While we assess leadership and the qualities of a great leader, we often think about Lincoln or JFK or even Prime Minister Trudeau. What are the main criteria’s that we assess them on?
Leadership is defined as “a process of social influence which maximizes the efforts of others toward the achievement of a greater good.” So isn’t Donald Trump a great leader? Let’s analyze this.
Donald Trump undoubtedly exudes a leader-type confident and “tough guy” image and perception to the masses. With his claims of making tough decisions on the Iran Nuclear deal, the Mexican border, China’s aggressive economic attacks as well as North Korea’s non-compliance, he indeed sounds like someone who’s ready to do what’s right according to him and what’s best for the country according to him.
He also very effectively is able to create a loyalty from his “team”(his voters) by categorizing them and the country as “we” and calling all foreign threats/entities as “they”. This not only makes Americans feel more united but also creates a gap between Americans and any foreigners.
Another virtue followers look for in a leader, is an assurance for success and reliability. How much ever Donald Trump has inflated his image, at the end of the day, his words and his claims of being a very successful businessman and his claims of knowing what he is doing, do quite honestly strike a spark of confidence in him from un-informed voters.
So based on the above facts, Donald Trump should be called a “Good” leader, unless, we give enough importance to the repercussions of his decisions. However appealing or reliable he might seem to uninformed American voters, I believe that the smallest fallacy in fine print or the most immature action could lead the world towards Nuclear War.
Word Count: 296 words
Reference:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201603/the-leadership-tactics-donald-trump
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249905
