What constitutes good leadership?

1. The ability to connect with the people of the country
2. Good foresights
   

The ability to connect with the citizens is a very crucial and most basic characteristic that a good leader of a country should have. This also means that the welfare of the citizens should be ranked as the top most priority of a country’s future developments. For example, the recent Sichuan disastrous earthquake has proved a leader’s influence on its people. The government in Beijing sent Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to the disaster zone to console the villagers. With a hardhat on his head and a bullhorn in his hand, he ducked into the wreckage of a hospital where scores of people were buried and shouted: "Hang on a bit longer. The troops are rescuing you." Throughout the day, the images of Wen directing disaster relief officials and comforting the injured dominated the airwaves.

The concept of having good foresights is important for any country in the world. A leader needs to have a good foresight for the future developments of a country in order to improve his citizens’ living standard. For example, Minister mentor Mr. Lee Kuan Yew saw the importance of developing Singapore into a manufacturing sector in the 1970s, after which, the government switched the country’s vision into developing into a biotechnology science hub in the region. This development itself, allowed Singapore to develop into one of the world’s top-notch cities with sustainable economic growth throughout the years. Hence, it is especially important that a leader of a country to have great foresights for the future as the citizens' future greatly depend on the direction that a country is heading.