James MacGregor Burns, in his 1975 work Leadership , saw leadership as hinging on the results of what leaders actually did. Leadership was to be gauged by actual social change measured. Leadership must not be measured by press clippings, spin doctoring and words but by results, by what was done not by what was promised would be done. Too often it seems, the commentators who call for leadership fall victim to the lure of style over substance. Charm, wit and casual arrogance can hide and obscure policy detail, achievements and failures, and big pictures splashed with bright and bold images can all to often dominant the smaller canvass, with its finer detail and sense of serious purpose.
Leadership has a transformational element.
The leader takes a new direction in so doing leaves an imprint on both the office and the political, social and economic environment they left behind. However, if it could be reasonably argued that another leader would have taken the same steps then the extent to which it was leadership must be questioned. The former deals with the implementation of what can be broadly defined as New Right economics, while the latter refers to the 'big picture issues' the Republic and Australian 'independence', and the 'push' into Asia. As Treasurer, in the Hawke Government, Keating embraced the economic policies of the New Right that was sweeping OECD countries, so much so that The Economist regarded him as a Thatcherite. Not for nothing was Keating made International Treasurer of the Year in 1985.