Ruscio talks about the importance of humility in leaders, particularly in a democracy where their power is constrained. I really like the example that he gave about JFK and the Bay of Pigs invasion. Kennedy understood that he had made a mistake and was able to address the nation immediately and directly. He presented the facts and explained where he went wrong without trying to make excuses for his mistakes. He also recognized that he needed help, so he asked Eisenhower for advice, and he used this advice to change his decision-making strategies.<\/p>\n
The beginning of the article talks about how even though humility is so important, it goes against the way that we think about leadership today. We expect leaders to be “firm, decisive, authoritative, strong, assertive, steadfast, visionary, and powerful. Humble usually doesn’t make the list.” While these traits are good for leaders to have, I think that neglecting to consider a leader’s humility is a big mistake, particularly in a government like ours where we have such a long tradition of democratic institutions. Ruscio later talks about the contrast between Trump and JFK\/Washington\/Lincoln. He seems less concerned about Trump being arrogant and more concerned about his disrespect for the institutions that are the foundation of our democracy.<\/p>\n
This article also made me think about how our politics have become so polarized. If leaders don’t have humility, then it will be very hard for them to debate and make decisions with people who don’t agree with them. In order to come to decisions, there needs to be compromise, which will not happen if no one is willing to admit that they are wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ruscio talks about the importance of humility in leaders, particularly in a democracy where their power is constrained. I really like the example that he…<\/p>\n