Leadership Qualities

330,000 people were asked to rank 16 leadership competencies (www.inc.com/peter-economy/top-10-skills-every-great-leader-needs-to-succeed.htm)

Here are some that I think apply to our politicians and how some of our current leaders (in my opinion) fare against the criteria

Inspire and motivate others

Boris Johnson did this during the campaign, barnstorming around the country to the delight of crowds everywhere.  He has now disappeared from view has only been heard from via a newspaper column he is paid to write.  Inspirational stuff.

Nigel Farage seems to have inspired and motivated lots of people, sadly the results are unedifying and likely to take years to unpick, so thanks for that.    

Jeremy Corbyn is inspiring his party to self-destruct, which is likely to leave us without a functioning opposition party, almost as inspirational as Boris.

Solves problems and analyses issues

Boris is a very clever man, who seems to expend a lot of time and energy convincing people he is a bit daft.  He has focussed on the wrong problem (how does he become PM) rather than the real issue (what is best of the country) and so his analysis has proved faulty, which is rather a shame for the rest of us.

Nigel takes a simple and clear approach to all problems – everything is the fault of the EU and the rising tide of immigration.  Not sure this shows any highly advanced analytical powers, but unfortunately the approach works for him.

Jeremy has a lot of problems (172 of them), but he has analysed the situation and the only answer is for him to stay as leader - which is an interesting if not overly practical conclusion to reach.

Drives for results

Top marks for Boris and Nigel who are driving for results, although maybe not the right ones.  Jeremy is at the bottom of the class as he is just driving his party into an irrelevant future.

Communicates powerfully and prolifically

Boris did during the campaign.  Now he only communicates if paid £5k a week to do so through his newspaper column – nice work if you can get it.  

Nigel can’t stop communicating and in fact we wish he’d shut up every now and then.  

Jeremy is talking at the same time as the rest of his party and they are not having the same conversation.  There is a prolific amount of powerful communication, most of it insults and statements about the arcane rules of the Labour party – who cares?

Builds relationships

Boris has a history here….he rather enjoys building relationships, not many of them last very long though, which should be food for thought for the Tory MPs over the coming weeks.

Nigel distrusts all relationships and tries to knock them down, even when we need to talk to people to agree our exit from the EU - excellent work Nigel!

Jeremy is struggling to talk to the people who work inside the same political party as him, so a bit of work needed here – this may help (How to Make Friends and Influence People – amazon.co.uk)

Displays high integrity and honesty

Boris – hmm, let’s move on.  

Nigel - hmm, let’s move on.  

Jeremy we are told has both of these, but not sure his current stance of clinging to the appearance of power whilst his party pulls itself apart is showing him in the best light.

Displays technical or professional expertise

Boris…there are no words…

Nigel…there are no words…

Jeremy…there are no words…

Displays a strategic perspective

Boris…there are no words…

Nigel…there are no words…

Jeremy…there are no words…

Conclusion

Not much in the way of leadership qualities on show here, perhaps they could take some pointers from that Nicola Sturgeon she seems to be doing leader like things at the moment.

Take Back Control - Open Letter to Johnson, Gove and Stuart

Dear Boris, Michael and Gisela,

You asked to take back control and the result went your way.  Since some brief platitudes on Friday the country has heard nothing from you.  Now is a crucial time for the country and for leading politicians to show their leadership qualities.  All you have done is show us the backs of your head as you left the stage on Friday lunchtime.

Leadership is more than attending rallies with people hanging off your every word, or a couple of hours debating the arguments with other politicians.  It is about dealing with hard complex problems and having difficult conversations.  This country now has hard complex problems to answer and needs leaders who can have the difficult conversations, both within the nation and with the rest of Europe.

Our country needs leaders now, not after the party conferences or leadership campaigns.  If you are not the people who can come up with a workable plan for what this country does next - say so now so we can ignore you and get on with fixing our nation.

Yours,

A concerned voter.

Who Won?

All Vote Leave supporters voted to “Take Back Control”, but what does that mean?

Does it mean no law-making body above the British Parliament?  

Does it mean controlling immigration; which a lot of voters interpreted as significantly reducing the number of immigrants.

Does it mean hundreds of millions of additional funding per week for the NHS?

Or does it mean none of those things, in the way the voters understand them?

After campaigns with messages that have been interpreted in clear black and white terms by the real, ordinary and decent people, we now enter the nuanced language of politicians and diplomats.

How are the campaign messages turned into realisable policies, whilst healing divisions, keeping the Union together and averting an economic downturn?  This is certainly the political version of alchemy.

Not everything people believe has been promised can be delivered.  We are already being told there is no rush to start negotiating the exit from the EU, we need to determine exactly what it is that we are seeking and in what timescale.  I think voters will ask why the politicians didn’t know what they were seeking before calling the referendum.

We are in danger of heading into the familiar territory of politicians promising much and delivering something significantly less than people expected.  The ordinary and decent voters will not take kindly to being treated so shabbily yet again.