Management style shared by Bush and Lowell Billings

Lowell Billings, Superintendent of Chula Vista Elementary School District, acknowledges that he is responsible for school district decisions, but admits that he knows nothing about them. He apparently subscribes to the same management style as George W. Bush: being the "decider" doesn't mean that you inform yourself and think deeply. Billings, like Bush, believes that his job is to "walk around and be a cheerleader talking about values and everything else [is] going to take care of itself."

Bush: Only time will tell about his legacy
Carolyn Lochhead
San Francisco Chronicle
January 4, 2009

...business ethicist James Hoopes, author of "Hail to the CEO, the Failure of George W. Bush and the Cult of Moral Leadership," sees the roots of Bush's leadership style in the Harvard management fad, still filling bookstore shelves, that promotes a notion of moral leadership and "values" over knowledge, execution and competence.

Bush resembles the late Enron CEO Ken Lay, who "was also a values-based leader, and didn't know what was going on at Enron," Hoopes said. "He thought he could run the company by just walking around being a leader and he didn't have to really manage." Bush likewise, making Sept. 11 a case of good versus evil, "is the biggest case study of a guy who thought his job was to walk around and be a cheerleader talking about values and everything else was going to take care of itself," he said.

Bush made no secret of relying on his gut, seeking divine guidance and asserting faith in his values. He did not read deeply or delve deeply into policies. "I feel so strongly about my principles and values," he said last May...