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43. "To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards." 一个公仆如果想成为一位杰出的领导者就必须保持最高的伦理和道德标准。
提纲: 基本反对
Point 1:道德对于一个leader有很重要的意义。
Point 2:leader是否杰出取决于多方面的因素
Point 3: 讨论作为一个public official所应具有的素质
The speaker’s claim that a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards to be an effective leader is an over-statement. In my view, while ethical and moral standard is an important factor influencing one’s leadership, it is unnecessary to require a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards.
To beginning with, leader is the soul of a team; the historical record informs us that a team rally only when incited and inspired by the leader’s charisma. When it comes to what factors influencing one’s charisma, ethical and moral standard is an irreplaceable aspect should take into account. I concede that unless a leader have an acceptable ethical and moral standard, that the member of team would lose the respect and confidence to the leader, perhaps would betray the team. For example, I would be hard-pressed to identity any watershed sociopolitical events attribute to a team with an immoral leader. In short, accessible ethical and moral standard is the basic requirement for an effective leader.
Admittedly, a leader probably gets strong support from the highest ethical and moral standard. For instance, Confucius was one of the most famous figures of antiquity, and is remembered for his amazing ethical and moral standard. However, there are large amount of leader do not get any benefit from their ethical and moral standard. Consider certain prominent leader who attributed profoundly to the development of history. Alexander the Great was a great Greek king who established a splendid empire and spread Greek civilization into the east. I think any people would agree that Alexander the Great was a effective leader, and Alexander the Great have not the highest ethical and moral standard. In my observation, Alexander’s contribution primarily from his aspiration to conquer, from the support of Macedonian army and Macedonian nobleman, and from the sociopolitical institution of that era. After all, every effective leader has their own style, and attracts their adherent by their own charisma.
Consider that what characters a public official should maintain. In contemporary society, we are more sensitive to, and respectful of, the individual’s rights and freedom. Public officials are being an individual of our society, their legal rights and freedom is also need protected and respected from the masses. It is sufficient that a public official maintain an accessible ethical and moral standard. Bill Clinton is an appropriate example. Clinton had an affair with Lewinski reflected that he had not the highest ethical and moral standard. But it did not affect Clinton was a successful president and an effective leader. Moreover, in the most recent quarter-century, we have seen an increasing sensitivity in our society that public official should confront more difficult and complex problem than before. In this situation, the key determinant influencing one’s leadership is not only ethical and moral standard but rather some other factors—such as actual ability, powerful mentality and so on. In my view, to suitable for the troublesome work in information age, public official should concentrate on the study, to learn about knowledge across different subject.
In sum, ethical and moral standard play an irreplaceable role in one’s leadership, having an accessible ethical and moral standard is the basic requirement to a effective leader. In addition, public officials of contemporary society should pay more attention to the other aspects. |