The Making of Leaders:
Exploring Potential and Experience
Written by Istillian
(Europeia - February 26, 2021) - Europeia has had its fair share of leaders, from those heading our executive ministries to service in the Senate, to the new citizens joining and contributing to discussions with that fresh-faced spark of energy. However, no matter where you apply yourself or where you end up; if you decide to take an active role in our government, you will be faced with making public decisions and with having tough conversations; and with a senate by-election coming up, it seemed a prudent time to reflect on leadership ability, examples of demonstrated and potential leadership, and the qualities that we Europeians look for when electing our representatives.
Reviewing leadership traits and abilities can be a difficult task though, especially when making a cursory assessment on a platform for those we vote in to elected government, and we generally base our vote on our prior experiences and perceptions of those people. Although, we do have a rigid election process to determine who can demonstrate and summarise their opinions, goals, and ability to achieve outcomes the best, and hopefully we then elect those with the most potential for effective leadership.
There are many competent individuals in our region that would be capable of handling the tasks of guiding our ministries though, or have the ability to draft and express opinions on legislation on the Senate floor; and there are also the counterbalances of individual motivation, prior experience, and time - key determiners when assessing whether an individual is actually able to succeed in a role. Then the factor of personal leadership comes into play when reflecting on competency, and our region often looks to promote those that have put in measurable effort, such as recruitment, planning of cultural events, or even participative contributions to discussion in the Grand Hall. Many junior ministers and new citizens are driven by our successful and positive culture of encouraging leadership potential, but often newcomers also do not have the reliability of demonstrated leadership.
Demonstrated leadership generally comes from our former presidents, ministers, senators, or even deputy ministers, where we have behavioural anchors for why those individuals might or might not fit with our ideals, and where we choose people based on past performance over recency in a role. The crux of this article though is to show that potential leadership can and is trained in Europeia, by supporting and encouraging engagement and by selecting leaders that incentivise other people and recognise their positive contributions. Take this quote from former Mayor of Arnhelm Bronyleader in their opening mayoral statement. "I especially didn't think I'd ever get elected into any positions at all ... It’s amazing to think I thought [that] way at all, looking at how welcoming and supportive everyone around here has been. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you." Bronyleader has quickly become a respected member of Europeian society, and his own statement represents our community taking the responsibility of welcoming and fostering new talent, and thankfully Bronyleader continues in his role as a valuable councilor of Arnhelm, often seen contributing to legislation, like the discussion and implementation of The Charter of the City-State of Arnhelm, and giving overall direction to Arnhelm City in their mayoral term. The upward trajectory of Bronyleader was a competency based promotion to mayor, with specific and detailed examples of their past work in their platforms for mayor, and while they faced two losses in mayoral elections in the past, they came back fighting every time with grit, determination, and tremendous effort.
Furthermore, one of our demonstrated leaders, Malashaan, has largely been elected due to their past behaviour being a reliable predictor of success and achievement in leadership roles.
"We ratified two new treaties, helped two allies with Delegate transfers, hosted Europride (one of the best interregional events I've seen in 15 years), saw a Europeian drafted WA proposal become law, supported several military holds and tag raid ops, ran a hugely popular booth in the Great Exhibition, ensured a WA proposal came to vote with military operations, entered into a journalist exchange with NS Today, launched Region of the Week, hosted a World Assembly 101 class, and completed a whole range of ministerial and behind-the-scenes tasks that will support our foreign affairs efforts moving forward." Malashaan said in their final public address as chief of state (CoS) on July 23, 2020.
"Seeing what people have accomplished in the lean times over the past couple of years has been inspiring to me," Common-Sense Politics said. "Your term represents a transition. One from lean times to an activity boom, from the Executive Split back to the Presidency. Because of your many accomplishments, Europeia has the opportunity to grab this new age by the horns instead of building from scratch."
As a leader with significant past experience, Malashaan demonstrated their ability to communicate and provide clear direction to councilers and staff, and was lauded by citizens who witnessed the significant achievements over the term.
For those untested leaders, where we are looking for potential as opposed to prior experience, we can tap into situations like ideas from newcomers that show thought and investment on changes to our government structure; or even some valid suggestions for change presented with new eyes. For example, something as simple as former Senator Josi's discussion thread on reviewing the role of the attorney general, arguably showed their interest in legislating, which led them to being elected into the Senate and becoming a respected face in our region, evinced by commentary in their end of senate term satisfaction rating, calling Josi a great new addition to the Senate.
For tested leaders, the ones that have either demonstrated leadership or been recognised for their leadership in governmental positions in the past, their appointments often come with higher public expectations and generally require a commanding level of delegation of tasks and direction of personnel, much like Malashaan's chief of state term. An obvious example of this was Peeps' first term as grand admiral, where he not only conducted an administrative overhaul of the Octagon but recognised the great changes and successes he was able to report on in the Europeian Republican Navy (ERN), in part from sailors running regular operations, and from the greater naval commands responsiveness when advice was required, which he noted in his end of term address.
"We had a major ERN led hold for the first time in almost a year, we had a minor hold, numerous allied operations, and finally numerous trainings [sic] and normal update operations," Peeps said. "This could not have been done without the amazing people who put work into the Navy this term."
When making decisions on electing individuals though, you can note that sometimes leadership roles are also a reflection of a mix of popularity and general effort, rather than just true leadership potential, and it is also useful to consider the types of behaviours that a person might demonstrate outside of the government structure. Things like personal conversation style and overall presence in the region, which while it would indicate that they have at least the potential to become leaders, may also be a reflection of overall sociability, in-part, another attribute that shows both like-ability, a capacity to reason and converse with others, and preparedness to take charge of regional discussions. In early 2019, Ervald wrote an introspective article on some key attributes they recognised as a requirement for higher office, namely knowing your limits, figuring out a schedule, and knowing what you believe in - not necessarily indicating what specific attributes you need as a Europeian leader, but explaining the willingness you need to have for what it takes to lead.
Finally, an important aspect on leadership is knowing how to come back from struggle or defeat, and Maowi reflected on this subject when referencing her term as councillor of world assembly affairs, in her recent Senate nomination thread.
"I think I learned some lessons about communication," Maowi said. "I've noticed I have a tendency sometimes to try and help or encourage people on projects that I know will be difficult to make work when it comes to World Assembly drafting, because I don't want to dampen their enthusiasm and I want to make it happen for them - but ultimately the uphill struggle is the worse outcome, so I'm aware of that now and have learned not to let myself do that."
If there's anything one could say from this snippet of observing some of our leaders, it's that we as Europeians encourage an open exchange of ideas and opinions and we like to listen to a variety of views, but a true leader puts the region's needs above their own interests and ambitions. While we love to encourage and drive our newcomers to take on something new, and we revel in a fighting spirit, when making it to the top rungs of our government decisiveness and dedication to your role is important, and if you can't commit to that, a level of integrity and transparency go a long way in establishing yourself in the history books as doing what's best for the people around you, and in allowing people to continue to invest their trust in you as an individual.
So to all those with aspirations for leading, whether it's those that have demonstrated their ability already, or for newcomers that want to test themselves, showing even the slightest bit of interest goes a long way, and taking note of the experiences of those that have come back from defeat, and of those leaders that have been applauded for their work, might just be the stepping stone it takes to rise up, and to challenge yourself in a new and rewarding way.
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