Characteristics of Those Who Hold More Power Than You Do

Machiavelli's The Prince provides a fairly useful outline to what Machiavelli believes to be the ideal leader. To begin with, Machiavelli's first characteristic of a good leader is that he (or she) should be feared rather than loved if only one option is available. Personally, I feel that to be loved would be a more effective method of leadership. Creating fear in your subjects could lead to the development of radicals among the people that could potentially take action against you. On the other hand, if you are loved by your people, than there should be no reason for the people to revolt. As long as your rule is just, then the people can live in peace without the paranoia that their leader could chop off their heads at any minute because they forgot to bow when he or she walked by.
Next, the second characteristic according to The Prince is that a leader should have the support of his people. This is true. If you don't have people to rule over and command, then you are not a leader; you are just a deranged person trying to order people around that could care less about you.
The third attribute is that a leader should hold or at least appear to hold good virtues. I agree with this. Even if it's a lie, the easiest way to gain support from the people is to display how your actions match with your subjects' thoughts and beliefs. If the people believe your rule to be justifiable, then you have successfully gained trust in your subjects.
Characteristic number four is to never rely on outside military forces. This is true to a certain degree. If the outside forces come from an allied kingdom then there should not be a problem using them. However, your personal military should be deployed first and foremost. Outside help should come as a last resort. Mercenaries, however, should never be deployed since they act on the basis of a paycheck rather than loyalty.
Machiavelli's last and most important characteristic (in my opinion) of a successful leader is to have intelligence. No matter what the leader is in charge of, they will need intelligence to be successful. To possess the ability to think of a clever solution to any problem at any moment is what separates the successful leaders from those that end up dead.

Looking over all of these characteristics, I can't say that I can really think of a contemporary leader that fits the bill. To be honest, I don't really pay attention to contemporary leaders, so I can't really think of anyone. However, my boss fits the description fairly well. She definitely instills fear in me and my fellow coworkers, but we still support her demands. She at least appears to hold good virtues since we all work in the food department of a retirement home. I've never seen her rely on outside help to get things done that we could do ourselves, like fixing a broken refrigerator. Plus, she does hold quite a bit of knowledge to gain the position that she has now.

If I could create my own ideal leader, I would believe he or she would possess these characteristics:

• Has a decent degree of intelligence
• All leaders need intelligence to make acceptable decisions
• Is accepting of change
• Change happens all the time, so the leader must be ready to face any new challenges with an open mind
• Leaves personal matters out of the leadership position
• Personal business should not interfere with a leader's duty. He or she should always consider the needs of the people over his or her own personal agenda
• Is capable of making allies
• A leader that only makes enemies has never heard the saying that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and will find themselves being faced against an enemy alliance
• Has a strong military force
• Any successful leader will have enemies and a strong military will make anyone think twice before attacking the kingdom

Since I don't really pay that close attention to leaders, I can't think of someone that fits my ideal leader. If I had to choose someone, I suppose Barack Obama could be one. He does possess intelligence and is accepting of change as seen in his LGBT support. I don't remember his personal life ever interfering with his job. As the United States president, he was at least successful in retaining the allies that America had before his office. Lastly, there are very few military forces that can rival the might of the United States military. Therefore, Barack Obama would have been my ideal leader. However, I don't follow politics heavily so any other actions under his administration that could convince me otherwise that he was an ideal leader are not known by me.