What Is Expected in Government Leader - Essay Example

What is expected in Government Leader In every place upon the earth the most important portion of the population is the Government. Some cities and even countries do not demonstrate any type of responses or reactions towards a new candidate, or the old one prevailing in the office. On the other hand, in some other cities, the election of a new government or supporting the existing one, is the most crucial process for their future and their development. In order to come to a better understanding, let us begin with the definition of Government. According to the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia government is: "the organization, that is the governing authority of a political unit, the ruling power in a political society, and the apparatus through which a governing body functions and exercises authority. Government, with the authority to make laws, to adjudicate disputes, and to issue administrative decisions, and with a monopoly of authorized force where it fails to persuade, is an indispensable means, proximately, to the peace of communal life." (Government, Wikipedia.org) Today throughout the entire world, there are several types of government, from which the most known and common are: a) “Anarchy, is the situation where there is no government.” b) “Capitalist, people can own their own business and property.” c) “Communist, government owns businesses and farms.” d) “Democracy, the government is elected by the people.” e) “Dictatorship, where it is run by a single leader, not elected and may use force to keep control.” f) ”Federal Government, in this type of system, the government shares power with a number of small local governments.” g) ”Monarchy, has a king or queen, in some situations the monarch has absolute power.” h) “Region or Local, Republic, a government or council that controls smaller area within the country.” i) “Republic, a country that has no monarch, the head is usually an elected president.” j) “Revolutionary Government, a government that overthrows by force an existing one.” k) “Totalitarian State, is a country with only one political party.” l) “Transitional, a country that is changing from one type of government to another.” (Types of Government, News.bbc.co.uk). Running a country is not an easy task, it involves several roles and duties, and above all, it requires trying to maintain the audience satisfied. A good government leader and his/her should execute these tasks and skills to produce a decent outcome. With that in mind, I believe it is appropriate to compare some of the tasks of a government leader with the tasks of a Project Manager. According to Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia, a “Project Manager is required to plan, organize, and control”, the same as a government leader in most aspects. (Project Management, Wikipedia.org) The Government leader should define specific objectives and generate a series of plans in order to reach his/her specific goals. He/she should not be limited to a single goal, since the needs of a country or a region are several, and the hopes are also high. Moreover, in some well established governments, the overall goals have been set previously and there is no need to reformulate them, just to continue working on them. On the other hand, there are countries that are constantly redefining its goals and any new leader recently sworn in, needs to start from zero. An example of the first statement is the hard work produced by the founding fathers of America. Mainly they needed to create a free country, ready to develop and grow as they continued moving west. During those days, the tasks were not as complicated as they are today; however, they managed to set goals that are still good during our current time: Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. (Magna Carta and its American Legacy, www.fa-ir.org) An example of the contrasting situation would be Bolivia, a country that has been experiencing a series of radical changes, ranging from the creation of a new constitution to the nationalization of industries that have privatized during previous governments. Bolivia in the year 2005 elected for the first time an indigenous president, with a vast majority of votes. (Evo Morales, Wikipedia.org) A Government leader should be able to identify and secure the resources available, choose the environment that will support and help him/her throughout the reigning period. It is very important that the government leader assigns tasks and delegates authority. In most democratic governments this step is very crucial since the performance of the leader’s aides will reflect directly upon his/her overall performance. There are some places where people constantly complaint about nepotism and corruption within the government, not so much the leader, but close collaborators that work with the leader. Also the surroundings must be familiar with each other, since they will be working together towards a same goal. Recently, there have been several cases of nepotism reported within the Bush administration and public offices in general throughout the United States. Even though it is easier to work and trust relatives, “Nepotism is one of the oldest forms of corruption.” (Nepotism and Congress: Don’t Let Jobs Grow on Family Trees, Jonathanturley.com) Some good examples of Nepotism being evident throughout the years in the United States are: “John F. Kennedy appointed his brother as attorney general, Bill Clinton made his wife the head of a federal commission on health care, and former House speaker Tom Foley, made his wife, his chief of staff.” (Nepotism and Congress: Don’t Let Jobs Grow on Family Trees, Jonathanturley.com) During the third task, which is controlling, the government leader should be able to control every outcome of his environment. In most cases, this is very difficult in a broader situation, when talking about a specific goal, the government leader should be able to follow up a very single procedure. However, when the subject is running the country, the government leader has little or no control in smaller areas. Although corruption may not affect directly the development of a project, when running a country corruption is one of the most damaging effects on the leader’s job. A good example is the corruption uncovered by a French judge in 2005, which led to the involvement of former France’s president Jacque Chirac’s closest allies. (Henry, S. Corruption is still rife at top level of French Government. Telegraph.co.uk). The tasks described previously are considered the most important ones required to achieve a single goal as a project manager. However, a government leader has many more tasks which may be defined as skills. In order to present a better explanation of the skills I would like to present some examples on presidential performances throughout the world. Unfortunately, in some cases the examples do not show how the skills are achieved, rather how they are not fulfilled. The first skill is known as “Analytical Thinking, which is the ability to understand the overall vision and small details” (Gido & Clements, p. 301). Certainly a good government leader is required to understand a country’s overall economic and social situation as well as the conditions of its different groups, social, ethnic, etc. A very good example of how this skill is not achieved, is the response to the New Orleans natural disaster. The government continues denying the beforehand knowledge that the levees would brake with a Hurricane category 4. (Shweber-Koren, R. and Schulman J., Eight big Lies about Katrina. The alternet.org) The second skill is organization (Gido & Clements, p. 301), the ability to prioritize work. Again, hurricane Katrina has helped to uncover the factual situation, the government not being capable enough to determine the immediate needs and prevent further destruction and/or disaster. According to several reports, “On the Sept. 2 broadcast of NBC's Today, FEMA director Brown told host Katie Couric, ‘We've provided food to the people at the [New Orleans' Morial] Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day.’ Couric did not challenge this statement.” However, “On Sept. 1, NBC News photojournalist Tony Zumbado reported on MSNBC Live: ZUMBADO: I can't put it into words the amount of destruction that is in this city and how these people are coping. They are just left behind. There is nothing offered to them. No water, no ice, no C-rations, nothing, for the last four days. They were told to go to the convention center. They did, they've been behaving. It's unbelievable how organized they are, how supportive they are of each other. They have not started any melees, any riots. They just want food and support. And what I saw there I've never seen in this country. We need to really look at this situation at the convention center. It's getting very, very crazy in there and very dangerous. Somebody needs to come down with a lot of food and a lot of water.” (Shweber-Koren, R. and Schulman J., Eight big Lies about Katrina. The alternet.org) The third skill is “Leadership, the ability to inspire team members to execute the plan and successfully finish the project.” (Gido & Clements, p. 301). The former Mayor, Giulanni, presented the best example of leadership, when the World Trade Center was cowardly attacked. Mr. Giullanni gave confidence to his employees and support to the citizens of New York. On December24, 2001, Time magazine name Rudy Giuliani its person of the year. (Rudy Giuliani, Time person of the year, Wikipedia.org) The next skill is “Communication, the ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and regularly.” (Gido & Clements, p. 301) In my opinion, this is the most important skill for a good government leader to hold. Although this skill is highly attached to a human virtue, known as Charisma. Some good examples I see, are the many memorable speeches performed by John F. Kennedy. “John F. Kennedy delivered every speech with the passion of his conviction that he could do a better job than anyone else. Kennedy's stated his ideas simply, clothed his topics in visual images, and utilized easily remembered phrases, repetition, one-syllable words and short sentences.” (Schoenberg, P., John F. Kennedy on Leadership, Presidentialexpert.com) Another great leader that was able to communicate effectively was Martin Luther King Jr. ‘Mr. King was delivered his most important and passionate speech at a march in Washington and Time Magazine designated him as person of the Year in 1963.” (The Life of Martin Luther King Jr., seattletimes.com) Both of these men were charismatic and were able to draw many supporters. Let us not forget the cases of extremist leaders who were also charismatic and led his/her people to war and destruction, that is the case of Adolph Hitler. The next skill is “Problem-Solving, the ability to anticipate problems, recognize them when they arise, solve them quickly and efficiently.” (Gido & Clements, p. 301) I believe that throughout the years, most of the U.S. presidents have been able to learn and execute this skill, otherwise, this country would not be as developed as it is. On the other hand, in some other countries the leadership skills are not present and very often the situations get out of control. This is the case of the Argentinian economic crisis of 2001 the government froze all the bank accounts, allowing small amounts of money to be drawn at a time. This enraged the Argentines and series of protests began to appear, which ended up in riots and violent demonstrations. As a result the then President, Fernando de La Rua declared the state of emergency which created even more violent reactions with some people dead as a result, and forced the downfall of the government. (The economic crisis of Argentina 1999-2002, wikipedia.org) The next skill is “Time Management, the ability to prioritize, delegate and manage time effectively.” (Gido & Clements, p. 301) Very well developed countries are solid proof that this skill is widely mastered by its leaders. On the contrary, third world countries can hardly finish a project since a new project begins as soon as a new leader takes over the government. In short there is no continuity, and in order to develop and establish some sort of economic stability, is necessary to create profitable industries, solid investments, etc. This is the case again of Bolivia, where one of the major goals of the government was to write the new constitution. Towards the end of the deadline, riots and violent reactions surrounded the constitution, which ended being approved in an illegal process. (The struggle will continue. The Bolivian Transition Project.com) The next skill is “Human Resources, the ability to interview and choose members with the proper skills and knowledge.” (Gido & Clements, p. 301). This skill is hardly met in any type of country, usually a government leader chooses his most trusted friends to take over key government positions. In countries such as the United States, the government leader and his aides are highly educated, with high levels of college degrees and vast experiences. Although, their work history may not be suitable for the government position assigned to, their educational background and public opinion pressure them to investigate and attempt to perform a decent role. On the other hand, in countries such as Bolivia, the government leader’s aides have little or no work experience and take over critical positions. Most of the times, these individuals are close relatives or close friends, and like their leaders they offer a lot less to the country than a more educated professional. (Evo Morales. Wikipedia.org) Up to this point I have described the skills required as a project manager. As a government leader there are more skills required; however, I would like to introduce them later on as a different category. As I have mentioned before, a project manager and/or a government leader are faced with three different constraints, scope, time and cost. (Project Management, wikipedia.org) The scope restraint is referred to the activities required in order to produce a project. Countries such as United States, usually work around a project that is good for the population and the country itself. The roles and tasks are well defined and a schedule is to follow when having a specific job. In countries where the government leaders change rapidly, the scope as well as the whole project varies and very seldom can be achieved. The other constraint is time, where it describes the amount of time required to complete the project. Usually in a well established democracy, a governing leader already knows the amount of time he/she will be in the governing position. Quite the opposite in countries such as Argentina, where a strong democracy reigns, not too long ago there was a period of crisis where the governing leaders under the pressure and chaotic circumstances were forced to resign. (The economic crisis in Argentina, Wikipedia.org) The same situation experienced Bolivia, when the then President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was forced to resign and then the next President Carlos Mesa experienced the same pressure and forced to step from office. (Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Wikipedia.org) (Carlos Diego Mesa, Wikipedia.org) The third constraint, cost is the amount of money required to finish the project. In third world countries, the amount of money is the largest constraint to govern the nation. For example, in Bolivia recently the government has decided to distribute certain amount of money the elderly population and is taking the money away from each state. That money within each state was designated to improve the road systems, and general infrastructure investment. The political move to create the fund for the elderly has created a crisis that is leading the nation to a verge of break up. (Bolivia Fights Poverty by Launching Pension Benefit. The Bolivian Transition Project.com) Besides the several skills and constraints described above, a government leader should answer to the many moral values that each society expects out of them. From a very long hopeful list, based on my opinion, I have selected the most important ones: Honesty, responsibility, bravery, fairness, perseverance, forgiveness, peace, generosity, loyal, patriotic, commitment (More from metro-area students on Presidents Day. Omaha Herald.com). As I began searching for good examples of a leader being honest, I found the complete opposite. I found complete internet pages exposing lies of a Bush Administration. It is wide known that all the information placed on internet is not fully reliable, and it comes to a point where it is not clear how much of that information can be taken seriously. Therefore, when it comes to the honesty value, it is the government leader’s word against somebody else’s word, and in order to attest this value, is necessary to relate it to responsibility one. In the case of Bush administration, I would call President George W. Bush an honest leader if he would stand up in front of the nation and take fully responsibility for the errors committed throughout the different events, rather than passing them on to someone else. (Gallagher, P. President George 'Enron' Bush Lies About 'Enron II' -- Social Security Privatization.,larouchepub.com) One of my favorite values is Bravery, in the case of the Bush Administration it should be closely related to Honesty and Responsibility. In the case of a very critical situation such as the one described previously in Argentina, a very good government leader should be brave enough to face the population and give in, a little. to their demands in order to peace down the situation and start a different approach. Also, it is known that some countries are more powerful than others, and a government leader of a weaker country should be able to stand up for the benefit of his/her country. That is the case of the stand off between Cuba and United States during the John F. Kennedy administration. The next value is forgiveness, which is very important throughout the world. Recently there has been a incident involving Colombia and Ecuador, where Colombia invaded his neighbors land in order to conduct a military attack against the terrorist group FARC. Colombia publicly apologized his action and presented the excuse and need to capture a high level leader of the group FARC. Although, Ecuador’s president did not verbally forgive the Colombian invasion, he released the tension and led the way to the next value, which is peace. (Accusations launched over FARC commander’s death. The Latin Americanist) The most important task of a government leader is to maintain the peace as well as within the country, as well as outside the country. Even though it is a task, I consider it as a value, since getting involved into a war can be profitable for certain industries. Peace, is no longer a priority and the involvement in a war does not necessarily imply a physical involvement. Some respected leaders, full of values, will ante pose peace before continuing with the project, but those are scarce today. My favorite values are loyalty, patriotism and commitment. These three words imply a large definition of commitment towards a country. Also these three values are very difficult to comply with, since being loyal implies the whole population and not just a few sectors. There will be times where two sectors are confronted and the loyalty then should be directed towards the benefit of the country. This is best known as commitment to a flag and its population and patriotism. It has been very difficult to find good examples of these three values in a current government leader. I found large examples of how these traits are not being met. For example, I do not think that president George Bush was loyal to his country when he decided to attack Iraq based upon unreal facts. (Iraq as imminent threat, Bushlies.net) Once his intelligence team discovered the truth, Mr. Bush should have withdrawn the troops away from Iraq and prevent further destruction on the city and further casualties from innocent people. The war in Iraq has cost America millions of dollars which will harm the country in the future affecting programs as the social security, which is in crisis as it is. Following his line of thinking, the recent conflict between Colombia and Ecuador, where the Colombian government invaded territory from Ecuador in order to kill a high level FARC Leader, has revealed FARC’s possession of radioactive material. I cannot help to wander why Bush has not invaded the jungles of Colombia and dismantled that organization. Or should we wait and fear for near by countries until a major terrorist attack takes place. Being loyal requires commitment from the leader towards the country and its future. The actions that he/she performs today, should result beneficial for the population and the country itself in the future. However, from all my readings I have come to the conclusion that the world does not count anymore with moral government leaders, instead there are plenty of powerful project managers. The world has turned into a competitive market, the government leaders need to stay on top and updated in order to keep up with the competition. However, all these activities imply the loss of moral values which our predecessors used them widely. In 1995 the group of experts on Public Administration and Finance during their twelfth meeting came up with some recommendations or expert advise on good government. I am going to proceed and make a comparison on some of these recommendations versus the examples presented throughout the paper. It is recommended to “make procedures transparent so as to combat and deter corruption.” As we have seen corruption and its other form, Nepotism, are present in and strong manner within the United States Government, the French Government, and most likely in most of the third world countries. The procedures could be created and presented, but it is up to the corrupted government to enforce it. It is recommended to “invest in people in order to ensure high-quality service.” This is strongly tied to the previous statement. A government leader chooses his/her aides depending on the level of closeness, friendship and/or relationship. I have seen within the United States highly qualified professionals, dedicated to specific objectives, but deviate themselves from public life due to the difference in salary or the bureaucracy. It is recommended to “Orient activities to the needs of citizens.” The statement itself is sort of vague, since as I had mentioned before, not all the needs of the citizens are alike and some by be satisfied and others may not. In Bolivia, the needs of the elderly are partially met, but the opportunity to build infrastructure and bring development to the region is being taken away. It is recommended to “Utilize alternative dispute-resolution techniques (mediation, conciliation, and arbitration) between citizens and public administration before steps are taken to use the judicial system.” In Argentina, none of this was able to be implemented, the riots and violent demonstrations accelerated the process and forced the government to leave the country. An intelligent leader should always attempt to communicate to the people, at every level, prior to imposing laws and regulations. It is recommended to “Support non-governmental organizations and the media in their roles of informing citizens and promoting their legal rights.” This is a recommendation was partially applied in Bolivia, since the informing media is from the government and the citizens are receiving false and/or distorted information. On the other hand, the strong judicial system in the United States, although it is highly criticized, allows a person to complain and demand fair treatment and truthful information. (Experts Advise on Good Government. United Nations Department of Public Information) In order to obtain a more balanced information for this paper, I have research several places and questioned several people from different backgrounds and countries in order to obtain their ideas on what they are looking for in a government leader. From that research I have learned a little about the crisis in other countries and places and top of the earth, which is helping me in becoming more conscious and take more responsible action during the next presidential election. Also it has helped to value more my government, country, form of living and freedom, since in other places a common citizen is not allowed to express his/her opinion without fearing for his/her life or the life of his/her loved ones. The most important finding in my research is the common values that all the people have expected from their leaders: Honesty and Patriotism. However, when I questioned them if they thought that their leaders where honest and patriotic, the answer was mostly negative. Then I went a little bit further and asked if they knew of a leader, either from a government of just plain leader, that would meet those two values, I asked them to be impartial, and forget ethnicity, religion, age, etc. The result was very interesting, since half of them could not come up with anybody and the other half mentioned the late Pope John Paul II. Some of the people I interviewed, believed that he was a good leader, managed to penetrate into societies of different ages. He was also able to establish a good communication with all sorts of leaders, ranging from the President of the United States, to leaders from different religious communities. He was honest and patriotic to his own beliefs and what he represented and at the same time respected other sorts of religions, governments, etc. He never lost sight of his goals, and at the same time was more receptive and open minded than his predecessors. Every time he visited a place, he prayed for human life in any situation and hoped for peace on earth. The only disadvantage or downside that I was also informed, is that he was a religious leader and throughout the world religion has a tendency to be rejected or ignored, at one point in history it started being persecuted. From my previous statement, I believe that the teachings on how to be a real leader, will not be followed nor taught worldwide. I would like to quote and reference my sources, but most of them are nicknames or would not reveal their names in order to have a more neutral analysis. Works cited Accusations launched over FARC commander’s death. The Latin Americanist March 3, 2008. April 14, 2008. Bolivia Fights Poverty by Launching Pension Benefit. The Bolivian Transition Project. February 4, 2008. April 12, 2008. Carlos Diego Mesa G. Wikipedia. The free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. March 28, 2008. April 12, 2008. Evo Morales, Wikipedia. The free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. April 10, 2008. April 12, 2008. Experts Advise on Good Government. Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information DPI/1793D/PUB/ADM--April 1996. April 8, 2008 Gido, J. & Clements, J. P. "Successful Project Management." (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western. Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Wikipedia. The free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. April 4, 2008. April 12, 2008. Government, Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. April 6, 2008. April 9, 2008. Henry, S. Corruption is still rife at top level of French Government. Britain's No.1 quality newspaper website. March 27, 2005. April 13, 2008. Magna Carta and its American Legacy. April 12, 2008.   More from metro-area students on Presidents Day. Omaha World-Herald. February 19, 2007. April 12, 2008. Project Management. Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. November 2007. April 9, 2008. Schoenberg, P. John F. Kennedy on Leadership. 1998 – 2005 The Presidential Expert. April 13, 2008. Shweber-Koren, R. and Schulman J. Eight big Lies about Katrina. Independent Media Institute. September 9, 2005. April 13, 2008. Turley Jonathan. Nepotism and Congress: Don’t let jobs Grow on Family Trees. July 30, 2003. April 12, 2008. Types of Government. BBC newsroom. April 12, 2008. The Life of Martin Luther King Jr., 2008 The Seattle Times Co. April 13, 2008 The economic crisis of Argentina 1999-2002. Wikipedia. The free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. March 26, 2008. April 12, 2008. Read More