The Politics of Leadership

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The greatest leaders are students of leadership. They grow their influence by becoming experts in their craft. Additionally, they develop more leaders by sharing what they’ve learned with others. As Historian Henry Adams once said, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” Visual perspective can be trained, but it can also be worked on from the content we consume through different dimensions.

One dimension has to do with looking at other realities; seeing what is happening in other countries; ideally traveling, but if not, at least consuming content that shows us we can find solutions to problems that we think are exclusively our own, but that exist everywhere; and reading about global perspectives. These are all ways of broadening our strictly local perspective. This conception of leadership also has another very complex side effect: it scares many people away from the possibility of becoming leaders. If you think that to be a leader you must be a chosen one, somebody superior from the rest, then it’s probable you will exclude yourself from that category. Understanding that the heroes, the founding fathers, and the great leaders of humanity were and are as human as everyone else is key.

Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” Timewise, both history and the future broaden our horizon and give us perspective. History, because it connects us with human nature, the challenges of power that transcend the ages, the repetition of phenomena, and the overcoming of problems. The future, because it determines the horizon. It shows us those phenomena that are to come, those that are transforming society and life, and the problems we will face that have not yet been solved.

In this context of volatility, uncertainty, and complexity, we should look at the human dimension, seeing empathy and an emotional bond with the population as a basic and necessary condition. That requires moving away from caudillista, messianic, charismatic, or technocratic leadership models. Awareness of your humanity and connection with others is a path that helps prevent the evils of abuse of power or bad rulers. In ancient Rome, the Caesars had a slave whose task was to whisper in their ear that they were mortal. Since the existence of man, there has been insight into how power impacts the individual, how to prevent the madness of power, and how to ensure good rulers. No individual can work alone. Leaders create cooperation among supporters to work, aggregate and arrange their exercises with authoritative exercises and objectives a leader functions as chief of the group. Motivation: The crisis of political representation is not a problem of demand—understood as what citizens expect from leaders—but rather a problem stemming from the difficulties of the leaders. That is why we should rethink the leadership model. We need to prepare our politicians not only in ethical and moral values and in management capabilities, but also in understanding the world. We must also help them to fully know themselves; take care of themselves; and prepare mentally, emotionally, and physically for the hyper-demanding task of ruling without losing touch with their humanity, thus reducing the risk of Hubris Syndrome.That is why it becomes so important to think about how to help leaders get out of that model. Otherwise, it is very difficult to maintain a connection from that place to a society that lives in another time and in another world. Who Takes Care of Political Leaders? This paper seeks to make an effective contribution to how we think about democratic political leadership and also to share personal insight as a politician so that other politicians and leaders can use it as a reference and think about how much they are taking care of themselves. Doing so can contribute to finding solutions for the legitimacy crisis that our democracies are experiencing due to a disconnect with social expectations and demands. This paradigm shift is already occurring in other fields of society, and taking it to the political arena will make the task of those in charge of solving the great problems we face more effective. One of the most significant difficulties to be encountered with thinking about leadership in the manner suggested here is that it does little to relieve us of a major underlying conceptual problem: where are the meaningful and observable boundaries of the political system in question and of the leadership processes emergent within that system? Servant leadership is the best leadership style for maximizing a person’s positive influence. For example, servant leaders eliminate self-serving behaviors and instead focus on the needs of their employees, customers, clients, and community. In essence, they’re always asking themselves, “How can I provide value?”

Group Interaction: This is a group interaction in which two or more people are present and converse. A leader must have followers to be a leader. This approach envisions that there must be an alignment between what one is, what one does, and what one says. It is no use thinking that one can dissociate and act out a character with the level of exposure we see today. This also requires training techniques practiced daily, as is done in physical training. To be sure, as concepts, both politics and leadership provide fertile ground for dispute and confusion. To consider them together requires a merger of disciplinary perspectives that may challenge some conventional ways of thinking. Such a merger requires some revisiting of well-worn ideas and some reinvention. It maybe fair (some may contest this assertion!) to say that most students of leadership have an inadequate appreciation and understanding of politics and most students of politics have a similarly inadequate appreciation and understanding of leadership. Although the latter may be in general agreement that politics, generically, is a social process through which contested values are distributed, they rarely pursue the implications of this basic conceptualization into the informal or nonpublic realm. The crux of the matter is that conceptual clarity and precision is at the heart of any theory, and leadership is a highly abstract concept extremely difficult to make either clear or precise. The latter is particularly significant because no attempt at conceptual clarity for leadership seems possible without dealing with other such concepts, such as politics, in the process. The support of doctors, nutritionists, physical trainers, kinesiologists, and other specialties is important if one wants to avoid voluntarism and wants to take advantage of scientific knowledge and advances that continue to develop.Additionally, this type of leader is specifically focused on multiplying leaders at all levels in the organization. By demonstrating company values, being a mentor, and offering leadership and development opportunities, they increase their influence organically by putting those around them first. Inspire and Motivate

An expression frequently used to portray this sort of administration is "People first." Of all the leadership styles, the affiliative initiative methodology is one where the leader gets very close with individuals. A pioneer rehearsing this style focuses on and upholds the feelings of colleagues. The leaders endeavour to open up a pipeline that associates the person in question to the group. In the affiliative leadership style, the leader pays attention to the employees and supports the emotional needs of the team members. It's especially helpful, for instance, in smoothing clashes among colleagues or consoling individuals during seasons of pressure. With few notable exceptions, such as James MacGregor Burns’s Leadership (1978), attempts to pursue an explicit understanding of the political nature of leadership have been conspicuously absent from the literature. Effectively, Bums saw leadership as a sociopolitical process enacted by individuals in interaction with others, but even he seemed focused on leadership in public politics rather than on the politics in leadership. (Or at least, Bums seems to have been convinced that the most meaningful forms of leadership are those that operate at the highest levels of public politics.) All these issues feed and complement each other and offer different ways to help leaders be more connected with their humanity and with their emotions and, thus, be more effective in their role and more sustainable in the long term. Social networks and digital newspapers are our main source of information, and there are no curators to help us define criteria for use. This report is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exemptinstitution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).Emotional intelligence (EI) is one of the top leadership qualities needed for growing positive influence. As scholar and leadership expert Dr. Robert K. Cooper explains, “Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information, connection, and influence.” Robertson, P., and S. Tang. 1995. The Role of Commitment in Collective Action: Comparing the Organizational Behavior and Rational Choice Perspectives. Public Administration Review. 55:67-80. Leaders can adopt a two-part strategy for managing political conflict in the workplace: Following the practices outlined in this article, they can develop norms and procedures for averting conflicts altogether while also making plans for managing them when they arise. The intention of this work is not to close the debate by proposing a comprehensive solution. It seeks to alert us to the problem so that we become aware and work creatively, thinking of possible solutions. We cannot think that we will have healthy leadership with leaders who are not healthy themselves, and it is impossible to think that they will be if they do not have the tools and the help to go through the experience of handling power. Expanding the Toolbox The spiritual and religious dimension also constitutes an important element to consider. It is important to understand how it shapes our beliefs and values, our thought process, our self-knowledge practices, and our relationship with transcendence. Although it is a more private dimension, omitting it from the analysis implies leaving out a dimension that occupies an important part of people’s lives.