Profile of a leader: Nicolas Sarkozy

Résumé du document

Nicolas Sarkozy de Nagy Bocsa was born in Paris on the 28th of January 1955; he is the son of Paul Sarkozy de Nagy Bocsa a Hungarian immigrant who fled the Red army in 1944, and Andree Mallah a jurist of Jewish origin native from Salonica in Greece. At the age of four, he is abandoned by his father, and moves on with the rest of his family in the suburb of Paris to Neuilly. After a difficult schooling at the "Cours Saint Louis", he obtained his baccalaureate in 1973. He then started law studies at Nanterre University, and failed to enter the "Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris". In 1981 he graduates and starts a lawyer career first as assistant of Guy Danet, and then as associate within "Leibovici-Claude-Sarkozy" a firm specialized in real Estate law. Besides his job, Nicolas Sarkozy got involved in political organizations. In 1983, he became at only 28 years old mayor of Neuilly.

Extraits

[...] The second ethical practice of Nicolas Sarkozy is the promotion of fairness and social justice. All his career he has defended a model of “meritocracy”, which corresponds to system wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated ability and talent, rather than by wealth, family connections, class privilege, popularity or other historical determinants of social position and political power”. To do so, he first tried to improve the French educational system. In 2001 with Richard Descoing the director of the prestigious “Institut d'Etudes Politiques” de Paris, he introduced affirmative action in France by creating an admission procedure reserved for students coming from inner- city areas. [...]

[...] Besides his job, Nicolas Sarkozy gets involved in political organizations. In 1983, he becomes at only 28 years old mayor of Neuilly. Six years later in 1989, he is elected deputy. After the large victory of the RPR at the legislative elections in 1993, he is promoted minister of the budget, and starts to become popular as spokesman of the government. Despite the victory of the socialist party at the legislative elections of 1997, he gets on his political career and becomes general secretary of the RPR. [...]

[...] Consequently, during his campaign Nicolas Sarkozy lauded the return to a proximity police. Furthermore, Nicolas Sarkozy has so far always privileged human rights to economic interests during his visits abroad. In September, he negotiated with Mouammar Kadhafi the release of Bulgarian nurses unfairly prosecuted for having inoculated AIDS to children, whereas Areva and Vinci were signing at the same time important contracts in Libya. In July during his visit in the United States, he showed his disagreement concerning the war in Iraq or the Tokyo protocol to George Bush with the risk to degrade relationship between France and the United States. [...]

[...] The last leadership practice of Nicolas Sarkozy is the communication of high expectations. This practice, which has for impact to increase followers' sense of competence and self-efficacy (Avolo & Gibbon, 1988), was the base of Nicolas Sarkozy presidential Campaign. The best illustration of this was his slogan “tout devient possible” (everything becomes possible). More than a slogan, he brought innovative ideas essentially coming from northern countries. The first one is the instauration of “flex security” within the labor market. The term flex security is the contraction of flexibility and security, and refers to a social system combining facilities to fire for companies, and high indemnities for fired employees. [...]

[...] The second main leadership practice of Nicolas Sarkozy is to show his competences. The purpose of this practice is to increase the population trust and acceptance of his politic. Accordingly, during the presidential campaign Nicolas Sarkozy has headed the qualifications he gained along his career. He has effectively acquired financial and Economic skills as Budget minister, Management and communication skills as Interior Minister; and finally showed high administrative competencies as Mayor of Neuilly. Moreover his law background gives him a good understanding of the French justice. [...]