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02 Leadership in the 2008 Presidential Race—Who has the right stuff? - David Russell
To what degree does the operation of a campaign give us some indication of leadership ability? Dave and I agree that it provides some indication of two aspects of leadership. First, campaign operations tell us how well the candidate selects the people to carry out the tasks of the campaign. If good, competent people are selected, the campaign should be seen as a smooth running operation. Second, campaign operations tells how well the candidate sets a vision, sets goals, holds people accountable, and then moves out of the way to let people do their jobs. Under these criteria, Senator McCain does not show as much leadership as Senator Obama. To what degree does experience predict future performance? We talk about how CEOs are selected on the basis of their track record. No corporate board would select a leader without knowing a lot about the leader’s experience and history. In this election, we know a lot about Senator McCain because he has been in public service his complete adult life. We know much less about Senator Obama because he is younger and his term of service is much shorter. We know that McCain makes fast decisions and Obama tends to be more deliberate. We can expect to see these attributes carry forward into the presidency.