Presidential qualifications

If you are still undecided in this election, I encourage you to forget about which team each candidate plays for or howeach candidate makes you feel. Instead, act like a hiring manager and identify the skills and qualities needed for the job of president, then determine which candidate best fits those qualifications.

There are several key qualifications necessary for success as president. These include empathy, emotional intelligence, humility, team building, and trustworthiness.

Empathy: The president will have similar life experiences to some, but will not have the same life experiences as the vast majority of the country. The president, as leader of the country, must be able to put himself or herself into someone else’s shoes to understand the conditions that cause problems and think creatively about national solutions.

Emotional intelligence: Proficiency in the four domains of emotional intelligence — self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management— is a requisite for any leadership role.

Humility: In order to listen to experts and devise the most effective policies, a president must recognize that he or she does not knoweverything. This person must be humble enough to listen to expert advice so as to develop the best possible plan.

Team building: The president does nothing alone. Much like with humility, the president must construct effective and efficient teams that consist of experts who may not get along. It is incumbent on the president to find those team members, supply them with a vision for theirwork and motivate them to accomplish goals during the term.

Trustworthiness: The president’sword is theword of the nation. When the president’swords cannot be trusted, public confidence is eroded. Trustworthiness is the foundation for all successful negotiations and relationships.

Think about what the candidates have done in their public lives, and what they have said. Evaluate those actions against these criteria, and the candidate you should hire will become self-evident.

— Katie Oczkowski, Chicago