issue43 求拍！第一次限时写完！

xiaotunbbUID: 2239241

Issue43: 634 words
To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards.

I agree with the statement insofar as an effective leader should have high morale to some degree. Otherwise, s/he may lead the underlings toward a disastrous consequence. However, from my perspective the statement goes too far by suggesting that a leader must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards, or s/he would fail to be an effective leader.

Admittedly, high moral standard is an indispensable element of a leader, without which the leader would either forfeit his/her power in the end or lead to deleterious results to the society. A good case in point is the Watergate scandal of President Nixon. The wrongdoings of Nixon not only result in the down-fall of his own administration, but also diminish the confidence among populace for the politics of the nation, which cost great efforts of his successors to rebuild. Former German dictator Hitler demonstrates this point very well too. Due to his racialism and Nazism, the whole world suffered from the world war. Moreover, the German people suffered great setback under his leader. It is obvious that a leader without moral standard will accomplish nothing but bring harm to the society and its citizenry.

However, on a systemic scale undue emphasis on the importance of moral standards in a leader, we risk neglecting the flexibility in leadership. A truly effective lead should flexible enough to deal with different situations, even by the means of resorting to tricks, especially when it concerns military and diplomatic issues. History informs us that if a leader stubbornly persisted in certain ethical principles, s/he would not survive in the hypercompetitive world. In the first place, a public official must obtain the power first in order to wield it. If the official is too restricted by the moral standard, s/he may not get the leader position at all. Secondly, under some circumstances, such as in war or in the means of diplomatic service, immoral strategies will get a premium as long as they could serve the purpose of contributing to the well-being of the nation. Accordingly immoral behavior is not only understandable but also necessary for an effective leader under certain circumstances.

Moreover, leaders are just human beings as everyone else. Imperfectness, the inherent nature of humanity, must also be a trait of the leaders. However, miner mistakes would not influence the effectiveness and greatness of the leader. This contention can be illustrated by the well-known Chinese political leader Mao Zedong, who is the founder of new China. He has salvaged China from the social stagnation in the reign of feudal government and led China toward a promising future. But in his late age, he became so confused that he did not interdict the Culture Revolution led by his wife Jiangqing. In this history tragedy, millions of elite artist, intellectuals, and businessperson suffered humiliation, even death. Nevertheless, this fault did not prevent Chinese people from respecting him. His great achievements far outweigh his mistakes.

Furthermore, high moral standard is not the litmus test for measuring the effectiveness of a leader. Other characteristics should also be taken into consideration when evaluate leadership, such as positive outlook, competence, responsibility, concerning for the underlings and so forth. Without competence, high moral standard would only lead to maggot. Without positive outlook, high moral standard may result in giving up the prosecution undergoing. Without concerning for the inferiors, high moral standard will only give self-satisfaction to the leader himself. All these factors are as important as ethical principle in an effective leader.

All in all, a good leader must be those who have the basic ethical principles in mind, or s/he will lead the team and even the whole society toward a disastrous direction. But highest moral standard is neither necessary nor sufficient for an effective leader, as reflected by the flexibility and complexity of leadership.

[ 本帖最后由 xiaotunbb 于 2007-9-4 09:10 编辑 ]

xiaotunbbUID: 2239241

无人问津...自己顶一下，是写的太失败了吗？

speaklessUID: 2205899

ISSUE43连起来~谢谢合作
你可以尝试改下别人的,再要求回改