Focus Leadership Blog

Name: Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa, aka Nicolas Sarközy.

Occupation: Current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra.

Career Highlights: Grew up just outside Paris in a strongly Catholic family, which was the influence of his Gaullist grandfather (Nicolas rarely saw his actual father, who refused to help the family at all and was generally, if you'll pardon the colloquialism, a total butt-lord). The family situation might explain Sarközy's unimpressive academic record; failed the sixième at Lycée Chaptal, mediocre student at the Cours Saint-Louis de Monceau, couldn't graduate from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris because his English wasn't good enough, etc. He also had the distinction of being a right-wing activist at the notoriously left-wing Université Paris X Nanterre. Oops. He still managed to become a lawyer despite all this, specializing in business and family law and Silvio Berlusconi, who is almost a living parody of business and family laws.
Sarközy's political career is, in keeping with European politics, hopelessly convoluted, but it began when he became a city councillor in Neuilly-sur-Seine; he was 23. He gained clout by personally negotiating with the "Human Bomb" in 1993, stalling him long enough for RAID officers to sneak in and kill him. From there, his career phased in and out of the circles of power in French politics, as dictated by his weird relationship with Jacques Chirac, but he has eventually staked out a claim for himself as a divisive right-wing politician (whatever that even means in Europe). This isn't even a cursory examination of his road to the presidency, but anything more in-depth would have to be handed down to this writer's heirs to complete. Let's just say that French politics are complicated.
Sarközy has been married three times, the details of which were quite popular minor scandals in France, and is reportedly very protective of his image, especially his height. Reuters and the French media claim that he wears lifts in his shoes and stands on boxes to appear taller (he's 5'5"). Why a guy with that much money and power and a supermodel wife would care one iota about this stuff is beyond anyone's comprehension.

Dominant Pattern(s): Driver. Sarközy has certainly been through rough waters in his life, but he has a knack for besting the tide and righting himself and other boating-related metaphors for triumphing over adversity. He has definite goals, and doesn't let being knocked out of favorable positions stop him from pursuing/achieving them. He's almost Nixon-esque in how well he comes back from defeat.

Recommendation(s) for Improvement: Collaborator/Organizer. Sarközy wouldn't have as much adversity to triumph over if his relationships, both professional and personal, didn't change with the weather. He spent a lot of time on the outside looking in, and micromanages the press and his cabinet while putting his foot in his mouth in public. He needs a lot of help working with people on a consistent, longterm basis, and he needs to keep his personal life together or else all that chaos will bleed into his political career, too. A mix of Balanced Composure and Bounce Back exercises would do wonders, as would some art lessons. Sculpting, maybe. And therapy. Can't forget therapy.