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Salut madams and monsieurs,

This will be my first article in a series called, How to Become a Great Leader. Today, I will be addressing the topic of Legitimacy. Anyone can become a leader. But what qualities define a great leader? One of them is legitimacy. Legitimacy is the popular acceptance of an authority, but I like to think of it as the foundation on which a great leader is able to sustain his political career. Achieving legitimacy is not a simple task. And because it is not, it will take time for you to build up your reputation through actions and deeds.

You might be asking... how do I achieve legitimacy? Well, first of all, the most essential tool you have at your disposal is transparency. It's easy to be transparent. What do you have to hide anyways? By being transparent, you show mutual respect for other people, thus legitimizing your right to represent them as a politician: someone who will always ensure that their interests are being pursued, and allowing them to track your progress toward accomplishing the community's goals. Although transparency may seem like something obvious that a legitimate leader should possess, many times, political rivalries and faction conflicts cause a transformation in a politician. This can cause corruption, or as some like to call it, dirty politics. When a politician surrenders himself to dirty politics, that is when he surrenders to his opponents. Never, ever engage in dirty politics.

Aside from transparency, another way you can achieve legitimacy is through the experience you gain after being active for a while. When a community is hit with difficult circumstances and survival seems bleak, people will naturally gravitate toward whoever they think is the wisest, smartest, and most reasonable politician to liberate them of their worries. You want to be this politician. But in order to do so, not only should you already be well-known, but also, you should have already proven yourself in earlier crises. However, when people do end up looking to you for guidance, that is your golden opportunity. That is your chance to shine. And if you do succeed and surpass everyone's expectations, saving the community in their time of darkness, you will have just legitimized your right to lead the people, and no one will question your abilities.


Now you might be wondering... how does legitimacy play a role in becoming a great leader? Well, it serves multiple purposes. I'd say that most importantly, legitimacy will always, in all circumstances, ensure that no matter what your political rivals may say about you, you will always have the faithful support of your followers. Let me give you an example. A while back, I was running for a second term as President of Switzerland. Well, I was running against Julian Anderson, who happens to now be a French citizen. Anyways, he was quite an old Swiss veteran, wielding a lot of support from the French-Swiss community. But here's his mistake that allowed me to win the elections. He played dirty, attempting to slander me in all of his articles, trying to spread propaganda about how I had done nothing for Switzerland. However, most educated Swiss people knew that this was completely false... they knew that I had stayed up many nights supplying soldiers to fight in Swiss battles, they knew that I had served multiple terms as Minister of Foreign Affairs, drafting many treaties that solved Switzerland's external conflicts, and they knew that I was always open to listen to people's opinions. It was because of this legitimacy which I had, that Julian Anderson's strategy actually backfired on himself, basically driving quite a number of his followers to desert him, favoring me instead. So as you can see, the fact that I was a politician who held quite some legitimacy allowed me to ultimately stand above Julian Anderson's accusations, especially with the help of my supporters.

That's just one example of how legitimacy is useful, though. Here's another way it can help any kind of politician. All politicians have different opinions on all sorts of issues. Usually, these different opinions can result into a controversy... but that's when legitimacy comes in handy. Even if you have ideas that only a few people support, don't worry! Your legitimacy, the reason why people respect you and your opinions in the first place, is what you should take advantage of, using it as the engine to persuade others to adopt a more favorable, or at least neutral stance toward your proposed ideas. Once you have enough people agreeing with your proposed ideas, don't wait any more... make them become a reality! That is ultimately the biggest reward a great leader can receive, accomplishing his goals with strong support from his followers. And guess what? All you need is legitimacy to help you implement your ideas!

So as you can see, legitimacy is crucial if you want to become a great leader. All politicians have skills and talents, but to me, what makes a politician a great leader, is his legitimacy. Those who are legitimate, rule by the law... and those who rule by the law, have the love of the people... and those who have the love of the people, well, they're simply great leaders. I hope that now, maybe you are a bit more aware of what you could do to achieve legitimacy, and by doing so, make a difference in the Swiss community.


Like this article? Want to read more? How to Become a Great Leader is all you need!

Let's fight. Fight for peace.



Peace out,
Monsieur Guillontine
Le Diplomat