Whether the previous presidents in the United States succeeded or failed, they had personal qualities that made it possible for the citizens to vote for them. President acts as a boss of the country and people provide rewards to leaders by either praising or criticizing their leadership qualities. Successful presidents need to have personality traits that are capable of serving the interests of subjects. Presidential candidates engage in mass campaigns with an objective of creating awareness to the public about their characteristics and benefits that they ought to achieve if they win the election. Citizens take an initiative of evaluating the candidates thus selecting the person they believe has the best presidential qualities. Each person who happened to be an American president proved to the citizens that he was the right man to occupy the position. Presidents need to be honest, show empathy, commitment to their duties, excellent communication skills, and being calm for successful handling of their duties.
Successful presidents need to demonstrate some sense of honesty when performing duties. Elected presidents occupy a position that is critical to citizens, and people tend to put hope on the person they select. America is an indirect democratic country where people have an opportunity for choosing leaders they believe will serve their needs and act in a transparent manner (Tulis, 2017). As a result, successful candidates should demonstrate honesty even during campaigns by fulfilling the promises they make to the citizens. Presidents show admirable trait by admitting mistakes they committed and providing mechanisms to rectify the problem. When evaluating honestly among presidential candidates, people usually focus on examining the behavior of a person based on previous offices that the person occupied thus choosing the best candidate. For example, the effects of acting dishonestly can be learned from President Clinton’s refusal to admit particular mistakes (Tulis, 2017). People had to lose trust with his ruling. Campaign acts as the resume for presidential candidates, and when they lie, they have to lose their positions to candidates who can serve honestly.
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Presidents should show a high degree of commitment and passion for performing duties as leaders. President acts as an overall boss for both elected and appointed leaders in the governance system and should set the steps that the other people should follow when performing duties. If they see the senior person in the country failing to accomplish his or her tasks, the whole system becomes unsuccessful thus failing to meet the interests of the citizens. Commitment indicates that leaders are dedicated to their jobs thus encouraging subordinates to give some respect to the leader and offer possible support to produce the best results towards set objectives. Though presidents are entitled to a certain amount of salary, the duties exceed the boundaries of their work. Sometimes presidents have to engage in duties and responsibilities designated to other people because if one institution fails to function, the whole system experiences an adverse effect destroying the president’s reputation. According to Siegel, (2017) Mr. Roosevelt presents an example of a committed leader because the sickness he experienced at the age 39 did not prevent him from achieving his political career. Through self-dedication, Mr. Roosevelt served four successive terms as a US president.
Excellent communication skills are essential for people willing to become presidents especially in the US (Waterman et al., 2014). Presidents occupy a position full of criticisms from both subordinates and the subjects. Consequently, people usually have different views regarding projects constructed in a nation. In other cases, some people are resistant to change while others are liberal minded and accept change at its early stages. These conflicting ideas turn out to be barriers to the success of a leader without excellent communication skills even if the development project appears to be for the benefit of the ruled. For example, the success for President John F. Kennedy is attributable to his communication skills which enabled him to command a room and kept the audience to contribute to the country rather than waiting for the nation through the government to work for the citizens. For presidents to avoid these criticisms, they should be able to communicate the rationale of their projects and the benefits they ought to bring to the people. It is until leaders express their ideas in a transparent manner that people develop a positive attitude and become supportive of achieving the set objectives.
Successful presidents should be able to make quick decisions and keep cool even when tense situations exist in the country. Being a president means that there are more than a million followers putting hopes in you and this requires excellent decision-making capabilities to solve problems that they may have adverse effects on the country. For example, if the state experiences continuous terror attacks during a particular president’s terms, people develop negative attitudes about the government’s ability to protect its citizens blaming the president. However, coming up with an acceptable and workable decision during tension requires a composed and relaxed mind to handle both supportive and supportive ideas from people. Despite the political affiliation for an individual in power, keeping cool is an essential aspect for a person willing to succeed in his or duty. According to Siegel, (2017) by keeping cool in the Whitehouse, President Obama has been in a position to make decisions and came up with ideas that proved to be challenging to all witty counterparts.
Presidents should demonstrate empathy which shows that the leader has the needs of the people and the country as a whole at his or heart. During campaigns, all political leaders seek votes by making promises to the citizens and selling their manifesto. Successful candidates need to identify problems facing the majority of the voters and come up with solutions they think will address such issues (Herring, 2017). For example, if terror is an epidemic in the nation, a president determined to act on behalf of the citizens should provide strategies for reducing terrorism. In a democratic country such as the United States, political leaders should be able to bring change to the existing status of the people by providing increased access to education, healthcare facilities, increased employment, and transport among other needs for the ruled. If the president leaves the status quo the way they found it or makes it worse, such person is considered as a failure, and it may be challenging to win the election for a second term.
Honesty, empathy, commitment, excellent communication skills, and keeping cool are essential personal qualities for an individual seeking to be a successful president. Politicians are never perfect individuals, but they need to do at least one thing they think will command the audience to remain supportive and win the crowd’s loyalty. Good communication enables a leader to communicate the objectives of a particular project in a transparent manner thus avoiding conflicting ideas from the public. Empathy indicates that the political leader is ruling for the benefit of the citizens and it enables leaders to address issues like unemployment, insecurity, access to education, and healthcare facilities. Sometimes presidents experience tensions from political counterparts or citizens and this call for a need of keeping cool to avoid issues like stress. Honest requires leaders to make decisions to act in a manner that all people trust their work.
References
Herring, P. (2017). Presidential Leadership: The Political Relations of Congress and the Chief Executive . Routledge.
Siegel, M. E. (2017). President as Leader . Routledge.
Tulis, J. (2017). On presidential character. In The Presidency in the Constitutional Order (pp. 283-313). Routledge.
Waterman, R. W., Waterman, R., Silva, C. L., & Jenkins-Smith, H. (2014). The Presidential Expectations Gap: Public Attitudes Concerning the Presidency . University of Michigan Press.
