Posted by
CW Post on Saturday, February 02, 2008 1:50:27 PM
Senator McCain has consistently pushed his military experience as an example...as 'the' example...of leadership while discounting business leadership as "management". What Mr. McCain seems to miss in this comparison is that military leaders have obedient followers, while business leaders do not. In the military, particularly the US military people follow orders. If a leader orders a platoon to take a hill, or a squadron to engage, they do it...there is no hesitation or negotiation.
In business, everything is a negotiation. Sure, a business leader has a level of expectation from an employee, but it is certainly not as simple as giving an order and knowing it will be carried out without question or hesitation. For this reason, business leadership is indeed far more compatible with the Presidency than military. Certainly the Congress doesn't follow orders, foriegn officials (even allies) do not follow orders, and even within the Executive branch, the State department seldom follows orders...and there is even a possibility that the intellegence community doesn't either.
Navigating this landscape takes a form of leadership that is adept at forging alliances that may not otherwise exist. Like it or not, Mr. McCain, that's business leadership...specifically Executive Leadership.