Photography by AT Monaco
I was browsing the World Economic Forum website when I came across this fascinating leadership scorecard contributed by Lutfey Siddiqi. As the upcoming US presidential election heats up, this scorecard might come in handy as we evaluate the candidates and our current president.
According to Professor Siddiqi,
The first attribute is personal integrity, incorruptibility and sacrifice.
The second is the ability to galvanize support through eloquence, story-telling and charisma.
Third – and arguably the most important factor – is effectiveness or the delivery of results through the length of a marathon, and beyond the sprint of revolutionary rhetoric.
Scoring them on a scale of 1 to 10 in each category, it would be eye-opening to see how our presidential candidates, including the current president, stack up. The first two attributes would be relatively easier to score with all that is readily available about their personal lives, their past, as well as their speeches and interactions with voters on the campaign trail. The last would require more investigative work. There is plenty of "revolutionary rhetoric" going around from all our candidates, but rhetoric, even the impassioned ones, can hardly translate into effective governance. Experience then, with notable qualifying results, would be an obvious first criteria for evaluating a candidate in the third category.
While I believe that all three attributes are vital, the first to me is the most important, for a rotten tree simply cannot bear good fruit. A leader who lacks personal integrity, out of the corruptness of his heart, can only tear down a nation regardless of his eloquence or the effectiveness of his policies.
How wonderful it would be, come the next election, to elect leaders whose personal integrity, courage and sacrifice are exemplary; whose love for nation comes before personal hubris and gain; whose speeches and actions inspire and encourage, replacing tweets that deride and demoralize; and whose diplomatic, governing experience galvanizes, restores and sustains a nation that has somehow lost its footing since the last presidential election.
