It is an omitted phenomenon, even though it would seem to be quite obvious that by dedicating oneself to politics, one ends up becoming well known. In short, it increases loneliness and unleashes those defense mechanisms. It restricts your freedom, it has an impact on the people around you, and it redefines relationships. Being well known in a hyper-communication society like the one we live in is something that has an impact on the individual and their family. In general, the formation of a politician is rational, and he tends to omit his personhood as his career progresses.Īdded to this complicated dynamic are the trappings of fame and public exposure. Living in permanent conflict, defending positions, making decisions, and receiving criticism and attacks leads to an addictive model where tactical operations become the habitual drug. This omission takes him away from a more comprehensive look at himself, generating potential mental, physical, and emotional health problems that end up amplifying self-reliance and the difficulty of making emotional connections.Īs you grow in your political career and assume more tasks, a defense mechanism is triggered that takes you to survival mode, a state that each person lives differently, but that generally puts you on the defensive-more disconnected from emotions, less able to empathize with other people. In general, the formation of a politician is rational, and he tends to omit his personhood as his career progresses. That process outlined the path that led to this paper. And I saw that there was a different perspective of the world of leadership to explore-different from the more rational one in which I had been trained, first as a graduate student in political science, then as a politician. I was finding valuable people and tools that could be useful for other leaders who would face challenges like those I had faced. I began to work more systematically to understand the personal and human dimensions of leadership. What I learned confirmed that there was something worth exploring further. Of course, political, managerial, or ideological discussions also arose, but they were always within the framework of what they experienced on a personal level. What each one took away from the shared experience were hopes, enthusiasm, frustrations, disagreements, joy, and sadness. I had nearly 50 conversations asking feedback on a more personal level, and what struck me was how emotional issues and interpersonal bonding always came up. One of the lessons learned took place when I asked people I had worked with to help me take a closer look at things I had to work on or that stood out. I wanted to avoid remaining trapped in the intensity of what I had experienced, as I saw it happen many times to those who held an important position and remained stuck in that experience. What had we learned? What had gone well and what hadn’t? What were the innovations that we were able to implement and what were the changes that were not achieved? Finally, I wanted to try to understand clearly why we could not win the reelection, frustrating a transformation process that had generated great hope in the country and in the region.Īs I progressed with that task, I did more personal work, trying to better understand what I had felt and lived in those years. He also helped me understand that in order to help others you must take care of yourself.Īt first, I organized the task by writing about and reviewing the political process that had taken us from the creation of a new local party in 2003 in the city of Buenos Aires to governing the country. I learned many of the ideas that I write in this paper from him, his experience, his perspective, and from the many conversations we have had in the past three years. He is a wise man who taught me a lot on the importance of the human and personal dimension of leadership. I had the invaluable collaboration of Alberto Lederman, an Argentine consultant on leadership and organizations, for that process. At 42 years old, and after many years of being at the political forefront, I was drained and decided to step back a bit to be able to have perspective and process the lived experience. In December 2019, after 16 years in public office, I finished my job as chief of cabinet of ministers for President Mauricio Macri’s administration in Argentina. Rethinking the Personal Dimension of Politics Responding to Egregious Human Rights Abuses. Building Sustainable and Inclusive Democracy.Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, and Immunizations.Energy, Climate Change, and Environmental Impacts.Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation.Defense Industry, Acquisition, and Innovation.Intelligence, Surveillance, and Privacy.
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