http://counsellingresource.com/features/2004/11/26/presidential-leadership/ Looking at life through the prism of psychology, philosophy, mental health and more. Originally created by counsellor, psychotherapist and philosopher Dr Greg Mulhauser, this blog is now the work of an international team of contributors. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:06:01 -0500 hourly 1 http://counsellingresource.com/features/2004/11/26/presidential-leadership/#comment-11 Christopher Lezon Fri, 03 Dec 2004 21:20:51 +0000 http://counsellingresource.com/wptest/archives/2004/applying-psychology/presidential-leadership/#comment-11 I found this to be an exceptionally well written article that brought together many of my own thoughts regarding the recent election. It would be nice to discuss how these perspectives/approaches to leadership impact those being lead. I would further argue that Bush's leadership style tends to be akin to the authoritarian patriarch parenting style--expecting acceptance and loyalty and informing us what is good and moral, while Kerry strikes me more of a community elder attempting to apply logic and wisdom to make informed decisions for the greater good. My personal opinion is that the latter should be valued in a democratic society since the President is an elected official whose purpose is to serve the interest of the group, not tell it what to value. In order to fulfill this function, one must be flexible and willing to entertain multiple perspectives. Unfortunately we now have 4 more years of an authoritarian president which typecasts people such as myself as the Oppositional-Defiant Teenager who won't accept authority. In other words, since the President is so fond of wearing the white cowboy hat and badge, I get the black one by default. Such is the dilema of closed-minded, morally driven, overly-simplistic thought. I found this to be an exceptionally well written article that brought together many of my own thoughts regarding the recent election. It would be nice to discuss how these perspectives/approaches to leadership impact those being lead. I would further argue that Bush’s leadership style tends to be akin to the authoritarian patriarch parenting style–expecting acceptance and loyalty and informing us what is good and moral, while Kerry strikes me more of a community elder attempting to apply logic and wisdom to make informed decisions for the greater good. My personal opinion is that the latter should be valued in a democratic society since the President is an elected official whose purpose is to serve the interest of the group, not tell it what to value. In order to fulfill this function, one must be flexible and willing to entertain multiple perspectives.
Unfortunately we now have 4 more years of an authoritarian president which typecasts people such as myself as the Oppositional-Defiant Teenager who won’t accept authority. In other words, since the President is so fond of wearing the white cowboy hat and badge, I get the black one by default. Such is the dilema of closed-minded, morally driven, overly-simplistic thought.

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