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As South Korea's first chief executive officer (CEO) president, Lee Myung-bak (LMB) has what he regards as the strengths of a CEO: vision, certainty, and decisiveness. His strengths as a political leader include bold thinking and consistent adherence to his chosen policies. Yet the defects in his style and quality include a tendency to act without sufficient deliberation, an unwillingness to admit the complexity of many policy issues, and a tendency to consider only a narrow range of alternatives. Interestingly, LMB's strengths as a CEO-type leader are also a reflection of his weaknesses, the so-called "dual nature of leadership style." LMB's leadership strengths led to policy victories when he was a mayor, but his weaknesses have led to political and administrative failures in his first one-and-a-half years as President. In this context, this paper examines the nature of LMB's leadership style and qualities, focusing on his political and executive leadership and their impact on the trial and error of the policy initiatives that he has carried out in the first oneand-a-half years of his presidency. This paper also explores the impact of the limitations of LMB's leadership style and qualities on the remaining three-and-a-half years of his presidency.
Key Words: CEO, President, Leadership Style, Political Leadership, Executive Leadership
I. Introduction: The First CEO President
President Lee Myung-bak (LMB), the former mayor of Seoul and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Hyundai Construction, who touted himself as the "economy president," was elected in a landslide victory in December 2007. l While he worked at Hyundai Construction, LMB developed the image of a bulldozer, which helped him get elected mayor of the city of Seoul. As mayor, he achieved significant policy victories, such as the restoration of Cheonggyecheon stream and public transportation reform. These achievements created the illusion that he gets things done. In fact, LMB was elected because he was praised as a tough-minded decision-maker who knows how to get things done, the so-called "CEO President."
Politically, people who supported LMB in the last presidential election believed his claims that he would not focus on ideology but would revive the national economy with pragmatic principles. At that time, many perceived him as a strong leader, especially in national economy matters. Voters were fascinated...