If you're a liar, a bully or a cheat, then you too could be a great world leader Tracy McVeigh, the Observer

If you want to get ahead, be egotistical, stubborn and dis­agreeable. And a bit of untidiness will help too.

At work look out for the people with the messy desks, and the reputation for being underhand and manipulative, the bullying ones who never listen to your advice, and the colleague who tells blatant lies. They are the ones destined to triumph.

These are the findings of an in-depth exploration of great­ness which reveals that a person's personality type is a clear in­dicator of success.

The research presented yesterday to the American Psycho­logical Association conference in Washington, examined the tra­its of the most successful men in the US history — all 41 Pres­idents — and compared them to more average individuals.

The truth is that being nice gets you nowhere — not to the White House or Number 10 or even on to a parish council.

The researchers discovered that the great Presidents were low on straightforwardness, vulnerability and order. "The very characteristics which mark people out as an unattractive choice as-a spouse or a neighbour make them successful as leaders", said Rubenzer. "One real surprise was that people who are a little disorganized do a bit better. Abraham Lincoln was notoriously untidy, and it certainly seems to be an asset".

The psychologists asked 100 biographers and historians to help them fill in questionnaires and then scored them on differ­ent characteristics. Forcefulness, the willingness to flatter and manipulate, egotism and assertiveness all seemed to help push Presidents up the ladder of greatness. Rubenzer and his team believe that the same applies to suc­cess in all walks of life. The completed personality profiles showed strong links between the characters of the great, and com­mon traits among the bad.

"As far as UK goes, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher . fit right into our model. Stubborn, assertive and socially often obnoxious — just the right stuff to make them great figures in history. This research can equally be applied as a measure of who will succeed in the world of business and the workplace", said Ruberzer.

The team further categorized the Presidents into eight per­sonality types — innocents, autocrats, good guys, introverts, ac­tors, philosophers, extroverts and maintainers. Innocents: too nice for their own good, these people make it to the top through a fluke. In Britain John Major and the late Alec Douglas-Home, a Tory Prime Minister in the sixties, are in this category. Auto­crats: the disagreeable, bossy bullies. Using the rules applied by the researchers, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill and the US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon are in this group. Introverts: erratic, anxious and tense, like British PMs Ramsey MacDonald and Anthony Eden, and US President Her­bert Hoover. Extroverts: publicity- hungry, assertive, dominant, but somehow low on organizational skills. Bill Clinton — des­tined for the history books if only for his sex life, say research­ers — and Tony Blair are examples. Actors: similar to extro­verts but less open. They have low concentration. Ronald Re­agan and Harold Macmillan are examples. Philosophers: their interests; are wide and they are not afraid of change — like Clem­ent Attlee, Labour's post-war election victor. Maintainers; tra­ditional, holding family values and not open to new experiences. George Bush and Harry Truman are in this group.

Notes:

1. Abraham Lincoln(1809-1865)

a US politician in the Republican Party who was President of the US from 1861-1865. He spoke against slavery, which made him unpopular in the Southern states, where slaves did most of the farm work. The Amer­ican Civil War started soon after he became President, when the Southern States decided to leave the US. He also gave a famous speech known as the Gettysburg Address in 1863. After the war he was shot in a theatre by an actor called John W. Booth. He is one of the greatest US presidents and was sometimes called "Honest Abe" because everyone ad­mired his honesty;

2 Margaret Thatcher (1925)

a British politician in the Conservative Party, sometimes called Maggie in the news­papers. She became leader of her party in 1975, and in 1979 became the UK's first woman Prime Minister, a position she held until 1990. Her ideas, which have become known as Thatcherism, have influenced pol­iticians in other countries. Politics in the UK became much more right-wing under her lead­ership, she reduced taxes, took away power from trade unions, started a programme of privatization. She was seen as a strong and determined leader and was sometimes called "the Iron Lady";

3 John Major (1943)a British politician in the Conservative Party, who became PM when Margaret Thatcher was forced to leave this position in 1990, and was elected again in 1992. During his period as leader he had the difficult job of trying to settle disagreements in his party about the UK's position in the EU. He is thought by many people as a pleasant man, but rather "grey" (= boring) and not a strong leader;

4 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

a US politician in the Republican Party who was US President from 1901 to 1909. He became famous during the Spanish- Ame rican War of 1898, when he formed a group of soldiers called the "Rough Riders" in Cuba. He is remembered for having a large mous­tache and for saying things were "bully" when he liked them. He described US foreign pol­icy using the phrase "Speak softly and carry a big stick". He was informally called Teddy Roosevelt;

5 . Richard Nixon (1913-1994)

a US politician in the Republican Party who was President of the US from 1969 to 1974. He helped to end the Vietnam War and improved the US's political relationship with China. He is most famous for being involved in Watergate. He was thought to be dishonest and was sometimes called "Tricky Dicky";

6 Ramsey Macdonald (1866-1937)

• a British politician in the Labour Party, who became the first Labour PM in 1924. He was later PM of a "National Government" during the period of economic difficulty and high unemployment of the 1930s;

7 Sir Anthony Eden (1897-1977)

• a British politician in the Conservative Party, who was PM from 1955-1957. He gave up this position after the Suez Crisis;

8 Herbert Hoover (1874-1964)

• a US politician in the Republican Party who was the President of the US from 1929 to 1933, during the first years of the Great Depression;

9 Ronald Reagan (1911)

• a US politician in the Republican Party who was President of the US from 1981 to 1989. He is remembered for reducing taxes, increasing military spending, and improving the US's relations with the USSR. He was known as "The Great Communicator" be­cause of his ability to make speeches in a way that made people trust him. Before his presi­dency he was a film actor;

10. Harold Macmillan (1894-1986)

a British politician in the Conservative Party, who was PM from 1957-1963. He made two expressions popular in the UK, when he told people "You've never had it so good", meaning that they had a better life than ever, and when he talked about "the winds of change" blowing though Africa, meaning that African countries were becoming indepen­dent;

11. Attlee Clement (1883-1967)

a British politician in the Labour Party who was PM from 1945 to 1951. His government established the UK's National Health Service and the modern welfare state;

11. George Bush (1924)

the 41 st President of the USA from 1989-1993. He is remembered for promising be­fore the election that he would not increase taxes and saying "Read my lips — no new taxes". But after he became President, he in­creased some taxes;

13. HarryS. Truman (1884-1972)

• a US politician in the Democratic Party who was President of the US from 1945 to 1953. He took the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945, and helped to es­tablish NATO. He also organized the Mar­shall Plan, and began US involvement in the Korean War 1950

Discussion questions and tasks:

1. What do you know about Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, George W. Bush?

2. Do you think a similar list of categories can be used to de­scribe Russian political leaders? If so, think of at least two names to fill in each of the categories. Discuss your list with another student in your group.

3. What inferences can be made on the basis of the text about the positive qualities, which distinguish the world leaders?

Exercise 1

Look up adjectives and participles for the following verbs: to agree, to attract, to tidy, to manipulate, to organize, to domi­nate.

Use them in sentences of your own.

Exercise 2

Match the English adjectives with their Russian equivalents.

1. egotistical 1) неровный, беспорядочный

2. underhand 2) напряженный

3. stubborn 3) явный, вопиющий

4. obnoxious 4) беспокойный, волнующийся

5. bossy 5) эгоцентричный, себялюбивый

6. erratic 6) противный, несносный

7. anxious 7) упрямый, упорный

8. tense 8) закулисный, тайный

9. blatant 9) командирский, распоряжающийся

Exercise 3

Open the brackets using the appropriate words.

1. She was supremely (самолюбивая) at heart.

2. Speculations about the crisis of Christian civilization are nothing but (неприкрытая) propaganda of Islam.

3. Mind you, I'll really not tolerate such (отвратительный) behaviour.

4. People showed (упорное) resistance to the plans for a nucle­ar power station in their town.

5. Success makes a person (самовлюбленный).

6. The provocation was so strong and so (неприкрытый) that it was amazing there was not a riot..

7. He is known to treat his colleagues in а (командирский) manner

8. We wondered which (тайный) dodges our adversaries would attempt this time.

9. There was а (напряженное) silence as the police waited for the terrorist's next move.

10. Older children are less (себялюбивый) than younger ones, and are more willing to accept other people's ideas.

11. With (явный) discourtesy the reporters continued to harass the bereaved family.

12. The government is (беспокоится о том, чтобы) to reassure everyone that the situation is under control.

13. He managed to win the elections by using (закулисные) methods.

14. His writings are brilliant but (беспорядочный).

15. She charged the firm, which had rejected her, with (явный) sex discrimination.

Exercise 4

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate adjective.

1. I'd hate to be her secretary — she's such a/an

woman.

2. Heating was difficult because of supplies of gas

and electricity.

3. The negotiations became increasingly as the weeks

went by.

4. The defenders put up resistance but were eventual­ly defeated.

5. The government's policy of cutting taxes is a/an

and irresponsible attempt to buy votes.

6. He was a well-respected figure in the town, who would nev­er have been involved in anything .

7. In his private life X. was considered by his friends

as he had an extremely high opinion of himself and his tal­ents.

8. The embassy received a lot of inquiries from rela­tives of those on board the crashed plane.

9. Don't take notice of him — he's just a/an little man.

Exercise 5

Translate the sentences below using the following adjectives: blatant, underhand, egotistical, obnoxious, bossy, erratic, anx­ious, tense, stubborn.

1. У него масса отвратительных черт, но он надежный че­ловек.

2. Атмосфера в комнате ожидания была чрезвычайно на­пряженной.

3. Властная натура посла и склонность отдавать распоря­жения командирским голосом заставляли его подчинен­ных трепетать.

4. Взволнованные кандидаты с нетерпением ожидали ре­зультатов голосования.

5. Бессистемная деятельность компании вызывает обеспо­коенность ее акционеров и деловых партнеров.

6. Несмотря на упорное сопротивление военного лобби президенту удалось назначить нового министра.

7. Посол счел поведение первого секретаря вопиющим не­повиновением.

8. Он был человеком несомненно талантливым, но себялю­бивым, и с ним было трудно поддерживать деловые от­ношения.

9. Путем закулисных маневров и вероломных интриг ему удалось взять под контроль всю компанию.

10. Население оказало упорное сопротивление планам пра­вительства по строительству атомной электростанции.

Exercise 6

Write a composition to cover one of the following topics.

1. The politician I admire.

2. The politician I detest.

To which type of leaders could you refer George W. Bush?

George W. Bush is claimed to be practising a new style of leader­ship — a management style with President being the chief exec­utive officer.

Before reading the next article decide whether thepresident-as-CEO is the best way for a leader to act. Compare your conclu­sion with those of the rest of the students in your group. As you read the text try to understand what Gloria Borger thinks about it.