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DISCOURSES ON THE PRESIDENTS OF THE USA Throughout history the United States have been governed by some of the most charismatic leaders who were also forces of good that changed the world for the better. These leaders had selfless goals and exercised a charismatic leadership for the greater good, with no regard for the accumulation of personal power, and with no intention to exercise power over people for any other purpose than for their betterment. Referring to the difference of the presidents, the author likens them as snowflakes since they have varied characteristics. These influential people do not exactly think and act alike.
The material is also an easy read because the language flows and the comparisons are sometimes funny. She states that getting these personalities provide a good exercise for people to know them and see how they deliver their promises during their tenure of office. For the author, it is cool that Every four or eight years, we get somebody new to watch. The book is an excellent read because it takes readers into the lives of the different Presidents of the U. S. and gives an in-depth view of these presidents and their contributions to the nation.
Most of them has the charisma which had been studied as a trait, with the approach to look at qualities as being a visionary, energetic, unconventional, exemplary, and possessing outstanding rhetorical ability (Charisma, n. d. , citing Bass, 1989; Conger, 1989; Harvey, 2001). As and reads the material, readers remember what Max Weber states that charisma is a certain quality of an individual, by virtue of which she or he is set apart from ordinary people and endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. (Charisma, n. d. , citing Weber, 1947). This book talks about the different leaders of America. Readers get a glimpse of the motivating influences in their lives because they moved people to action by their principles and integrity.
It is here where we see how Ronald Reagan was one of those who resorted to deficit spending yet was also acting his part as the President. This strategy has been reversed during Bill Clintons time and has resurfaced now in George Bush's administration. But the conditions and situations in the Bush administration is different from his predecessors. State and local budgets are all in crisis. The budget for schools, hospitals and other institutions suffer from underfunding for a long period now and the overspending in the military does not help. This should have been included in the book in order to make it a more interesting read.
Another approach that I did not quite like was that she also dwelt on the family foibles and other negative points about the Presidents lineage. For instance, she wrote that It was never easy being an Adams, and marrying them was even worse. This was only because Adams family was serious and scholarly and did not dwelt on the ordinary things that affect men. Sections of the book that were most interesting for me were those that dwelt on anecdotes and personal lives of these people. It pricked my curiosity to know more about them because that seemed to say that they are also like other human beings who act silly sometimes and whose decisions and actions fail. However, I did not like those that dwelt on the irrelevance of things such as George Washingtons teeth.
This information should belong to a booklet that had a Whos who title. But this is supposedly a serious material and if indeed the author wanted to be light in tackling the topic, she should have not included those petty information. Leaders perception on their subordinates will greatly affect their decision on which between the two dimensions are they going to emphasize. This is how they transform the lives of the people they encounter.
If they assume that their people are responsible and capable, there would be less control and leaders would put more reliance on their people, otherwise there would have a large amount of control on their workers. But more than the well-established organizational design and properly selected leadership style, Beer emphasized the importance of people because without the capabilities of these people, the goal of effective organization would be difficult to attain, or worse, would never be reached (Beer). While older theoretical and empirical perspectives on charisma treat it as a uni-dimensional phenomenon, newer definitions of charisma do so with a greater appreciation of its good and dark sides, so that new research distinguishes two kinds of charismatic leadership socialized and personalized leadership (Howell, 2001, citing Howell & House, 1993) ). Charisma's positive potentialities lie with socialized charismatic leadership, while the dark side of charisma is empirically associated with personalized charismatic leadership.
Socialized charismatic leadership is characterized by leaders having a high need for power coupled with high activity inhibition, low authoritarianism, internal locus of control, high self-esteem and low Machiavellianism. In terms of behavior, socialized leaders come up with and goals that serve to their followers and the collective whole. Socialized leaders also encourage members to think critically, and to challenge and examine the views of their own leaders (Howell, 2001). In other words, socialized charismatic leaders work for the benefit of others and lead without any vested self-interest. Meanwhile, in activities that rely on teamwork, some of these forms of power are more useful than others. I found the collaboration between these leaders and their staff most enlightening as it starts as a mutual agreement of varying levels and purposes between them.
In a way, this book is similar to another book that was also written on The Secret Lives of the U. S. Presidents by Cormac O'Brien (2004). The Chief Executives had their own flaws and eccentricities that made their character confusing to most readers. Barbara Holland is a brilliant writer. She possesses a narrative style that seemed to be quite different than the other writers who wrote on the short stories.
I would have wanted to see more in depth stories about their childhood and how they related to the main caretakers of their early life. It would have been more interesting to know how these men were like when they were small. Did they show exceptional leadership qualities at a young age? The author had a narrative easy style that was effective at certain times.
Thus, if she had shorten the anecdotes which dwelt on the mundane events, then she could have written more on the events that formed what she is today. Readers would now have a chance to see how these people addressed the major issues... WORKS CITED Charisma (n. d. ).
Retrieved Nov. 24, 2008 web Gumbel, Andrew. The Iraq War Stimulates Our Economy. Independent. Retrieved Nov. 24, 2008 at: web Holland, Barbara. Hail to the Chiefs: Presidential Mischief, Morals & Malarkey from George W to George W. Berkley Trade (May 4, 2004)
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Research essay sample on Charismatic Leadership Bush Administration
