Thoughts on Presidential Leadership as We Prepare for a Consequential Election
As we prepare for the upcoming presidential election, we need to focus on what the presidency
is, has been, and can be in the future. Professor Michael Siegel argues that every president
needs to address four fundamental leadership challenges: (a) enunciating a clear, compelling
vision or purpose for his/her administration, (b) translating that vision into reality through a
complex and challenging political process, (c) managing a sprawling executive workforce of
some 4 million people, and (d) making clear and bold decisions in a world of great uncertainty
and change.
While every US President swears the same oath of office, the 8 presidents who have served full
terms since Watergate (Carter-Biden) have relied on vastly different leadership styles to
confront these challenges, and Siegel compares their performance along these lines.
Michael Eric Siegel is an award-winning adjunct professor of Government at Johns Hopkins
University. From 1987-2021, he served as a Senior Education Specialist at the Federal Judicial
Center. Currently, Siegel briefs foreign visitors on US Government for US Department of State’s
International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP). Dr. Siegel is the author of Lessons in
Leadership form the White House to Your House, and two previous books on presidential
leadership. On June 1, 2024, Siegel published an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun titled, “The Kind of
Presidency Our Founders Imagined.” He is currently the president of Kol Shalom!
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