When voting for political leaders (2)

Political leaders can be any Type. All Types have their gifts and their challenges so it doesn't matter what Type a leader (or anyone else) is. What does matter is the Level of Development at which they are operating. So if we look at Donald Trump again, it is not the fact that he is an Eight that is the issue. (In fact Eights are in many ways the most natural leaders of all the Types as they are confident, decisive and action-oriented with the ability to carry people along with them as they have huge energy and dynamism). However, at the lower Levels of Development (as in all the Types), the ego is more pronounced and they become more reactive, defensive and driven to prove something. In the case of the Eight, the basic fear is of being weak, vulnerable and controlled by others. As a result the basic desire is to be strong and to be in control, to have power. If they are operating in the higher Levels (that is to say they have a certain level of self-awareness and security within themselves) their personality or 'ego' will be less pronounced and they will be open, relaxed and flexible. There will be a freedom of approach, the ability to choose how they react and the security to be able to deal with not always being strong and in control. If, however, they are operating in the Lower Levels (which means there is a lack of self-awareness and an insecurity) the slightest thing will prompt reactive, defiant and over-compensating behaviour. In the case of the Eight, this behaviour manifests as aggression and attempts to control others, to have the upper-hand. As the ego will do whatever it has to do to bolster its own idea of self, we see, in the Eight, the need to make themselves feel strong and powerful. In very unhealthy Eights this leads to an abuse of the power they hold because the only means of making themselves feel strong is to make other people weak and vulnerable - hence the bullying, authoritarian and dictatorial behaviour we see in some Eight leaders.