Are Sane Leaders Really Best?

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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July 23, 2011

Are Sane Leaders Really Best?

Out soon: A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness by Nassir Ghaemi.

The author tells the Washington Post that presidents "widely considered successful -- such as Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy -- suffered from mood disorders for most of their lives... In times of crisis, leaders with mood disorders were at an advantage rather than impaired, he writes. They were more resilient, more creative, more thoughtful, more empathetic and better able to endure times of intense stress."

"Conversely, Ghaemi believes that George W. Bush and Tony Blair were failures as leaders because they were mentally healthy."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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July 23, 2011