To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to addre

It is popularly believed that in order to be an effective leader, a person ought to maintain the highest ethical and moral standards. Although this idea is widely supported by public, I disagree with it due to the fact that effectiveness has no direct connection with ethics or morals because the history of humanity has many examples of pious but ineffective leaders as well as immoral leaders who were highly efficient.

To begin with, many of us deeply believe that an effective leader must embody the highest ethical and moral standards. Perhaps, this belief is based on the fact that many of us live in democratic societies and therefore we choose people who suit our hopes, ideas and inspirations. For example, today's president of the United States of America - Barak Obama is a good illustration of this statement. Mr. President is a good father and husband; he has a decent education and embodies the highest moral standards. We see him as a paragon of appropriate behavior, an ethical and moral standard on which we strive to resemble. However, may we aver that in order to be an effective leader a person must maintain the highest standards?

Sadly, the answer on this question is "no” owing to the fact that the history of mankind has many examples when a person who embodied highest ethical and moral standards was not an effective leader. Perhaps, the best illustration of this statement we may find in history of tsar's Russia. The last tsar Nikola the second was brought up by well-known Russian and European scholars and scientist, since the childhood he strictly adhere to religious traditions. Many of his relatives and friends as well as enemies underscored his pious life style and adherence to highest ethical and moral standards; unfortunately, his governance was disastrous and he demonstrated incapability to be an effective leader. For instance, under his rule the country has lost a considerable part of its territory, was defeated in three wars, and his rule was ended by a revolution and murdering him and his family. This example demonstrates that a leader who adheres to highest ethical and moral standards may be ineffective.

Furthermore, we know a plethora of examples when a leader did not adhere to those standards but was highly effective one. We may find example of such a governor in Russian history as well. For instance, Stalin cannot definitely be named as a person who maintained the highest ethical standards, in fact, before he became a leader of the USSR, he robbed banks, took hostages and killed people to acquire money for supporting revolutionary activity. When he became a governor of the country, he incentivized and organized labor camps and purges which toll was millions of lives. At the same time, he was one of the most effective leaders in Russian history, for example, during a ten year span country's GDP tripled, moreover, country's overall population increased dramatically by 20 per cent as well. In other words, it is possible to be an effective leader and do not maintain the highest ethical and moral standards.

In conclusion, although an effective leader indeed can maintain to the highest ethical and moral standards, those standards have no explicit and direct connection with leader's efficiency. The point is that effectiveness of a leader does not explicitly require from him or her to maintain those standards. Moreover, adherence to the standards does not guarantee that leader will be effective as well. In other words, those qualities have correlation but not causation with each other.
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