In the September 26 column entitled “Choosing leaders”, Gary Gamble cites two great sources of information for choosing a good leader. The book “Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders?” includes seven key leadership attributes. The first three: integrity, empathy and emotional intelligence, really caught my attention. Additionally, Gamble cites an article from the “Harvard Business Review” with questions one needs to ask regarding a candidate’s integrity. Although the authors list several questions, one in particular stood out. That was: “Have they ever been known to shade, color or withhold information?” (At present, there are 20,000 verified false or misleading statements.)
In that same article the authors also found that “humility was far more evident in exceptional leaders than was raw ambition”. The book that Gamble cited was published in 2011 and the “Harvard Business Review “ article was from 2002. While Gamble quoted from these publications as it relates to the Cook County election for commissioners, they couldn’t be more timely as they relate to the upcoming Congressional and particularly the Presidential election. If integrity and these other attributes matter any more, the choices become quite clear.
Nancy Wasik, Bemidji, Minnesota,
and Poplar Lake
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