April 10, 2016
Anne-Marie Slaughter was one of 11 experts interviewed by CNN about the necessary traits of our next president:
The qualifications that we should be looking for in a president—and I base this on my experience as a leader, a State Department official, and a citizen—are intelligence, grit, courage, empathy, and the ability to listen to what you don't want to hear.
Sheer smarts should never be undervalued; the president must address an extraordinary range of issues and must be able to think for himself or herself as well as to rely on advisers.
Grit is perhaps more essential in Washington than anywhere else in the world: the dogged determination to keep trying in the face of an obdurate bureaucracy or a hostile legislature.