TOW #1 - Pope Francis and Donald Trump: Two Kinds of Power

Over the years, we have seen many leaders who have had different approaches to how they run their organization, or their country. There have been leaders of democracies, theocracies, and monarchies, all with different characteristics that separate them from one another. In this article, the leadership qualities of Pope Francis and Donald Trump are under the examination of Brian Frawley. Frawley is a former Catholic priest, and is now a principal of Hay Group in Boston. His practice focuses on leadership development and executive assessment, which combined makes him a pretty reliable source when it comes to an opinionated piece. The two types of leadership he discusses are "personal power" and "social power". Personal power "gathers energy and excitement from winning, from standing over and above others as conqueror and victor," (Frawley para. 3). He later goes on to explain how this type of power shows a strong desire for control. On the other hand, social power is aimed towards elevating others, expressing their full potential. The audience of this op-ed is most likely adults aged 21-35, because they are the most involved in these kinds of politics. Also, they are the ones responsible for whether or not Trump will be elected president. With that being said, clearly the rhetoric being used by the author was juxtaposition. He is essentially comparing the difference between two types of power, and then goes on to explain how they are successful, and likewise, unsuccessful. If we pay close attention, we can see that the author favors social power over personal power, and by using juxtaposition, he gets his purpose across to the reader in a well organized fashion. In my opinion, the purpose of the text is simple: to exploit one type of power (personal), and to support the benefits of another (social). When Frawley discusses the idea of social power, he uses a much more inspiring tone, compared to the basic monotone of personal power. He states, "It draws on inspiring language and symbolic actions to help people find their own power, both individually and collectively..." (Frawley para. 7).  So when it comes to whether or not the author wrote a successful op-ed, I side with yes due to the strong examples he uses, along with the rhetorical devices.