Condoleezza Rice - On Leadership - Essay Example

She was the first woman to occupy this key post of national security adviser. She is the most academic member of the Bush foreign affairs team and, because of her gender, background and youth, one of the most distinctive. The recent Forbes ranking of the world’s most powerful women, Rice still placed at the top despite the Bush administration’s supposed failed policies in Iraq. Richard Melanson (2005) in examining American foreign policy commented that Rice proved a relatively weak national security advisor because she generally deferred to the vice president and the secretary of state. (p. 322) Supposedly, this was unfortunate because the “group think” environment in which the basic assumptions about the world and America’s role in it went unchallenged within this inner circle of policymakers.

But this is wrong. Melanson’s commentary in fact underscored a manifestation of Fiedler’s Contingency Model in Rice’s style during the mentioned circumstances. As the national security advisor, Rice was not expected to originate or debate ideas, and single out any particular view within the Bush administration. This finds credence in Simon Serfaty’s argument. To quote: Her primary responsibility was to absorb al of the ideas, all equally plausible and all convincing in different measure, before compressing them in ways that would enable the president, in words of one of her predecessors, “to perceive the essential among a mass of apparent facts” and “to impose some direction,” meaning make decisions which Rice would then coordinate and implement. (p. 86) In short, Rice played the part.

She had displayed an impeccable ability to remain in the sidelines in serving a wider and greater objective. Her teamwork approach displayed a subtle self-confidence, sensitivity to others a degree of determination that supersede all else in order to achieve goals. One must remember that Rice had a direct access to