How do we see our leaders?

Leadership can be a birthright, sought after, a natural progression or thrust upon someone. For most national leaders, it is  a position that is pursued, often vigorously and never on one’s own. By its very definition, in a democracy, leaders need the support of the people. So you would naturally assume that they would be popular. But are they? Do the people really respect or admire their elected leaders? 

How do Americans regard the importance of their presidents and political leaders? Overall, highly. Also regarded with high respect are the presidents' wives, even by their title, First Lady.

When asked “What man or woman living today in any part of the world do they admire most?” in Gallup’s Most Admired Man and Woman Poll conducted at the end of just about every year since 1948, for most years the most admired man is the sitting President of the United States and the most admired woman is or has been the First Lady of the United States.

The only exceptions to this or other politicians in the list in 70 years are:

1946, 1947, 1951 - Douglas MacArthur (US Army General)
1951 – Sister Elizabeth Kenny (Australian nurse & pioneer of Polio therapy)
1980, 2000  – Pope John Paul II
1980, 1986, 1995, 1996 – Mother Teresa
2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 – Oprah Winfrey

I wonder what this list would look like in other countries, or in particular, Australia. What type of person would consistently rank Number 1? Political leaders? Prime Ministers? Celebrities? Sportspeople?
Well you may be surprised. In a 2013 Morgan Poll conducted in Australia, Australians didn’t even choose an Australian. But they did have politicians ranking highly in their list.

 

Similar results occur in subsequent polls of the same nature. The validity of any poll is questionable and when this poll was released in 2013 there was the usual outcry of disagreement, particularly with former Prime Minister  Julia Gillard polling so highly. But what the poll did show was that the answers weren’t overrun by sports stars or figures from pop culture.

So maybe our politicians are seen as real leaders by the Australian public, despite the best efforts of the media to discredit them and our political party system. After all, harmony and respect for leadership doesn’t sell newspapers or provide a provocative 30 second sound grab for TV and radio. 

 

Perhaps we should embrace our leaders and occasionally look for the good they do and respect the office of Prime Minister a little more as a nation. Perhaps they should embrace it themselves and stop playing the ratings game and using political speak because they are afraid to be themselves. There is a solid basis in Australia in support for strong leadership.

The implications for developing strong student leadership lies in the notion that people do respect their elected leaders. They also respect people who genuinely care about their world and the people within it.