To the Editor:
David Brooks cites some interesting data with regard to what makes a successful chief executive, and contrasts this with the qualities that make a successful politician. But then he concludes that the Obama administration’s incursion into the business world will result in the promotion of charisma over competence in that sphere, at the cost of our competitive edge. It seems to me that he’s got it exactly backward.
Visionary leadership skills and nuts-and-bolts competence need not be mutually exclusive. As Mr. Brooks himself has observed in the past, this president and the people with whom he’s surrounded himself are the very model of diligence, analytical thoroughness and attention to detail.
Rather than threatening to impose an extroverted flamboyance upon the world of business, they have brought level-headed competent leadership—the very traits that make an excellent C.E.O.—to the world of Washington.
Lawrence Kaplan
Ardsley, N.Y., May 19, 2009
