Leadership and Ability

"People are likely to accept as a leader only someone who has demonstrated an ability to perform the same tasks that he or she expects others to perform."

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

There are many qualities that people look for in their leader. Hypocricy is definitely not one of them. Historically, the most popular leaders have been the ones who have had the courage to "walk the talk". Ability naturally commands respect. But does it make such a person likely to be accepted as a leader? 

Not always.

A leader is not necessarily a top-rank achiever. Yes, many successful leaders are known to have vision, charisma, forceful personality and ability to connect with the emotions of the people. On the other hand many successful leaders are also known to be power hungry, ruthless, populist, opportunistic, manipulative or plain lucky. Yes, ability also figures in the list sometimes; but it is not the case most of the times.

A good example I can think of is Mayawati, an Indian politician hailing from one of the most backward and most populous Indian state. She is in the race for Prime Ministership in the current elections. Majority of people from "backward" castes accept her as their de-facto leader and vote for her despite her corrupt nature. Her one-pointed agenda is to accrue benefits for her caste. Famously, when asked if she is a rightist or a leftist, the cheeky leader replied that she is an opportunist. Her acceptance has nothing to do with her ability to perform a task but her shrewd and opportunistic temperament.

Another example I can think of is of George W. Bush Jr. He was the President of US for 8 years. Yet it was on back of his conservative beliefs and luck rather than any ability to perform some task. If anything, he managed to drag US into a war on Iraq in search of non-existing weapons of mass destruction and saw the economy plunging to new depths. His appeal lies in his conservative values, simplicity and tenacity rather than an ability to perform some tasks.

On the same lines, many politicians around the world have won on back of their populist policies rather than any ability to achieve anything. Be it Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Venezuela's Hugo Chavez; the story is the same. This proves that it is not necessary for a leader to demonstrate an ability to perform the same tasks that he or she expects from others to perform; many times only propaganda and populism are also enough.

Concluding, I do not completely agree with the stated opinion. Of course it is possible for an able leader to be accepted: otherwise leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill would not have been able to come up. Nevertheless, ability to perform a task is rarely, if ever, critical in determining acceptance of a leader by the people.