Traits of a Political Leader

¶ … Political Leader:

Politicians and politics are terms that usually elicit fascination in nearly every conversation and discussion. Actually, it seems like people have some fascination with evaluation of political leaders resulting in the fact that biographies of current political figures become best sellers. In addition, the tragedies and triumphs of political leaders attract huge public attention as they become newspaper headlines. One of the major reasons for the increased fascination is because of curiosity about the personal characteristics, individual preferences, decision making processes, and the beliefs and work of these leaders. However, most of the analysis and learning about the personalities and leadership styles of these leaders is always carried out in a cursory manner. People have been forced to rely on analysis of what political leaders say as a means of learning their individual characteristics and leadership styles (Hermann, 2002). Nonetheless, it's still important to examine and understand the good and bad traits of political leaders as the basis for evaluating their leadership styles.

A Political Leader:

A political leader is described as an individual who wields the most influence in the government's pursuit of specific goals desired by people or in his or her political party. These individuals need to be good leaders who demonstrate self-actualization, which is the highest form of human growth. A political leader plays an important role in the governance of a country because of his/her function in policymaking. In light of the growing fascination with politics and politicians by the general public, it has become increasingly vital for political leaders to develop good personal characteristics that enable them to be effective in their respective role and functions. The need for such characteristics is also fueled by the recent incidents where some politicians have demonstrated poor leadership skills and ineffective decision-making abilities.

An understanding of the good characteristics of a political leader is crucial since it helps voters to make the right choice when deciding the candidate to put into a particular office. This would also help voters to avoid electing individuals with bad qualities and those unsuitable to hold any public service office or role. In essence, the need for politicians with good personal characteristics or traits cannot be overemphasized.

Good Traits of a Political Leader:

For a politician to be effective in his/her role and functions, he/she not only needs to be politically savvy but also posses the good traits of a political leader. Some of the good individual traits or characteristics of a political leader include & #8230;

Fairness and Objectivity:

One of the major characteristics of a good political leader is fairness and objectivity, which contributes to effectiveness in individual roles and responsibilities. In this case, a good political leader does not use his views and facts as the basis for his/her decisions (Rad, 2011). On the contrary, he uses unfiltered and reliable information to make judgments and decisions as well as develop resolutions. This implies that a good political leader stands above his/her believes to view events objectively even though the general public may fail to do so. As a result, the political leader does not suffer from a self-serving bias and make effective decisions.

Honesty:

Despite of the difficulties in being honest, a good political leader develops character and builds credibility and trust by being honest. Honesty is an important trait of a good political leader because it enables him/her to evoke confidence and respect from those around him as well as the general public. This characteristic involves saying it as it is even if it feels uncomfortable to hear i.e. not hiding the truth in attempts to look good. In addition, the leader does not seek to be a people pleaser even if it means misguiding or manipulating the general public.

Demonstrates Personal Responsibility:

A good political leader demonstrates personal responsibility by having an internal locus of control while being aware of external forces. This means that he/she does not seek to be politically correct at the expense being unethical. he/she remains focused toward the achievement of specific and measurable goals, demands, and outcomes. In this case, he/she does not look for temporary and ineffective solutions but seeks for long-term and beneficial solutions and goals. The other major way to demonstrate personal responsibility is through being accountable for personal actions while encouraging others to be accountable for their own decisions and actions. This involves making reasonable choices and compromises and taking responsibility for the well-being of the society or the constituents he/she serves and represents.

Compassion:

This is a characteristic that is described as the humane quality of understanding people's suffering and looking for means to alleviate their suffering. A good political leader needs to be compassionate because it's the means of converting knowledge to wisdom. he/she uses compassion to identify others' needs and leads them into a course of action that addresses the needs and provides the greatest benefit to all those involved.

Education and Pathways to Become A Good Political Leader:

The process of becoming a politician is a competitive one since politics entails more than developing, changing, or removing policies to help make the society better. This is primarily because political leadership and followership is linked to responding to various global issues and traditional governance challenges (Masciulli, Molchanov & Knight, n.d.). This process involves becoming a public leader whose life is in the spotlight. Notably, the pathway to becoming a political leader does not require a specific academic qualification though the individual must have some formal education. The individual not only needs formal education but should also have life experience and professional networking in order to work in the field. Notably, many political leaders have degrees in various fields, especially law, business, or economics, and international relations. While it's important for an aspiring politician to concentrate on his/her own interests at college, he should have some basic information about the policymaking process and the law. In addition, he/she should be involved with a political party; particularly those that represent his/her own interests. Many political leaders begin their careers in other fields before joining the field of politics at a later stage in life. These experiences provide a good background for the individual before he enters politics and serve as a public leader. Apart from the previously discussed traits, a good political leader should have self-confidence, integrity, and flexibility.

Bad Traits of a Political Leader:

While many political leaders begin their life in politics in a good way, some of them develop bad traits when they become corrupt, lack integrity, and lack accountability. Some of the bad traits of a political leader include becoming a hostage to things beyond personal control, which forces him/her to make dubious promises. The other bad traits include over-promising and under-delivering as well as pandering the base, which is securing political decisions not on what an individual delivers but because of who he/she knows (McKeown, 2012). Most of these bad traits are developed when in the political field and end up having a significant negative impact on the credibility and integrity of the political leader.