Larry D. Lauer

I often ask the same question about universities. I have compared them to cities, and their presidents to city managers. Their presidents have an executive team just as do city managers. And each executive has a staff. But true managerial influence pretty much stops there. Beyond the top team, it’s mostly a matter of personal and political influence, and possessing the appropriate communication skills.

It’s popular today to suggest that what we need is a corporate CEO as president, and that government and political experience are not necessary.  Some would even argue that Washington experience is a liability.

But those who think that successful corporate CEO’s can make successful presidents should consider the reality of the total landscape, and exactly what kinds of skills and experiences are actually needed.

Presidents have little reliable control of what happens beyond their immediate team. Through their team they communicate policy directives to long-serving career people who must be relied on to fit these directives into the realities of their daily work… around the country and the world. Sometimes it works. Often it doesn’t. So presidents must repeat and persist. They must also persuade congress to act. But to do so requires adequately accommodating different levels and amounts of opposition. Otherwise nothing gets done.

Some would therefore argue that governments already have become too much like businesses to function effectively. These people say that big political donors today behave too much like corporate investors and board members, with their own profits more their concern than the public welfare.

My view is that the essential communication skills needed to lead governments from cities to nations are situation specific and strategic in nature. Listening, finesse, savvy, persistence, coalition building, an appreciation for strategic  compromise, and a tolerance for ambiguity, are skills fundamental to the job.

The thought of electing a president with no political or government experience is indeed troubling. Certainly leading governments can and should employ more “business-like” practices. But governments are completely different work environments, and the experience and skills necessary for effectiveness must be suited to those realities.