How to Select an American President

To what extent does the content of resumes indicate the future performance and viability of candidates for any elected position to which they are aspiring incumbency? Using common business practices that may very well be “best practices,” it is suggested that voters evaluate candidates for elected office in the same manner that they might be evaluated by their employers for prospective jobs.
In a sense, every citizen in the United States of America has an opportunity, if not an obligation, to act in the role of a hiring employer when it comes to selecting and electing candidates for public office. It cannot be presumed that every citizen in the voting public knows how to do this. That is why this subject is so important.
To evaluate resumes of candidates for the job of president of the US, one must have a job description and must have a list of required and desired qualifications. As it stands today, there is no job description and there is no list of qualifications beyond a skimpy set of legal requirements as specified in the US Constitution.
Therefore, the present process employed by citizens to select and elect presidential candidates might be described as an ad hoc popularity contest. It might also be described as a battle of donations by wealthy campaign contributors. Running for president consumes much money. Running a campaign requires much organization, planning, and strategizing.
Yet, where in the process is the formal requirement for candidates to declare and publish their prospective agendas and their manifestos describing how they intend to produce defined outcomes? What are the nation’s required outcomes? What are their respective performance measures?
These are the topics offered for discussion here:
• Relevance of US Constitutional Requirements The US Constitution specifies certain requirements for presidential candidates
• Relevance of presidential candidate resumes
• Predictive attributes
The person must be a natural-born citizen of the United States and must have been a permanent resident of the US for at least 14 years.
Each candidate must be at least 35 years of age.
• What is the relevance of being a “natural-born” citizen?
• What is the relevance of having been a permanent resident?
• What is relevant about being at least 35 years of age?
It is a bit of trivia that 8 of the nine first presidents were born under the British Crown. The natural-born citizen requirement was apparent to ensure that candidates were not unduly influenced by foreign governments. Being required to have had recent residence might ensure that candidates are intimately familiar with the matters of the nation? What about the minimum age?
In this book, it is not age that is as relevant as much as it is the likelihood of having acquired skill, knowledge, experience, proficiency and wisdom to perform in such a responsible and comprehensive capacity. Likewise, it is suggested that voters would be well-served to require candidates to produce certifiable evidence that they are of high intelligence because the job surely demands it. How much time must one invest to demonstrate the capacity for being an effective leader of large and complex enterprises?
Relevance in Understanding the President’s Job Model
What is the job description for the job of president? In the book, the subject is addressed as the president’s job model. The concept of modeling jobs was derived from performance management science that was developed by AT&T in the 1970s in concert with numerous consultants and academics for the purpose of engineering precise performance from the combination of people and technology. That foundation served for continuous development with the advancement of computer technology and understanding about the management of work.
Performance analysis and modeling techniques were applied to identify the six primary tasks performed by Presidents of the United States. Academics and laymen voters are encouraged to continue to verify and validate the accuracy of these tasks and to assess their relevant importance.
Here is the current hypothesis.
A presidential candidate should be knowledgeable about and sufficiently experienced in enterprise performance improvement initiatives, preferably with successful past performance on the resume. This experience can be from public or private sectors.
Continuous improvement in a democratic form of government comes from the following:
• Changing, amending, and retiring and replacing present laws

• Issuing presidential directives and memos communicating policies and policy guidance
• Administering directives and memos as they too require changing, amending, retiring, and replacing

• Strategic planning

• Budgeting and funding requests

All of these things are a product of the president’s management approach and government processes and routines governing them.
Proposed is that the first and most important presidential task is staffing, organizing and scheduling the executive branch work of government. In retrospect, the community organizing skills possessed by President Barack Obama were most significant and relevant. However, a president must also have a robust network of associates and allies from which to recruit and staff executive positions. Having a recruiting universe of qualified candidates (those who can readily obtain security clearances) for all of the government department and agency executive positions is an essential requirement.
Furthermore, an effective chief executive leverages the appointed staff as a multiplier on their effectiveness by selecting individuals who are more knowledgeable about specific areas of government than the commander-in-chief.
The Commander-in-chief is the top executive and is also the top expert in Constitutional law about which the incumbent is the leading executive implementer and often author of new and amended legislation.
Task 1: Planning, staffing, organizing, and scheduling Presidential work and government functions
Subtask 1.1: Recruit and staff the cabinet and department and agency appointments
Subtask 1.2: Conduct cabinet meetings to develop and implement strategies and policies for accomplishing the nation’s workload and issues
Subtask 1.3: Define the nation’s outcomes and priorities for each major department and agency to produce the nation’s strategic plan
Task 2: Develop the President’s management agenda and budget and reconcile with Congress
Subtask 2.1: Assume responsibility for the legacy agenda and make adjustments to align with the President’s management agenda or equivalent
Subtask 2.2: Work with cabinet heads to develop performance plans and schedules
Subtask 2.3: Work with Congressional leadership and collaborate to implement the nation’s strategy, plans, and programs
Task 3: Initiate and approve legislation
Subtask 3.1: Propose bills to Congress
Subtask 3.2: Consult and advise Congress
Subtask 3.3: Collaborate with industry and business leaders in the development of policies and regulations of all kinds Subtask 3.4: Approve or veto legislation
Subtask 3.5: Request a declaration for war from Congress
Task 4: Implement plans and manage on-going operations
Subtask 4.1: Review and evaluate programs that include new acquisitions and on-going operations
Subtask 4.2: Evaluate programs including legacy processes and engineer new ones for accomplishing and producing required and promised outcomes
Subtask 4.3: Continuously improve
Task 5: Report progress and discuss issues with the American public to keep them informed
Task 6: Meet with heads of state and participate in international meetings