign Policy.
Understanding and evaluating presidents’ performance often poses challenges for political experts. The nation votes one president at the time and each presidency faces different tests. The environments surrounding a presidency have a tremendous impact on the success and failure of that presidency. In addition, the president exercises his power through a check and balance system embody in the Constitution. As stated in (Collier 1959), the Constitution created a government of “separated institutions sharing power.” As a result, a president works with others institutions of the government to shape the nation’s agenda. Thus, determining a presidential performance becomes difficult, especially when it comes to comparing the performance among presidencies.
After reading Failure is Not an Option by Nathan Wallace, we ponder whether failure is beneficial or not. However, after reading the passage, we stumble upon a quote where Wallace says “Failure is always an option. Failure can lead to great learning and progress when a specific failure is analyzed through the lens of a growth mindset.”
Howell’s theory of unilateral action describes a more isolated president. But this does not mean that his insistence on unilateral presidential action is not valid or does not provide us with a valuable model for analyzing presidential power. Howell is certainly right in pointing that Congressional oversight is made more difficult by the multiplication of the unilateral tools the President can use to alter policies. The criticism stems from the fact that his book’s title seems to give the impression that his theory comes as an irreconcilable alternative to Neustadt’s version of presidential power of “persuasiveness”. Alternatively, Neustadt’s theory suffers from an institutional level analysis. Skrownek (1991) in his book, “The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton” have suggested that there are clear patterns of contextual circumstances that may explain the variation in presidential leadership. While not denying a role of personal attributes he clearly demonstrated that personal contributions of presidents cannot be truly understood without an appreciation of the institutional contexts in which they operate (Skrownek
...y, a leader cannot control every aspect of the team or project working on, ergo an effective leader must understand this and adapt their leadership mind to different scenarios. Even the most inspired and passionate team still experiences rough patches no matter what the leader does. The best thing an effective leader can do in this situation is to remain professional and keep a tranquil attitude.
When it comes to United States Presidents, everyone has an opinion of each president’s effectiveness. It takes character and talent to hold up to the stress of the White House. One aspect of a leader that measures their effectiveness is their capability to handle a crisis; another is their ability to make decisions for the betterment of whomever they lead, while still taking in all opinions. One example of an extremely effective president that successfully used those qualities was Abraham Lincoln.
Although there are many outstanding, albeit necessary qualities of a good leader, it is the leader’s beliefs in which greatness is given its first breath, fostered by action, and spread throughout the institution. A great leader believes in encouraging, not destroying; in setting the precedence instead of yielding to prominence ; in collaboration, not division; in giving, not taking; and in having high standards and volunteering to be the first of many to be held to them. A great leader does not take advantage of the people being lead, but instead, creates an advantage for the people by giving them the opportunities to lead. Only when people take ownership of an institution will passion be cultivated, action be taken, and greatness be achieved.
Juan Linz – The Perils of Presidentialism. Discussions of which constitutional form of government best serves the growing number of democratic nation’s are in constant debate all over the world. In the essay “The Perils of Presidentialism”, political scientist, Juan Linz compares the parliamentary system with presidential democracies. As the title of Linz’s essay implies, he sees Presidentialism as potentially dangerous and sites fixed terms, the zero-sum game and legitimacy issues to support his theory. According to Linz, the parliamentary system is the superior form of democratic government because the Prime Minister cannot appeal to the people without going through the Parliament, creating a more cohesive form of government.
Even though our world is constantly changing as shown in the video, “Did You Know?”, the way our leaders lead has been fairly constant. The traits and qualities past leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King had are the same traits the leaders we look up to today have. Good leaders are aware of our continuously shifting world and have learned to adapt to what works best for those around them. The book, Learning as a Way of Being, discusses how as leaders we must be prepared for the changes that are constantly occurring in our society. We need to always be open to learning new things and how to best adapt to the environment around us. The more experiences we deal with in the past, the more prepared we will be for the changes in the future.