What does a leader look like？
Episode Stats
Words per minute
135.44118
Summary
It's hard to define what makes a leader, but you know it when you see it. A real leader is decisive and surrounds himself with knowledgeable people who can advise appropriately, and then the leader weighs the information and makes the call. Like him or not, that describes Donald J. Trump. With Justin Trudeau, you can't escape the feeling that he is being handled, much like a puppet, by the nameless, faceless puppet masters in the PMO.
Transcript
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It's a little hard to define what makes a leader, but you know it when you see it.
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In May of 1940, after years in Britain's political wilderness,
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Winston Churchill took over from the appeasement prime minister, Neville Chamberlain.
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Churchill immediately put the beleaguered nation on his back and led them to victory over the Nazis.
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There was never a doubt that he was a leader, and exactly the right person to lead that country,
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It is either inherent in one's character, or it is not.
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A real leader never has to tell anyone that they're the boss or the leader.
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Equally, it's clear to everyone when one is not a leader and pretends to be one.
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If we look at Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and the President of the United States,
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In looking at the current pandemic sweeping the globe,
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Donald Trump banned flights from China on January the 27th.
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Justin Trudeau took the same action six weeks later,
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and only after he realized he couldn't escape the conclusion that he must act.
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Both Trump and Trudeau had access to the same information.
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So why would one arrive at a conclusion and take actions six weeks before the other?
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I say this not caring whether or not you like Trump or Trudeau.
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One only needs to look at photos or video from gatherings of the world leaders at a G7 or G20 summit.
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Trudeau stands by himself while the world leaders gather around Trump.
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A real leader is decisive and surrounds himself with knowledgeable people who can advise appropriately,
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and then the leader weighs the information and makes the call.
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Like him or not, that describes Donald J. Trump.
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We see this daily at his press conferences from the James Brady Press Room in the West Wing of the White House.
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He delivers an update from his Pandemic Task Force daily,
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and is surrounded by the experts who he allows to respond to questions in their area of expertise.
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It's taken to give him press briefings from the front stoop of Rideau Cottage,
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where he announces, well, not much of anything, but does it in both official languages.
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He takes a few softball questions that he doesn't actually answer,
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then disappears back into his self-imposed isolation, only to appear like Puxatawney Phil the next day.
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Trump, on the other hand, keeps a very busy itinerary.
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Then, at the end of his day, typically at around about 5 o'clock Eastern,
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he briefs the media and takes questions from anybody who has one and actually answers them.
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Some days, he has taken media questions for two hours.
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Trudeau takes scripted questions from the pliant media for maybe about 15 minutes.
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One gets the impression that the Prime Minister's office has approved all of the questions in advance.
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And even then, he provides a non-answer full of ums and errs and other indecisive pauses and stumbles.
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If anything, many Canadians have taken to mocking him.
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Whatever else you may think about Donald Trump, there is never any question who is in charge.
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With Justin Trudeau, you can't escape the feeling that he is being handled, much like a puppet,
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by the nameless, faceless puppet masters in the PMO.
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And even at that, they can't make him look like a leader.