Day 489 - I'm No Fool

I looked for a good April Fool's Day meme involving Donald Trump, but didn't see anything appropriate for SP. I certainly hope that Trump is just an April Fool's joke, but I'm afraid that he's playing his supporters for fools instead.

The other day I read the chapter in my Management textbook on Leadership. In the section that describes charismatic leadership (and I would say that both our current president and candidate Trump are both charismatic), the book delves into the differences between ethical and unethical charismatic leaders.

"Ethical charismatics provide developmental opportunities for followers, are open to positive and negative feedback, recognize others' contributions, share information and have moral standards that emphasize the larger interests of the group, organization, or society."

"By contrast, unethical charismatics control and manipulate followers, do what is best for themselves instead of their organizations, want to hear only positive feedback, share information that is beneficial only to themselves, and have moral standards that put their interests before everyone else's."

("Effective Management," 7th ed., Chuck Williams, Cengage Learning, 2016, p 404)

The book goes on to say that many people are drawn to unethical charismatics, and that is obvious in this presidential election cycle. What is terrifying is that someone like that could actually have the potential to be elected as the president of these great United States.

Our most important tool in the toolbox is our vote. Every eligible citizen in the US needs to vote in the upcoming election. If you have trouble getting to the polls, I hope your state has vote-by-mail or absentee voting options available. Encourage everyone you know to go out and vote. Never in our history has every vote been more important.

Don't be fooled, but make sure to keep Sparking!