Thinking about the thread "Is Bush a strong leader?", a few different things crossed my mind.

Firstly, as most people on the thread have done, I thought about whether or not Bush (and Kerry) are "strong".

Then, as many people also have done on the other thread, I wondered what "strong" really means, and whether "strength" in and of itself is a good thing in a leader, and is it enough on it's own to compensate for other weaknesses.

Then, I started to think about those other weaknesses, or more properly those other qualities. Which led me to think another thread is required.

Questions for debate:
What qualities to you look for in a leader?
Some that I thought of included moral and intellectual strength, but also strength of purpose, wisdom, courage, consistency of purpose, adaptiveness to change, understanding, perceptiveness, honesty, integrity, mental acuity, strategic thinking, compassion, clarity and so on. No disrespect to Hero's thread, but one can have strong or weak compassion, strong or weak courage, strong or weak understanding, and so on. So "strong" on it's own isn't sufficiently clear, and leads to assumptions.

How do you think this year's Presidential candidates measure up on these qualities?
For example, Bush clearly has strong consistency of purpose (at least in the War on Terror), but doesn't seem to know how to adapt to change. Kerry, on the other hand, doesn't seem very consistent at all, and comes across as rather too eager to change, almost with the weather. It seems to me this is one area of advantage for Bush.
On wisdom. integrity and strategic thinking, Bush seems more open to criticism than Kerry, however.
The other candidates weaknesses, to me as an observer from afar, are their invisibility. Though that may be more a fault of the media than the candidates themselves, the effect is much the same.

In a way, this thread should be a structured way of explaining why you support the candidate you do, either through your perception of their strenghts, or of the other candidates' weaknesses, or both.

What qualities to you look for in a leader?

I look for a few things. Consistency goes to trust. If someone is consistent in what they say, what they do, and how they act personally, then you know where they stand and can trust that they will follow the same line of thinking in the future.

However, Consistency is not blind adherence to ideology. You can change you positions on any issue. However, if you do, you should be willing and able to explain your reasoning behind this shift in thinking if you want people it trust in you and not question you motivations.

Openness is important. leaders needs to be approachable by their subordinates. And a leader had to create a culture where subordinates with opinions that differ with the leader can feel free to express and discuss those differences (so long as they are civil), without fear of reprisal. Without this culture, the leader ends up with a room full of yes men and women who never tell them everything that is going on or going wrong.

Transparency is important with government leaders. They need to openly show who financially supports their elections, private funds, etc, so that voters can have the ability to call them on decisions that might be based on a bias towards their contributors. However, the public also needs to realize that sometimes an elected official votes in a way that is in keeping with their personal ideology and positions and that vote happens to also benefit a contributor or two, who gave their contributions based on the candidates ideology.

For example, a candidate who believes in gun control and who votes for new gun control measures is not necessarily doing it because gun-control advocates donated large sums to his or her campaign. Many times they are doing it because they believe in gun control, and the people contributing to them are doing so because they wanted someone who shares their views to win the election.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE Don't ask for openness, transparency, etc from others if you refuse to operate the same way yourself. Don't ask people to explain position changes if you are not willing to explain your own. Do ask people to be upstanding citizens if you are far from one. Leaders have to remember, that being an example, or hero to children goes with the job. They have to consider what effect their actions might have on children. A baseball player who consistently gets in trouble for drugs and is still allowed to play the game and be paid for it shows kids that if you get to the right position in life, then nothing can touch you (not to mention that it also suggests to kids that nothing is wrong with drugs).

Do not surround yourself with people who only hold your ideology. Be willing to give the opposition access. You can not truly understand a problem if you don't have a grasp of all sides.

COMPROMISE If you want to get good things done for your country, town, company, whatever, you will need to get a majority behind your plan. To do that you will have to be willing to give a little and you will have to be willing to share the credit. It is a shame, but few people in politics, on both sides of the aisle, see things this way anymore.

Be HONEST. When making your case for something, stick to the facts. When you embellish, take things out of context, manipulate the numbers or just plain lie you cause others to call your credibility into question and with that, your position.

Open your eyes to all possibilities. To many leaders these days see the world as black and white even though any reasonable person can see the million shades of gray out there. There is more then just right vs. left, profit vs. service, liberty vs. authority. Chances are, there is a middle ground on most issues that all can agree on, or at least be agreeable to.

Admit when your wrong, and when the other guy is right. Nothing gives a person more credibility in eyes of most people then taking responsiblity for your actions and mistakes. Nothing says more about the wisdom of a person then when a person, faced with a argument that shatters their preconceived notions, sees the light and changes their approach. Do not allow, Ideology, Position, or Tradition blind you to facts, reason, or innovation.

TELL PEOPLE YOUR PLAN. Tell then not just what you want to do, but how you will do it, how you will pay for it, and what you expect to be the results. Don't just say: "we need more discipline in schools", or "We need better inventory controls in the warehouse". If you develop a plan, or even just a thesis, tell us what it is, how you expect it to work, etc. If you don't have a plan but have your crosshairs on the problem then get the people together who are most qualified to figure out a solution.

and lastly, Treat subordinates with RESPECT. If you want someone to do something ASK THEM. Sure you can tell them to do it, and sure they know they have to do it when you ASK, but asking is polite, it is respectful and feels alot better to people then telling them to do it.

There are others, but these are the primary keys to successful leadership.

How do you think this year's Presidential candidates measure up on these qualities?

As I see it, neither candidates exhibits all of these qualities, or even most of them. I don't want to get into the politics of this discussion, so I will simply say that each has his failings by my standards, and though they differ on which qualities they are lacking in, the lack of leadership in both is stunning, and saddening. For that matter, VERY few of out elected officials exhibit a majority of these qualities.

Hopefully, this topic can stay out of the flame gutter that so many other election related topics have fallen into.