Originally published by Gérald Karsenti on LinkedIn: Which President to embody our values?
I often find myself asserting that the road to power is long and treacherous. I am not the first to say this. Nevertheless, it's interesting to ask why certain individuals have the talent, or should I say the determination, to never let go. To prepare for a major milestone - such as a presidential election - demands time, enormous personal investment, and exceptional sacrifices. Candidates for supreme power - whether in France, the United States, or anywhere else in the world - certainly have several common features:
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First, they want it. It may seem banal to say this, yet it is essential. A strong will is decisive here. Life is made up of choices, and this one is not neutral. Neither for the family circle, nor for oneself. From one day to the next, your life is no longer your own. It becomes public, and you lose your freedom. It becomes almost impossible to make even the smallest mistake. Our media-saturated society overlooks nothing. Any error costs dearly. But the social networks play an essential role when it's a question of openness. This is a new world order that must be taken into account.
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Next, they want it more than the others. It must never be forgotten that we are in a world of competition. It's not a matter of simply wanting it, but of wanting it more than the others. Everything is relative.
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Then, they take risks to achieve their ambitions. The notion of risk is not neutral. In business, we know that it's important to know how to take risks and how to manage them. It's not a matter of "courting danger" but of making carefully considered decisions to opt for certain choices that - by construction - may lead to positive or negative outcomes in the event of success or failure. In politics, it's the same. The men and women who know how to take a stand - by defending their views - have a better chance of successfully convincing others. Of course, there is one condition here: to have an impeccable moral code. Although the law is always respected, in business, we speak of the "rules of conduct in business dealings". These provide a framework that defines what is permitted and what is not. Its relevance can be disputed but it's a framework. In politics, this framework is not defined by a board of directors, but by the collective consciousness and by morality.
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Finally, they make no compromise on the essential. Here again, this may seem obvious, but the latter has never been so important. We are speaking here of our system of values. Our system of references. What makes us what we are. It must never be forgotten that we are all the product of our past. We grow up following our own path, first in our family, then at school, whether a religious education or not, then at university, and finally when we enter our working life. Our friends, parents, professional relationships, our loves: these all make us unique beings. Without being entirely aware of it, we create our identity, our personality. We remain open, we are always ready to discuss, to exchange, to debate on a whole range of topics, but certainly not to compromise on the essential, to throw away the essence of our innermost beliefs. It is precisely this "essential" that makes all the difference.