What is the POTUS supposed to do? What actions make a good president? What characteristics make a good president?
These were the questions posed in Monday morning’s Leadership in honor of President’s Day. Led by Mr. Rutherford, the discussion began…
"What is POTUS?” many students asked. POTUS is the abbreviation for President Of The United States. Little known fact: the acronym began as a telegraph code in the late 19th century.
With that clarification, students began postulating answers: protect the country, protect the troops, write laws, create a budget, meet with other countries...All of the comments were eventually boiled down to the following role descriptors: diplomat, legislator, commander, executive, head of state, chief of party, chief citizen.
While determining the job description was not as simple as a few students thought, deciding what characteristics and actions crafted a good president was even more difficult. Words that began the discussion like confident, and decisive, and opinionated, and persuasive, led into responsible, and intelligent, and empathetic, and open-minded, which found the group at a bit of a dichotomy. It is difficult to be both opinionated and empathetic, decisive and open-minded. Thus, perhaps one of the greatest characteristics of a president is the ability to delegate, and surround him/herself with people who are strong in all of the above categories, providing a balance. At the end of the discussion, a final observation was made: “the President has to be a good leader.”
Aha...and what makes a good leader?