Urgent Need for True U.S. Leadership

In the past year, the world has witnessed several turbulent events, including September 11 and the subsequent fight against global terrorism, heightened hostilities in the Middle East and South Asia, bankruptcies resulting from unethical business practices in major corporations, questionable business transactions by President Bush and others in his administration, the volatile stock market, economic turmoil in countries such as Argentina and the global economic slowdown, to name a few. There is an urgent need for the Bush administration to comprehensively address several issues and demonstrate true leadership if the United States wants to retain its unquestionable political and economic supremacy in the world. Peter Drucker emphasizes the importance of both good managers and leaders in the business world—managers do things right while leaders do the right things. On many issues, the U.S. administration currently is busy doing things right at the expense of demonstrating true leadership.