Some people believe that in order to be effective, political leaders must yield to public opinion and abandon principle for the sake of compromise. Others believe that the most essential quality of an effective leader is the ability to remain consistently

It is very hard to get the respect of people when changing the mind easily, especially when potential benefits can be gained. The most essential quality of an effective leader is the ability to remain consistently committed to particular principles and objectives. Acting this way, the leader gains people's trust, voters feel safe and know that they can count on the leader. To call the leader "effective", however, answering people's needs is crucial. The person in charge should not abandon the principles, but always search for the best solution to fulfill needs of those who elected him.

Taking political leadership first, we see very often that politicians change their minds very easily according to the polls. Prospective candidate , however, loose peoples respect when one day he is fully convinced about an issue, and the other day completely change the viewpoint. It is the wise argumentation in order to defend one's views and convince people, that should be used to gain potential voters.

Secondly, cooperation between dichotomous political parties is the key to effectiveness of government. Political leaders has to search the compromise, but with the respect for primary principles and objectives.

To recapitulate, for the leader to be effective, listening and fulfilling nation's needs is inevitable. Voters, however, choose the politician because he represents certain set of values. If the leader abandon the principles for the sake of compromise, he might lost his future voters very easily. On the other hand, when a person really live with the principles claimed, it is not so easy to abandon them. Even the opposition, knowing that the person really adheres to given set of principles, will respect them and most probably will search for different solutions. Here, politician has the respect not only from his voters, but also from his enemies. That's the art of ruling.