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Leadership Article Reviews Samples For Students

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Heidrick & Struggles Article Review

Article Review

Heidrick & Struggles International is an incorporated global executive search firm for management at the senior level. The firm is also the first leadership advisory in the world. The firm’s main focus is on quality service and building of strong leadership teams. This is achieved through its relationship with its clients worldwide. The firm offers services that include executive assessment and professional development.

Free Article Review About Creating a Vision for your Firm

Wesemann, ed. (2012). creating a vision for your firm. of counsel, 31(11), 15-16., free article review on general electric.

- GE’s main businesses are around the sectors of commercial finance, infrastructure, energy, healthcare and transportation. Healthymagination is an initiative by Jeffery Immelt, the current CEO of GE conglomeration. Innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among managers are the key values that govern the GE culture in the age of healthymagination. Jack Welch had promoted an organizational culture that focused on lean management and productivity, but Immelt is focusing on quick problem solving and entrepreneurial initiatives. “Imagination at work’ is the favorite punch line used by Immelt to drive the business.

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Management and Leadership of Women in Public Administration Article Review Examples

Introduction, article review on pulmonary contusion.

Pulmonary contusion (PC) is a common consequence of blunt trauma to the chest. PC occurs in 30-75% of cases of chest trauma, and in many cases this is further complicated by severe bone injuries of the chest wall. Despite much research into the subject, mortality and morbidity has not significantly improved in the past three decades. Advances in imaging have similarly failed to have any impact on outcomes.

Philosophy of Empowerment Article Review

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This article focuses on the efforts made in the freeing of Africa from colonial rule. Leaders from three continents, namely Africa, Europe and North America met over six times during this period to discuss the situation of Africa liberation and strategies to be adopted in the course of Africa’s liberation. The article also discusses the goals and strides that have been made and achieved by Pan Africa Congresses, as well as assesses the impact made on Africa in general.

The Pan-African congresses, 1900-1945

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In today’s complex business scenario, leadership has become a topic of intense discussion and scrutiny. Leadership in a small organization is quite different from leadership in a complex, global organization. This article deals with the question of how leaders of large, complex organisations require building teams that can accomplish any outcome of the desired strategic objective. Today’s global organizations need leaders that can simultaneously thrive across different business environments, including emerging economies, turnaround situations and start up operations (Peslter, 2013).

Key Management Issue- How to lead people?

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It is often forgotten that businesses are there to serve people. Executives leading these organizations are at times consumed by the greed for money and power that they forget about the society they are serving. It is for this reason that ethics are emphasized upon. Without moral rules governing peoples’ lives, the innate selfish nature of man will lead society to turmoil.

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Question 1: In managing organizations effectively leadership is important. Based on the reading it is clear that leadership is more concerned with effectiveness. This means that leadership concentrates on ensuring that people in the organization do right things. This means that mistakes cannot be easily made.

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Article Review on Leadership in the Police Effective performance of the police force depends on the quality of training they undergo. During this process, the recruits should be instructed in practical and other skills such as leadership qualities. They apply these skills in their careers; thus, improving their personal lives and performance of the entire police force in serving the society. In respect to this, the article ‘Leadership Training for Police Recruits Creating a Foundation for Professional Excellence’ analyzes leadership training (Barath & Sheriff, 2013).

Does The Debt Level Proportional To GDP Affect Growth Article Review Example

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The success of any business organizations largely depends on the quality and leadership style employed by managers. Ideally, this paper presents a critical review and analysis of the leadership styles applied by Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg in managing Apple Inc and Facebook respectively. The analysis is based on answering two critical questions.

Do Cultural Differences Make Business Difference Article Review Sample

Communication.

Abstract The below mentioned paper is a management level paper. It is basically an article review of article- “Do cultural differences make business difference?” based on which the whole article has been summarized and concluded.

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Leadership →

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Leadership Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 – 5)

By Status.net Editorial Team on August 8, 2023 — 8 minutes to read

Performance Review Phrases and Paragraphs Examples: Leadership Skills

5 – outstanding.

An employee with outstanding leadership skills consistently exceeds the expectations of their role. They are highly skilled in managing teams, setting goals, and driving their team members to achieve success. They excel at problem-solving, decision-making, and conflict resolution. These employees are top-performers and role models to their peers.

Phrases Examples:

• Demonstrates exceptional ability to inspire and motivate team members
• Consistently takes charge and provides clear direction for projects
• Exhibits exceptional adaptability and decision-making abilities during challenging situations
• Consistently demonstrates exceptional vision and strategic thinking
• Empowers and motivates team members to reach their full potential
• Exhibits excellent decision-making and problem-solving abilities under pressure
• Inspires the team with a clear vision and sense of purpose
• Demonstrates exceptional decision-making skills under pressure
• Mentors and develops team members with great success
• Consistently demonstrates exceptional leadership abilities
• Inspires and motivates team members to reach their full potential
• Fosters a collaborative and goal-oriented work environment

Paragraph Examples:

“Jane consistently demonstrates excellent leadership skills, inspiring her team with a clear vision and sense of purpose. Her decision-making ability under pressure has contributed significantly to the team’s success. Jane’s commitment to mentoring and developing her team members has resulted in their professional growth.”

4 – Exceeds Expectations

An employee who exceeds expectations in leadership skills demonstrates a strong ability to lead others effectively. They consistently bring out the best in their team members and foster a positive work environment. These employees typically possess excellent communication, delegation, and motivational skills.

• Frequently exceeds expectations in guiding the team towards goals
• Proactively addresses conflicts and fosters a positive working environment
• Displays strong communication skills that encourage team collaboration
• Often takes initiative to lead and coordinate team efforts
• Effectively communicates expectations and provides constructive feedback
• Demonstrates strong adaptability and flexibility in challenging situations
• Proactively resolves conflicts within the team
• Adapts communication style to meet the needs of different team members
• Motivates the team through consistent encouragement and support
• Regularly takes initiative and guides team in achieving objectives
• Effectively delegates tasks and responsibilities to optimize team performance
• Encourages open communication and actively listens to team members’ concerns

“John has shown a knack for proactively resolving conflicts within the team, fostering a collaborative working environment. He adapts his communication style to suit the needs of each team member, and his constant motivation and support have energized the team.”

“Jane consistently exceeds expectations in guiding the team towards goals. Her strong communication skills encourage team collaboration, and she proactively addresses conflicts, fostering a positive working environment. However, she sometimes struggles with delegating tasks and managing the workload, which is an area where she could improve.”

3 – Meets Expectations

An employee who meets expectations is capable of successfully leading a team, even under challenging circumstances. They display a good understanding of their responsibilities and provide direction to others. While they may not consistently excel in every aspect of leadership, they maintain a satisfactory level of performance.

• Generally meets expectations in leading the team effectively
• Maintains open communication with team members
• Adequately delegates tasks and assignments, ensuring efficient completion
• Adequately guides the team through projects and daily tasks
• Maintains open and clear communication within the team
• Demonstrates a commitment to personal and professional development
• Sets realistic goals and holds the team accountable for meeting them
• Communicates expectations clearly and effectively
• Actively listens to feedback from team members and adjusts accordingly
• Exhibits adequate leadership skills to manage and support the team
• Demonstrates balanced decision-making and problem-solving abilities
• Adapts to new challenges and makes adjustments as needed to reach goals

“Sarah meets expectations in setting realistic goals for her team and holding them accountable for achieving those goals. She communicates effectively, ensuring that expectations are clear to all members of the team. Sarah also actively listens to feedback and makes necessary adjustments.”

2 – Needs Improvement

An employee rated as needing improvement in leadership skills demonstrates inconsistent performance in their role. They may struggle with time management, delegation, or interpersonal relationships. They might not have a clear vision for their team and may require further training or mentoring to improve.

• Struggles to communicate effectively with team members, causing confusion
• Has difficulty resolving conflicts within the team
• Needs to improve their ability to delegate tasks and manage workload
• Struggles to make timely decisions in high-pressure situations
• Inconsistently communicates expectations and goals to team members
• Lacks the ability to delegate tasks effectively, leading to bottlenecks in productivity
• Struggles to delegate tasks appropriately and consistently
• Provides insufficient guidance or direction to the team
• Fails to address performance issues in a timely manner
• Struggles to effectively communicate expectations and goals to team members
• Hesitates to delegate tasks and may attempt to manage all aspects of team’s work
• Displays inconsistency in decision-making and follow-through on commitments

“Tom needs to improve his delegation skills to effectively manage his team. Providing clearer guidance and direction will ensure that team members understand their roles and responsibilities. Tom must address performance issues in a timely manner to maintain a high-functioning team.”

1 – Unacceptable

An employee with an unacceptable level of leadership skills consistently underperforms and exhibits poor management abilities. They may struggle to make decisions, lack effective communication skills, or fail to motivate their team members.

• Demonstrates a lack of leadership skills or unwillingness to assume responsibility
• Fails to communicate clearly, leading to poor performance and low morale within the team
• Does not effectively address conflicts or issues, resulting in a negative working environment
• Demonstrates a lack of understanding of team dynamics and individual needs
• Fails to communicate effectively, causing confusion and misaligned objectives
• Exhibits poor decision-making skills and inability to handle challenging situations
• Lacks confidence in leading the team
• Displays indecisiveness when faced with difficult decisions
• Fails to communicate effectively, leading to confusion and discord among team members
• Lacks necessary leadership skills to direct and support the team effectively
• Fails to cultivate a positive and collaborative work environment
• Continuously demonstrates poor judgment and decision-making abilities

“Mary’s lack of confidence in leading her team is apparent and negatively impacts team morale. Her indecisiveness when making tough decisions undermines the team’s trust in her leadership. Mary needs to improve her communication to eliminate confusion and discord among the team members.”

Performance Review Questions: Leadership Skills

1. How well does the employee communicate with their team members and other stakeholders? 2. Does the employee inspire and motivate their team to achieve their goals? 3. How well does the employee handle conflicts and difficult situations within the team? 4. Does the employee delegate tasks effectively and empower team members to take ownership of their work? 5. How well does the employee lead by example and demonstrate the values and culture of the organization? 6. Does the employee provide constructive feedback and coaching to their team members? 7. How well does the employee adapt to changes and challenges in the workplace? 8. Does the employee encourage innovation and creativity within the team? 9. How well does the employee collaborate with other departments and leaders within the organization? 10. Does the employee take responsibility for their team’s successes and failures, and work to continuously improve their leadership skills?

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• One common mistake in performance review language is using vague or unclear terms. This can lead to miscommunication or misunderstandings. A well-written review should include specific examples and results, ensuring that the employee fully understands their strengths and areas for improvement.
• Another mistake is the use of negative or overly critical language. While it is important to address areas that need improvement, the focus should be on constructive feedback and solutions. Employees should feel encouraged to take action to improve their performance and supported in their development rather than being discouraged by harsh criticism.
• Failing to acknowledge the employee’s achievements and growth is another mistake. Recognizing and celebrating successes reinforces positive behavior and encourages continued improvement. A balanced review highlights both the employee’s accomplishments and areas for growth to provide a comprehensive evaluation of their performance.
• Many managers fall into the trap of focusing solely on recent events or performances. This can lead to an incomplete or inaccurate assessment of an employee’s overall performance. A good review should take into consideration the entire review period and evaluate all aspects of an employee’s performance, not just those related to recent events.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some prime examples of phrases for evaluating leadership skills.

• “Demonstrates strong leadership qualities by effectively managing and mentoring their team.”
• “Proactively addresses challenges and takes ownership of their responsibilities.”
• “Consistently motivates and inspires team members to perform at high levels.”
• “Displays excellent decision-making and problem-solving capabilities.”

Which phrases are suitable for leadership skills that exceed expectations?

• “Has exceptional communication skills and excels in guiding team members towards achieving project goals.”
• “Continuously takes initiatives to improve team dynamics and increase productivity.”
• “Exhibits outstanding problem-solving skills while tackling complex issues.”
• “Always goes above and beyond in mentoring and developing the skills of team members.”

How can we frame leadership qualities in performance reviews regarding meeting expectations?

• “Successfully leads their team by establishing clear goals and expectations.”
• “Demonstrates the ability to effectively delegate tasks and manage projects.”
• “Communicates well with team members and provides regular feedback.”
• “Supports and encourages the professional development of their team.”

How can we describe leadership skills in need of improvement using performance review phrases?

• “Struggles to effectively delegate tasks, resulting in inefficiencies and missed deadlines.”
• “Needs to improve communication skills to better connect with team members.”
• “Lacks the ability to inspire team members and build a unified vision for the group.”
• “Should focus on enhancing problem-solving skills to address challenges more effectively.”

What are suitable examples of paragraphs describing outstanding leadership in a performance review?

“John has consistently exhibited excellent leadership skills throughout the evaluation period. He has been instrumental in guiding the project team, resulting in timely and high-quality deliverables. John’s ability to motivate and inspire his team members has led to increased productivity and overall satisfaction within the team. He has also established himself as a trusted mentor by providing valuable guidance to his subordinates, which has contributed to their professional growth.”

What are appropriate paragraph examples to critique unacceptable leadership skills in a review?

“During the review period, Jane’s leadership skills have been found to be below expectations. She has had difficulty communicating effectively with her team members, leading to confusion and misunderstandings. Additionally, Jane has struggled to inspire her team and establish a cohesive vision for the project, which has had a negative impact on team morale and productivity. It is crucial for Jane to take necessary steps to improve these areas in order to better lead her team and fulfill her responsibilities as a leader.”

• Problem Solving Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Planning Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Decision Making Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Listening Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Supervision Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Interpersonal Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)

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Hard Truths About the Meeting After the Meeting

Leaders must encourage respectful debate during meetings and use related strategies to avoid toxic post-meeting dynamics.

• Leadership Skills
• Leading Change

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images

A leader attempting to quash the meeting after the meeting would be like a coach trying to stop fans from opining, snarking, or rejoicing after a big game. The hard truth: Win or lose, there will be post-meeting speculations, opinions, and queries. As Dave Kievet, CEO of the Boldt Group, put it, “The meeting after the meeting is inevitable. The only question is whether you are going to participate in that conversation or not.” But leaders can minimize the mischief and mayhem that the meeting after the meeting can create, and positively influence the group’s ongoing dialogues about initiatives, performance, and work climate.

We’ve all experienced the meeting after the meeting — when several participants informally (and often spontaneously) carry on a candid, sensemaking conversation about the meeting they just attended. These unplanned gatherings tend to be freewheeling because participants perceive the stakes to be lower than speaking up during the formal meeting. People assume minimal reputational costs and diminished accountability. So tolerance for fuzzily formed opinions/arguments becomes heightened as they seek to frame or categorize the uncertainties and unstated sentiments inherent in any formal meeting. 1 For instance, if the leader made an insensitive joke, participants may ponder whether it was designed to insult or was just a poor attempt to break the ice. Checking in with others afterward may help people make sense of the unspoken and perhaps unintended motive for the leader’s remark.

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Leaders must understand that the meeting after the meeting often generates moments of clarification, grousing, or pushback. In turn, these outcomes cultivate workplace climates ranging from supportive to toxic, as in these three examples:

• Sharing a backstory on a new initiative may produce enough clarity that others in the informal post-meeting meeting get reassured and on board. On the flip side, attacking a person’s character, questioning someone’s motives, or spreading rumors may bring clarity to some people but undermine workplace culture.
• In the military, grousing, often punctuated with a few choice expletives, frequently enhances team solidarity. However, grousing taken to the extreme can gnaw away at the working environment by legitimizing constant grumbling and persistent disenchantment while escalating levels of disengagement.
• In some cases, the search for clarity and a tolerance for grousing evolve into a steady stream of pushback.

About the Author

Phillip G. Clampitt, Ph.D., is the John P. Blair Endowed Chair in Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and consults with companies around the world on leadership, communication, and strategic decision-making issues. His latest book, Leading With Care in a Tough World (Rodin Books, 2022), was coauthored with Bob DeKoch.

1. K.E. Weick, “Sensemaking in Organizations” (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1995).

2. P.G. Clampitt and B. DeKoch, “ Five Ways Leaders Can Transform Pushback Into Progress ,” MIT Sloan Management Review, Oct. 9, 2023, https://sloanreview.mit.edu.

3. D. Adam, “ What Science Says About Hybrid Working — and How to Make It a Success ,” Nature, March 4, 2024, www.nature.com.

4. P. Nutt, “Surprising but True: Half the Decisions in Organizations Fail,” The Academy of Management Executive 13, no. 4 (November 1999): 75-90.

5. P.G. Clampitt and M.L. Williams, “ Decision Downloading ,” MIT Sloan Management Review 48, no. 2 (winter 2007): 77-82.

6. Laurie Butz, interview with author, July 31, 2023.

7. S.L. Annunzio, “ How Bosses Can Stop the ‘Meeting After the Meeting,’ ” The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 25, 2024, www.wsj.com.

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Opinion Columnist, a co-host of “Matter of Opinion” and the author of “The Washington Book.”

Every new administration that wins power away from the opposing party contends that whatever its predecessors did was terrible and that victory constitutes a popular mandate to fix or get rid of it all. Elections have consequences, politicians love to remind us, and a big one entails trying to change everything, right away.

It is possible to read “ Mandate for Leadership : The Conservative Promise” — an 887-page document proposing to remake the executive branch, department by department, agency by agency, office by office — as one more go-round in this Washington tradition. With contributions by dozens of conservative thinkers and activists under the leadership of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the book announces itself as part of a “unified effort to be ready for the next conservative administration to govern at 12:00 noon, Jan. 20, 2025.” There is much work ahead, it states, “just to undo the significant damage that will have been done during the Biden years.”

The book has not been blessed by Donald Trump or his campaign, and the authors emphasize that they want to help the next conservative president, “whoever he or she may be.” But with so many former Trump officials among its contributors, so much praise for him throughout its pages (he is mentioned some 300 times, compared with once for Nikki Haley) and such clear affinity between Trump’s impulses and the document’s proposals, it is easy to imagine “Mandate for Leadership” wielding influence in a second Trump term. It is an off-the-shelf governing plan for a leader who took office last time with no clear plan and no real ability to govern. This book attempts to supply him with both.

There is plenty here that one would expect from a contemporary conservative agenda: calls for lower corporate taxes and against abortion rights; criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and the “climate fanaticism” of the Biden administration; and plans to militarize the southern border and target the “administrative state,” which is depicted here as a powerful and unmanageable federal bureaucracy bent on left-wing social engineering. Yet what is most striking about the book is not the specific policy agenda it outlines but how far the authors are willing to go in pursuit of that agenda and how reckless their assumptions are about law, power and public service.

“Mandate for Leadership,” which was edited by Paul Dans and Steven Groves of the Heritage Foundation, is not about anything as simplistic as being dictator for a day but about consolidating authority and eroding accountability for the long haul. It calls for a relentless politicizing of the federal government, with presidential appointees overpowering career officials at every turn and agencies and offices abolished on overtly ideological grounds. Though it assures readers that the president and his or her subordinates “must be committed to the Constitution and the rule of law,” it portrays the president as the personal embodiment of popular will and treats the law as an impediment to conservative governance. It elevates the role of religious beliefs in government affairs and regards the powers of Congress and the judiciary with dismissiveness.

And for all the book’s rhetoric about the need to “dismantle the administrative state,” it soon becomes clear that vanquishing the federal bureaucracy is not the document’s animating ambition. There may be plenty worth jettisoning from the executive branch, but “Mandate for Leadership” is about capturing the administrative state, not unmaking it. The main conservative promise here is to wield the state as a tool for concentrating power and entrenching ideology.

“Mandate for Leadership” is not the kind of book meant to be read straight through from beginning to end, certainly not by any one person. (Trust me.) Each chapter features one or more authors exploring a particular department or agency in detail, so grasping the entirety of the book’s proposals would require deep expertise in multiple fields — trade negotiations, environmental science, diplomacy, nuclear power, to name a few — and in the intricacies of Washington wonkdom. The book’s prose is dense, packed with bullet points and bureaucratese, and reading about so many obscure offices, page after page, left me sympathetic to its complaints about an elephantine fourth branch of government. The introduction asserts that “one set of eyes reading these passages will be those of the 47th president of the United States,” but I wouldn’t count on any future president poring over these pages, highlighter in hand, nodding sagely. “Mandate for Leadership” is not an exercise in persuasion but a statement of purpose.

The mayhem of the Trump presidency’s early days might have occurred partly by design — recall Steve Bannon’s strategy to “flood the zone” with an expletive — but it is not an experience that the authors of this volume wish to repeat. The book’s existence is an implicit admission that the Trump administration’s haphazard approach to governance was a missed opportunity. Executing a conservative president’s agenda “requires a well-conceived, coordinated, unified plan and a trained and committed cadre of personnel to implement it,” the document says on its opening page. The phrasing quickly grows militaristic: The authors wish to “assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day 1 to deconstruct the administrative state.”

That deconstruction can be blunt. Portions of “Mandate for Leadership” read as though the authors did a Control-F search of the executive branch for any terms they deemed suspect and then deleted the offending programs or offices. The White House’s Gender Policy Council must go, along with its Office of Domestic Climate Policy. The Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations is a no-no. The E.P.A. can do without its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should be dismantled because it constitutes “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

Sometimes search and destroy gives way to search and replace. At the Department of Health and Human Services, for instance, the Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force, which the Biden administration created five months before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, must be supplanted by a pro-life task force that ensures that all Health and Human Services divisions “use their authority to promote the life and health of women and their unborn children.” The document also asserts that the department should be known as the “Department of Life.” There is little interest here in the notion that different states can reach their own conclusions on abortion rights, as Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling. Instead, the next president should work with federal lawmakers “to enact the most robust protections for the unborn that Congress will support.” (The focus on life is somewhat selective; while urging the next president to work on “restoring a culture of life in America,” the document also calls for “finality” in dealing with the dozens of inmates on death row.)

One of the book’s most frequent targets is D.E.I. — the diversity, equity and inclusion infrastructure erected throughout the federal government in recent years that “Mandate for Leadership” equates with racism. Just about every corner of the administration, from the Department of Labor to the U.S. Agency for International Development, must be scrubbed clean of D.E.I., and the measures to accomplish this can be brutish. At the Treasury Department, for instance, a new conservative administration would identify and interview every official who has taken part in D.E.I. programs to assess the scope of the efforts and ensure that they are eliminated, and it would “treat the participation in any critical race theory or D.E.I. initiative, without objecting on constitutional or moral grounds, as per se grounds for termination of employment.”

The excesses of diversity, equity and inclusion programs are hardly a concern only for the political right, but this isn’t just the countermanding of an ideology. It is a purging of anyone touched by it. Are you now or have you ever been a member of the D.E.I. party?

If “Mandate for Leadership” has its way, the next conservative administration will also target the data gathering and analysis that undergirds public policy. Every U.S. state should be required by Health and Human Services to report “exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence and by what method.” By contrast, the government should prohibit the collection of employment statistics based on race or ethnicity, and the Centers for Disease Control should discontinue gathering data on gender identity, on the grounds that such collection “encourages the phenomenon of ever-multiplying subjective identities.” (Why the executive branch might concern itself with the subjective identities of American citizens becomes clearer some 25 pages later, when the document affirms that the government should “maintain a biblically based, social-science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.”)

The portion of the book dedicated to the Census Bureau warns that the Biden administration’s data collection “could be skewed to bolster progressive political agendas,” yet “Mandate for Leadership” does not seem to grasp how its own proposals could prompt the same concerns in the opposite direction. It doesn’t take a conspiratorial mind to wonder about this; the document states its goal forthrightly: “Strong political leadership is needed to increase efficiency and align the Census Bureau’s mission with conservative principles.”

Even a leader who declared that he alone could fix things cannot accomplish all this alone. Joining the next conservative president would be that army of appointees marching to conquer the executive branch. One of the “pillars” of Project 2025 is the creation of a personnel database — a sort of “right-wing LinkedIn,” The Times has reported , seeking to attract some 20,000 potential administration officials. “Mandate for Leadership” maintains that “empowering political appointees across the administration is crucial to a president’s success,” and virtually every chapter calls for additional appointees to wrest power from longtime career staff members in their respective departments.

This is especially notable at both the State Department and the Department of Justice, which are considered susceptible to unsavory influences, in almost identical terms. “Large swaths of the State Department’s work force are left-wing and predisposed to disagree with a conservative president’s policy agenda and vision,” the book reads. Of the Department of Justice: “Large swaths of the department have been captured by an unaccountable bureaucratic managerial class and radical left ideologues who have embedded themselves throughout its offices.” (Lesson: Beware of swaths.)

It is, no doubt, the prerogative of all incoming presidents to appoint officials who support their agenda; in fact, since presidents are elected on their proposed agendas, it is right that they would do so. In “Mandate for Leadership,” longtime career civil servants are disparaged as “holdovers” with suspect loyalties, lacking the “moral legitimacy” that comes from being appointed by a president who is constitutionally bound to see that the laws are faithfully executed. The book calls for the reinstatement of Schedule F, a Trump-era executive order that would allow the president and political appointees to convert many career civil service positions into appointed roles, thus making those people easier to dismiss and replace with loyalists. In a memorable euphemism, the book refers to this effort as “identifying programmatic political work force needs.”

But there is a difference between fostering a work force that is accountable to the president and simply politicizing all aspects of the executive branch, including areas that require specific expertise. “Mandate for Leadership” leans toward the politicizing approach.

At the E.P.A., for example, the document calls for a new science adviser and at least six new appointees charged with reforming the agency’s scientific research; qualifications for those roles should stress managerial skills rather than “personal scientific output.” Throughout the book, descriptions of new research agendas are often paired with the explicit findings that such research should yield, whether on the mental and physical damage that abortion inflicts on women or the pernicious impact of taxes and regulations on minority-owned businesses. Later, tucked into a discussion of the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the Commerce Department — yes, the weeds are tall and scratchy here — the document urges a new administration to ensure that “any research conducted with taxpayer dollars serves the national interest in a concrete way in line with conservative principles.” It’s an effective sleight of hand: politicizing government-funded scientific research by tying the national interest to conservative priorities.

The administration of relief funds would also assume an ideological bent. “Mandate for Leadership” looks askance at Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, which makes investments to promote growth and innovation in struggling communities and helps distribute emergency funding. Ideally, the book says, a new conservative administration would abolish the agency and send its resources elsewhere. However, if congressional opposition makes that impossible, the Economic Development Administration should instead “better align funding with conservative political purposes.” There’s little subtlety: The book then argues that providing agency funds to “rural communities destroyed by the Biden administration’s attack on domestic energy production would be well within the scope of E.D.A.’s mission.” If you can’t beat them, at least make them work for you.

Despite its professed desire to reduce the size and ambition of government “back to something resembling the original constitutional intent,” in practice, the document’s contributors are willing to build significant bureaucracies. “Mandate for Leadership” calls for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security, for example, and instead creating a major stand-alone federal immigration department. It would piece together Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as portions of the Health and Human Services and Justice Departments to build a Cabinet-level body employing more than 100,000 federal workers. This would be “the third-largest department measured by manpower,” the book boasts.

Proposed immigration policies include the “indefinite curtailment” of refugee admissions, completing a southwestern border wall and deploying “active-duty military personnel and National Guardsmen to assist in arrest operations along the border — something that has not yet been done.” It even imagines a new immigration-related revenue stream: charging asylum seekers for “premium processing” of their claims, an innovation that would offer “an opportunity for a significant influx of money.”

The authors recognize the bipartisan dangers of excessive political appointments in the executive branch, but they worry about that mainly when their opponents are the ones benefiting. “The desire to infiltrate political appointees improperly into the high career civil service has been widespread in every administration, whether Democrat or Republican,” the document acknowledges. “Democratic administrations, however, are typically more successful because they require the cooperation of careerists, who generally lean heavily to the left.”

This book does not call for an effort to depoliticize the administrative state. It simply wishes to politicize it in favor of a new side. Everybody does it; now it’s our turn. Get over it.

This attitude proves especially consequential in the book’s treatment of the Justice Department, which has “lost its way,” becoming “a bloated bureaucracy with a critical core of personnel who are infatuated with the perpetuation of a radical liberal agenda.” To find its way back in a new conservative administration, “Mandate for Leadership” implies, the department must become subservient to the White House.

The document cites several reasons the Justice Department has “forfeited the trust” of many Americans, including its promotion of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation and the abdication of its duty to enforce immigration laws. Therefore, a “vast expansion” of political appointees across the department is required, beyond those traditionally appointed to the office of the attorney general and deputy attorney general.

All such appointees must work closely with the White House; in fact, the Justice Department and the White House counsel should act “as a team.” And while the book notes that contact between the White House and the Department of Justice traditionally occurs between the office of the White House counsel and the attorney general or deputy attorney general — a practice that aims to reduce the risk of political interference in law enforcement — “Mandate for Leadership” encourages a new administration to “re-examine this policy and determine whether it might be more efficient or more appropriate for communication to occur through additional channels.”

It is more efficient and appropriate if the goal is to permit greater White House pressure on the nation’s senior law enforcement officers. Even the F.B.I. director, the document argues, must be as politically accountable to the president as any other senior official. “To ensure prompt political accountability and to rein in perceived or actual abuses,” it asserts, “the next conservative administration should seek a legislative change to align the F.B.I. director’s position with those of the heads of all other major departments and agencies.” Trump has complained that the F.B.I. and Justice Department have been weaponized against him; these reforms would ensure their politicization.

After all, when the Justice Department and White House must work as a team, it is clear who serves as team captain. “While the supervision of litigation is a D.O.J. responsibility, the department falls under the direct supervision and control of the president,” the book states. Even though the department will invariably face “tough calls” in its litigation decisions, “those calls must always be consistent with the president’s policy agenda and the rule of law.”

What happens when the agenda and the law conflict? The answer is implicit throughout “Mandate for Leadership.” At the Department of Homeland Security, for example, the general counsel should hire more political appointees to supervise the office’s career lawyers, because “the legal function cannot be allowed to thwart the administration’s agenda by providing stilted or erroneous legal positions.” The law must submit to the president’s priorities. If not, the lawyers are doing it wrong.

Declaring inconvenient laws inapplicable is another option. For example, when the secretary of homeland security decides that “an actual or anticipated mass migration of aliens” headed to the United States “presents urgent circumstances,” the secretary may issue whatever rules and regulations are deemed necessary, for as long as necessary, “including through the expulsion of such aliens,” with a final proviso that “such rule and regulation making shall not be subject to the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.” Read the act , and you’ll see that it governs the process by which agency rules are exposed to public comment and are subject to review by the courts. That lone sentence, tacked on at the end of a paragraph on Page 152 of “Mandate for Leadership,” is a bureaucratic invitation to legal impunity.

The book regards pursuit of the president’s agenda — variously described as the president’s “needs,” “goals” or “desires” — as always consistent with the law. “The modern conservative president’s task is to limit, control and direct the executive branch on behalf of the American people,” it states. And the American people’s needs, goals and desires are conflated with those of the leader.

Ironically, in this worldview, the people’s needs and desires can become circumscribed. In the book’s foreword, Kevin D. Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, writes that the “pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence should be understood as the “pursuit of blessedness,” that is, that “an individual must be free to live as his creator ordained — to flourish.” The Constitution, he explains, “grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought.” The book ties this argument to the philosophical and legal concept of “ordered liberty,” in which individual rights are weighed against social stability.

The notion that liberty entails the discipline to do the right thing, as opposed to the choice to do whatever things we want, has a long lineage in American political thought, dating back to the Puritans and the “city on a hill.” But in “Mandate for Leadership,” the answer to what we ought to do depends on the cultural and religious proclivities of the authors. “This pursuit of the good life is found primarily in family — marriage, children, Thanksgiving dinners and the like,” Roberts writes. It is also found in work, charity and, above all, in “religious devotion and spirituality.” Later, in a chapter on the Department of Labor, the book suggests that because “God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest,” American workers should be paid extra for working on that day. “A shared day off makes it possible for families and communities to enjoy time off together, rather than as atomized individuals,” it says.

“Mandate for Leadership” often strains to reconcile what we ought to do with what the authors want us to do. In the same chapter on the Department of Labor, for example, the book calls on Congress to require that for all new federal contracts, at least 70 percent of contractors’ employees must be U.S. citizens (with the bar rising to at least 95 percent over time). Such a law is necessary, the book explains, “so that employers can again have the freedom to make hiring Americans a priority.”

If you want to make federal contractors hire more American workers, then, by all means, propose such a law. But couching it as a way to provide greater “freedom” to employers so they can do what the government is compelling them to do debases the notion of freedom. And it makes the book’s interpretation of “ordered liberty” seem more focused on giving orders than protecting liberty.

“Mandate for Leadership” is about not just a president exerting control over the executive branch but also the executive expanding its power over the other branches of government. In the book, the legislature and judiciary suffer from many small cuts and a few big ones.

Congress’s powers of oversight, for instance, would diminish in various ways. Rather than endure the process of congressional confirmation for people taking on key positions in the executive branch, the new administration should just place those officials in acting roles, which would allow them to begin pursuing the president’s agenda “while still honoring the confirmation requirement.” (That is, if bypassing the requirement is a form of honor.) Lawmakers would no longer review U.S. foreign arms sales, the book states, except when “unanimous congressional support is guaranteed,” a requirement that renders those reviews pointless. The Department of Homeland Security should have the power to select and limit its congressional oversight committees. And the White House can tell the State Department when to remain “radio silent” in the face of congressional inquiries.

In a section titled “Affirming the Separation of Powers,” the book contends that the executive branch — that is, the president and his team at the Justice Department — is just as empowered as any other branch of government to “assess constitutionality.” A new conservative administration must “embrace the Constitution and understand the obligation of the executive branch to use its independent resources and authorities to restrain the excesses of both the legislative and judicial branches.” The president must make sure that the leaders of the Justice Department share this view of the separation of powers.

It is the role of the judiciary, not of the president and a pliable attorney general, to decide whether laws and policies are constitutional. Believing otherwise does not “affirm” checks and balances; it undercuts them. “Mandate for Leadership” turns the separation of powers among the three branches into a game of rock, paper, scissors — except rock beats everything. It is consistent, though, with the leadership of a president who likes to talk of the nation’s top jurists as “my judges” and who referred to a former speaker of the House of Representatives as “my Kevin.”

It’s far from clear , of course, that Trump would turn to “Mandate for Leadership” as a default governing plan for a second term. Various organizations are proposing their own versions of a new conservative policy project, and it’s hard to say which, if any, might prevail. Trump’s campaign has made clear that no outside group speaks for him or represents his agenda. Keeping up with Trump’s views is the eternal challenge for anyone attempting to turn the former president’s impulses — those needs and desires — into a consistent ideology and policy program. (“Mandate for Leadership,” for example, suggests that NATO allies worried about Russia should count on Washington mainly for its nuclear deterrent and should field any conventional forces themselves, whereas this month Trump suggested that he would “encourage” Russia to attack NATO allies if they didn’t “pay their bills.”) The difficulty with Trumpism is Trump himself, who renders any coherent ism impossible.

“Mandate for Leadership” is a game effort, nonetheless. Its ability to obscure drastic change with drab prose is impressive. Its notions of an executive less encumbered by laws or oversight is of a piece with Trump’s views on the immunity and impunity that the president should enjoy. The document’s willingness to empower the administrative state when doing so suits ideological or policy preferences is remarkable, especially given its rhetoric to the contrary. At one point, in a chapter on the Commerce Department, a former Trump administration official offers some italicized advice: “When authoritarian governments explain what they plan to do, believe them unless hard evidence demonstrates otherwise.” He is discussing Russia and China, though the warning could apply more broadly.

Fifty years ago, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. published “ The Imperial Presidency ,” a study of the growing war-making abilities of the presidency and the parallel erosion of Congress’s constitutionally mandated power to declare war. Written during the Watergate scandal, the book also explored the ways in which the Nixon administration had arrogated to itself powers in the domestic arena, the abuses of which later led to the president’s resignation.

“Mandate for Leadership” also purports to lament the decline of congressional prerogatives and constitutional order. But at times the veil slips. In the final chapter, a former Trump administration Justice Department official admits that “until there is a return to a constitutional structure that the founding fathers would have recognized and a massive shrinking of the administrative state, conservatives cannot unilaterally disarm and fail to use the power of government to further a conservative agenda.”

That is the self-issued mandate of “Mandate for Leadership.” It is a call to arms, with the administrative state as its weapon of choice. In the foreword, Roberts, the Heritage Foundation president, writes that the administrative state isn’t going anywhere until Congress seizes power back from the federal bureaucracy. “But in the meantime,” he adds, “there are many executive tools a courageous conservative president can use to handcuff the bureaucracy, push Congress to return to its constitutional responsibility, restore power over Washington to the American people, bring the administrative state to heel.”

The problem with wielding the administrative state as a tool, even against itself, is that it grows comfortable in your hands. Why loosen that grip? In Washington, “the meantime” can last a long time.

Illustration by The New York Times; Photograph by David Yeazell/USA Today Sports, via Reuters Con

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Carlos Lozada is an Opinion columnist and a co-host of the weekly “Matter of Opinion” podcast for The Times, based in Washington, D.C. He is the author, most recently, of “ The Washington Book : How to Read Politics and Politicians.”  @ CarlosNYT

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Before You Start Collaborating with Someone, Talk About Your Work Styles

• Anke Thiele

Having an explicit conversation about your preferences will set the relationship up for success.

When you’re working with new people, spending time upfront to have an explicit and open conversation about each other’s work styles and preferences can prove to be one of the best time investments. This “style alignment” conversation can lay a foundation for trust and understanding and help you set agreements for how to successfully work together. Yet, many people shy away from having these conversations for two reasons. First, they worry that it will take up too much time. Second, they fear that it might make style differences more obvious and aren’t sure how to bridge those. By having open and deep conversations about style and preferences, something powerful happens. If you better understand where someone is coming from, you don’t just react to their behavior and feel annoyed by making potentially false assumptions about why someone is behaving a certain way. Instead, you can bring more compassion and less reactivity into your work relationships and maybe even preempt work conflict.

After two consecutive reorganizations, my coaching client, Kara, an experienced product group manager, found herself in a new reporting relationship with the chief product officer. Throughout her career, Kara had worked under managers with different leadership styles and, with experience, had gotten a better sense of her own over the years. While she was eager to start with her new boss, she wanted to make sure not to lose some of the unique ways she had been able to share her ideas and gain support for her teams. Kara wondered what she could do to set a strong foundation for a productive work relationship with her manager, how to effectively work together with people who may have different work styles, and reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings right from the beginning.

• Anke Thiele , MBA, MS Psych., MCC, is an executive coach and leadership consultant who works with senior leaders and their teams. She is the founder of The Human Link , a psychologist and certified meditation teacher, who has taught mindfulness at tech companies including Google for many years. She also works as a team coach and extended faculty at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Connect with her on LinkedIn .

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