making leadership great again

Yesterday night was a long night, as after more than a year of election campaign started on the US, the election took place. I am part of a whatsapp group with some old friends from CCF, and the activity is very sporadic, but on yesterday it skyrocketed as we followed the election results.

I didn't started to follow until like after 9pm when I came back from work. So the timeline was like this:

• 10pm - Trump is ahead, making me a bit nervous, but I knew a bunch of the stronger Democrat states were still not counted.
• 11pm - uh oh, Trump got Florida. Losing such a key state!
• 11:30pm - Clinton got California, so you think the tides would change. But it takes grade 2 math that Clinton needs to win in most of the remaining states to win. It's hard, but realistic.
• 12am - The odds look bad for Clinton, she needs almost a miracle to stand a chance.
• 01am - Mathematically, Clinton still has a chance, but it is not very likely so I went to bed.

It is almost shocking. As an outsider, I did want Clinton to win, even though she has many faults as a candidate, I feel she was the more capable candidate (if not the only) to lead the US. It would have been historic to see the first women president for the country.

There are many reasons that could explained why Trump won, like the recent FBI inquiry on Clinton's emails, or lack of participation of young voters (who would have voted for Clinton) on key states, the old electoral vote system that might not represent what the voters want, or Gary Johnson "stealing" 200,000 votes on Florida... well I gonna move on.

But it is very interesting to see how many Americans find neither of the candidates compelling, as they do lack many key characteristics of what a leader look like. From what I see on the news, I just have to say that the elected leader is one who lacks most of the traits of a leader, and only time will tell if America actually made the right choice.

Here are some key traits I think the elected leader lack:

- Proficient at the area/subject you are leading
- Model for others to follow: lead by example, walk the talk, possess a character that influences others positively.
- Understand that it is not about you, but about the people you lead.
- Respect to everyone no matter their background, ethnicity, etc.
- Track of record: proven from past experiences that he has been successful on areas of leadership.