Scott McKain– ScottMcKain.com
“Elected political leader as manager” is a dated, misplaced notion. Let’s change our thinking about the jobs of those we elect to signifi cant positions.
I never thought Jack Welch was an expert on nuclear power or broadcasting – even though GE did both while he was CEO.
Yet we seemingly want our President to know everything about every issue. That’s humanly impossible.
The President’s actual role is more like “chairman of the nation” or “chief political offi cer.” It is to provide leadership by steering us toward consensus on critical issues and making tough decisions on major policy issues.
We’ve reached a point where we actually need two Presidents – better expressed as Chairman and CEO.
The Chairman (President of the US) is elected as our “big-picture” political leader. They then appoint a CEO to be an aggressive, rigorous manager of budgets and performance. Companies separate these positions. Why shouldn’t the government?
Until we become more sensible in our expectations, we’ll have unqualifi ed politicians trying to be executives…business leaders trying to be politicians…and neither delivering the best results for America.
Randy Pennington - PenningtonGroup.com
Every President is an amateur managing a group of professionals when it comes to providing leadership for government agencies. That is not unlike successfully running a large company with multiple products and services.
But “running the government” also involves infl uencing when you have no authority to mandate compliance, building coalitions among groups with diff erent goals, operating in a state of perpetual scrutiny and understanding how the process of government works.
Republicans hold up Ronald Reagan – an actor and politician – as the standard for great leadership. The Democrats point to Bill Clinton – a career politician. You can’t underestimate the importance of understanding and being competent in how government works.
Larry Winget – LarryWinget.com
When it comes to running the government, I believe that it takes a good combination of business acumen as well as the ability to both understand and use the political machine to get things done.
A businessperson who can’t get things done using the political system and only wants to trash the system and do a work-around is doomed. A politician who doesn’t understand the basic business principles that a CEO has to master to be successful as well as profi table is also doomed.
We either need a politician with business mastery or a businessperson with political mastery. It is going to take a combination of both skill sets to move us forward.
Balancing a budget, spending less than you take in, controlling growth, understanding the competition, defending your establishment against outsiders, pleasing the people who pay the bills and creating value both real and perceived are the roles of a good businessperson. But they should also be the top priorities of a person running the government.
We need a proactive, visionary consensus builder. We don’t need a know-it-all demagogue who believes they are the only one who can have a good idea.
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