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Leadership and the president

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There are a lot of people giving President Joseph Biden advice these days and I will not be one of them.

From my perspectiv­e on leadership and management all I’d tell our new president is to keep doing what he’s doing.

I had used the “killer” leadership style of his predecesso­r in the White House for years as a perfect example of how not to effectivel­y lead. In the business books I coauthored we based what we wrote on the voluminous industrial psychologi­cal research by my expert co-author Dr. Michael O’Malley. We have proven that the imperious leader is dead. Killer leaders never succeed in the long run. Following the best examples of kind leadership (with ability) almost always succeeds.

Some of the key lessons we learned from experience and research were how important respectful­ness is for a great leader. On Biden’s first day in office he reminded his leadership team about that very thing, also that they are working for the American people, not him.

One of my favorite words when coaching leaders is vergonnen. It’s a German word that basically means to encourage and celebrate the success of others. It appears that from his past that our new president has learned that skill well and credits those around him for helping accomplish the work to be done.

The most important attribute of great leadership, we believe is Kindness. It is the most powerful tool for success. We suspect President Biden has that key ingredient, and we are looking forward to using his great example to teach others about leadership instead, of having to use the style of the past president as a perfect bad example.

Greenwich resident William Baker, Ph.D., is co-author with Michael O’Malley, Ph.D., of “Organizati­ons for People.” Baker is president emeritus of WNET-Thirteen, New York's public television station and journalist in residence at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education.

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