How to choose a good President
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, March 30, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel
VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: In 1981 I was put in charge of MENEVEN, a State owned petroleum company with a production of some 400,000 barrels per day and with about 5,000 employees. Our manager of Human Resources was Nelson Olmedillo, a very talented individual who would eventually become a member of PDVSA's Board.
Today, Nelson is an independent Human Resources consultant and is of the opinion that we should choose our next President in a more rational, less emotional manner. He says we have made the same mistakes over and over again because we do the choosing as if we were dealing with a beauty contest, almost on pure emotion. He says we should establish a desired profile and match each potential candidate against that profile. The main problem, adds Olmedillo, is to agree on the desired profile, on the components of that profile. Sometimes, when looking for a manager, dozens of components of the profile are proposed.
Obviously this makes the search very difficult. In the case of the Presidential candidates Olmedillo suggests seven components for the profile. I have added my comments to each one of these desired qualities:
- Leadership.
Understood as the ability to inspire people to do their best to attain the public good, to improve the society where they live. In this sense leadership is not to be confused with power or with rhetoric. Many pages have been written about this quality but I specially like the ideas of Robert Tucker, contained in his book "Politics as Leadership" (Univ. Missouri Press,1981). Tucker adopts the Platonic concept of Politics as an exercise in leadership, in contrast to politics as an exercise in power. This fundamental distinction illustrates the basic difference between democracy and authoritarianism.
- Role Model.
The importance of preaching by example. Coherence between what is said and what is done. Ray Bradbury said, in an interview for PLAYBOY, that what he did not like about Carl Sagan is that "For some time now, he thinks he is Carl Sagan," meaning that we are what we do and not who we say we are. Personal credibility and identity have all to do with doing what we say.
- Honesty.
The quality of being materially and intellectually honest, of behaving as "if God was looking constantly over our shoulder". Abiding by our inner voice, to do the right thing on behalf of the public good, not on our behalf.
- Spirit of Service.
The desire to be of help to others. Altruism or, exceptionally, heroism. In Venezuela many feel that to serve is to be servile. This confusion is typical of people with low self esteem.
- Management Skills.
The capacity to plan, organize, choose the proper collaborators, utilize resources sensibly, motivating people. In error, rapidly rectifying. Always taking full responsibility for his, her actions.
- Helicopter Vision.
The ability to see the whole and not only parts of the whole, as if the person was looking down from a helicopter in flight. To consider all angles of an issue before decisions are taken.
- Life Record.
A pristine life. This quality is not easy to find as few people are "chemically" pure. But we would looking for some one who has led an exemplary life in the eyes of society.
I have listed below 20 potential candidates for President, chosen in a partially subjective manner, although they are all leaders of the community. The list is restricted to opposition leaders, as we all know that the government already has a candidate: Hugo Chavez. You are, of course, invited to rank him together with the persons in my list. The idea would be to give a grade in each component of the profile, from 1 to 10, to each candidate and add to a total. The minimum ranking would be 7 and the maximum would be 70. The list is as follows, in alphabetical order:
NAME. ROLE PLAYED. ARIAS CARDENAS, F. Former Chavez Comrade ALFONZO, R. Business Leader BORGES, J. Leader Primero Justicia CISNEROS, I. Businesswoman, altruist COVA, M. Labor Leader FERMIN, C. Former Presidential cand. FERNANDEZ, C. president Fedecamaras FERNANDEZ, E. president COPEI party FERNANDEZ, J. Petroleum Manager, rebel LEDEZMA, A. Political party leader KRIVOY, R. Ex- pres. Central Bank MARTIN, A. Political leader MENDOZA, E. Governor of Miranda State MUNOZ, A. vice president Fedecamaras. ORTEGA, C. president CTV PENA, A. Mayor, Greater Caracas. QUIROS, A. Petroleum and civic leader SALAS ROMER, H. Political leader SALAS FEO, H. Governor of Carabobo State SOSA, C. ex-pres. Supreme Court
I already did this exercise but I will not include my results here, in order not to influence your own opinions. You are invited to add some other candidates and rank them as well. I can tell you that, in my own exercise, only 5 members of the list got more than 50 points. Eleven candidates got between 45 and 50 points and four candidates obtained less than 45 points.
The advantage of the exercise is to force us to think about these candidates, against the background of the desired profile.
Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983. In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort. You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve