Question

The following are issues that involve or have been credited to US & world leaders: budget crisis; stalemate in Congress; Affordable Health Care Act; moral, ethical, and financial failures in national, state, or city leaders; and breaches of integrity, truth, and honesty in public leaders. In light of these issues, find a current news event in the newspaper, on TV, on the radio, or online, that illustrates either building trust as a leader through credibility and integrity or failure to build trust as a leader. Apply the principles of leadership (particularly those given in both course texts) to today’s news events.

Answer 1

Solution -

The example that we will consider for our analysis is the tax reforms introduced by the US governments which are targeted majorly towards tax cuts paid by higher income groups and charging fees, commissions and tariffs on the local daily needs. There has been a continuous push by the government to do away with the Affordable Health Care Act. Even though it was not passed by the Senate there have been various measures introduced to hinder the progress of this act. There has been an increase in insurance costs and the current baseline costs have been increased. This proposition aligns well with the traditional and conservative economic approach but undeniable there has been certain political vendetta involved.

This puts the leadership of the US in a grey light. The primary reason is that leadership is considered to take up a fair approach with a holistic view of things. It is right that all expectations cannot be met but leadership takes into account the welfare of the masses and looks at the longterm view. The other aspect here is about thinking above rivalry. A leader is considered as someone to think above the rivalry and personal agenda. This allows people to trust in the leadership and provide unconditional support in the leader. If there is a perception built that the leader is acting in his or her own interest and out of some personal rivalry then it breaks the trust of the masses and people begin to question. This makes the implementation a difficult proposition and even if there could have been some good involved in the policies then such success cannot be met.

The last aspect is about how a leader handles criticism. Do you suppress with an iron hand or answer as a responsible individual with a stable approach. This is where the leadership of the US has failed and certain irresponsible retorts have shaken up the trust of the people and have been ridiculed by the media. A leader must ensure to reply with responsibility and should not be impulsive in his or her response.

A leader should be data-driven. The current US leadership has shown a total disregard for the data and this has led to a lot many questions. A data-driven approach would have provided for the much-needed evidence to support their claim. A leader is always objective in his or her approach and this missing link has added to the controversy created by certain rivals.

To conclude we can say that the US leadership has not followed the principles of leadership and their approach towards this situation has led to mistrust with the masses. Proper communication with a holistic approach could have sorted this issue but the leadership of the US remains unperturbed.