Some memories, seemingly trivial, tend to stay with one for a lifetime.  More than sixty-five years later, I still remember Billy E.

We were in elementary school.  On the playground, the girls would go off to one side, the boys to the other (girls were yucky, after all).  I have no idea what the girls did, but the boys often played army.  Billy E. organized about ten or twelve of the boys into a cavalry platoon, and off they rode on their imaginary horses, double file, following Billy.  He would signal column left, and, amazingly, the boys would execute a column left, just as Billy had taught them.  

I, and one or two others, did not join Billy's army, but we watched in admiration as he led.  For my part, I wanted to be like Billy, so I attempted to recruit my own followers.  The other boys ignored me, except for one, who said he would rather follow Billy.  

After elementary school, my family moved away, and I lost contact with Billy.  Over the years, I expected that I would hear about him, as he became a politician, a military officer, or a Fortune 500 CEO.  I heard about him only once, during a chance encounter with a former classmate.  It seems that Billy had led an obscure life, apparently at a low-wage, dead-end job (I can't be certain).  His impressive leadership qualities had never met my expectations in adulthood.  

It brings to mind the question: why do some people become well known leaders, while others do not?

There are some obvious answers:  intelligence, hard work, talent, and circumstance make a leader.  Yet, in case after case, we see people in positions of leadership who are lacking in all of those traits, except the last one.  Some of them are abysmal failures, yet they are promoted far beyond their level of competence.  Assuredly, many leaders achieve their leadership positions by merit, but why do so many incompetents get promoted over the competent?  

Okay, we all know the strategy of marrying the boss's daughter.  Being born into wealth and power also confer advantages.  Even when so privileged, however, many an incompetent leader soon fizzles out and fades into anonymity.

We all know of politicians whose careers are decades long and unmarked by any notable achievement.  It seems that getting elected, and re-elected, is a skill apart from any other, a skill dependent primarily on skullduggery and charlatanism.  

Even in the military (I served twenty years), there are those who excel at getting promoted over their more qualified peers.  I attribute that to a phenomenon I often noticed in good officers, which was that they put so much energy into their job that they failed to memorize manuals or to attend the general's dinner parties.  Not to take anything away from the famous George S. Patton, who was undoubtedly a superlative leader, but his wife was a wealthy socialite, and Patton often entertained admirals and ambassadors at his home.  He had name recognition among those who served on promotion boards.  Even he, despite his impressive battle record, was frequently warned, even disciplined, for departing from the rule book in favor of accomplishing the mission.

Finally, we come to the present day.  Donald J. Trump, seeing that the nation was heading down a very wrong path, assembled his people and resources and, against all conventional wisdom, became the forty-fifth president of the United States.  His campaign, and tenure in office, was marked by constant and continual sniping and sabotage from political enemies, even from within.  Despite all that, his achievements for the nation far exceeded those of any president since Reagan.  He would still be president right now but for the tidal wave of corruption, a coup d'état, that illegally overwhelmed his resources.

Joe Biden, by contrast, exhibits nothing resembling true leadership.  Only his accomplices, who coordinated the election fraud, can claim any organizational ability.  Biden will likely soon become a footnote, the predecessor to the only future president to be even less qualified than him.

In my opinion, Billy E. would have been a better leader for the nation.  Column, right!

Image: jlhervàs via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.