I was somewhat dumbfounded by Mr. Elfers article on, “What Makes a Good President”. Unlike Mr. Elfers, I have no trouble realizing why business experience matters, particularly in the case of business experience at a large multidivisional company like HP.

The process of working with other divisions and companies hones one’s personal negotiating skills. The process also develops the ability to organize and manage. Too many people are elected to the government without either organizational or management experience. In my own careers (I had two), I felt so strongly about management that I pursued a second master’s degree in management.

It does not matter how intelligent you are because the only way to develop management skills is by doing it. In general the longer you do it, the better you become. The road to becoming a CEO involves years of effort in both dealing with people and managing their efforts.

Other lessons you learn are to take responsibility for your actions; not to lie and attempt to cover it up; fire people when you must.

Why does this matter? The government is by far the world’s biggest business. The executive branch is a multi-divisional business by itself. When the person in charge cannot manage, you often have multiple scandals and failure of policies. When the person in charge won’t fire the offenders, the situations tend to avalanche.

It’s a shame that some of our present leaders obviously lack both personal and management skills. They would probably do better if they had spent some time in business.

Frank Sutton
Covington