Re: What makes a great leader?

Description: Zakheim, on what makes a great president.

Transcript:  Leaders tend to be people who react to situations.  You can’t go around saying, “I’m a leader.”  Nobody would have thought Harry Truman was a leader.  In retrospect, we think he is.  In fact, at the time, we didn’t think he was.  Look how Dwight Eisenhower has been re-evaluated over the years as well. I think a leader, first of all, has to be well-grounded.  He has to have a since of him or herself; needs to want something more than, “I want to be a leader.  I want to be president.”  We’ve had presidents like that – presidents who wanted to be president.  Well it’s not good enough.  A leader also ought to be a little more than just superficial.  And mouthing slogans is great and might get you elected, but it won’t make you a leader.  And finally, a leader has to be prepared to make unpopular decisions, and then know when a decision has become so unpopular that he’s gotta reverse himself . . . or herself.  The sense of balance . . .  You know you can lead the country, but if you lead the country over a cliff and the country doesn’t wanna go over a cliff, then you’ve gotta think twice about going over the cliff yourself.

Recorded on: 7/2/07