Questions for the Next U.S. President

What if the United States electorate approached the task of choosing a president like a business organization hiring a leader? What kind of questions would be asked in a job interview of a candidate for the job of U.S. President?

Not the kind of questions we often here asked on TV, apparently. At a recent gathering held at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and organized in conjunction with the Ken Blanchard Companies, a group of more than 200 people helped develop a set of questions assessing the leadership ability of presidential candidates. The topics that emerged based on that group session ranged from team-building (“Tell us about a high-performing team that you’ve built: What made it high-performing?”) to decisiveness (“Please share some examples of your ability and willingness to be decisive.