Not every President is a leader, but every time we elect a President we hope for one, especially in times of doubt and crisis.

　　Leadership is as much a question of timing as anything else. The leader must appear on the scene at a moment when people are looking for leadership. Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand and remember. Churchill warned the British to expect "blood, toil, tears and sweat".

　　We don't want our leaders to be "just like us". We want them to be like us but better, special, more so. For example: Chairman Mao swam the Yangtze River at the age of 72.Yet if they are too different, we reject them.

　　A leader must know how to use power, but he also has to have a way of showing that he does. He has to be able to project firmness-no physical clumsiness.

　　A Chinese philosopher once remarked that a leader must have the grace of a good dancer, and there's a great deal of wisdom to this. A leader should know how to appear relaxed and confident. His walk should be firm and purposeful. He should be able to give a good, hearty, belly laugh.

　　If we know what we're looking for, why is it so difficult to find? The answer lies in a very simple truth about leadership. People can only be led where they want to go. The leader follows, though a step ahead. Americans wanted to climb out of the Depression and needed someone to tell them they could do it, and Roosevelt did.

　　A leader rides the waves, moves with the tides, and understands the deepest yearnings of his people. He cannot make a nation that wants peace at any price go to war, or stop a nation determined to fight from doing so. His purpose must match the national mood. His task is to focus the people's energies and desires, to define them in simple terms, to inspire, to make what people already want seem important, within their grasp.

　　A shop needs its owner, a school needs its master, and a company needs its CEO. If we know what makes a leader and put it into practical use, we'll become or find a good leader. This will help us live a better life.