LEADERSHIP means different things to different people. For some, it means having the ability to construct a clear vision of how you would like the world to be, and to be able to develop these ideas in a coherent way in order to make the biggest possible positive difference.
Others might focus on the need for leaders to have good people skills to enable them to build and develop a team around them. Good management is also seen as crucial, so that those in charge can ensure that plans are efficiently delivered on time and on budget.
Leaders need to be able to inspire action in others, and to act as a figurehead to bring people together to fight for a common cause.
But despite the small differences in definition, everyone understands a leader's importance, from what that means to organisations as diverse as small local teams, or large multi-national companies.
On Friday morning, Scotland will wake up to a new government, which will need the right range of credible and deliverable policies to be able to move Scotland forward. And it will need a leader, not only to steer Scotland into the future, but also to take steps to build our economy and our society to ensure future prosperity.
So, among the candidates, who do you trust most to provide the leadership that Scotland needs? Would you really trust a Conservative First Minster to stand up to David Cameron and George Osborne to make sure that Scotland isn’t short-changed when calculating our share of UK public spending? Would you trust a Labour First Minster to face up to a future crisis in Scotland’s manufacturing industry when the party's response to crises in the steel and shipbuilding industry was to say that the promises they made only two years ago in the referendum campaign no longer apply?
Nicola Sturgeon has been at the forefront of Scottish politics for almost two decades. She has the vision and a plan, together with the passion and determination to move Scotland forward over the next five years. While many commentators noted that she grew in stature throughout the Scottish referendum campaign, it has been during her time as First Minister that she has demonstrated her ability to shine.
Over the past few weeks and months, the leader of the SNP has set out her vision for combating the inequality in Scotland’s educational outcomes which is holding our society back. She has built a strong team around her, who have all played their part in delivering for Scotland and in making sure our voices are heard loud and clear in Westminster.
Under her leadership we’ve fought and won to retain jobs in Scotland’s steel industry, and alongside John Swinney, she has led the way in protecting Scotland from a £7 billion cut to our budget by the Tories following the transfer of powers to the Scottish Parliament earlier this year.
The SNP leader has been an inspiration for women across the country, not only by virtue of her position, but through her positive actions to promote the role of women in government by appointing one of the very few gender balanced cabinets in the democratic world.
These are just some of the reasons why she has the highest approval ratings of any politician in these islands.
But if you agree with me that you want Nicola Sturgeon to be Scotland’s First Minister on Friday morning, you can’t take this for granted. The only way to guarantee this is by giving both your votes tomorrow to the SNP.
There has been a lot of discussion during the campaign about whether, given the current opinion polls, the SNP will win a majority of parliamentary seats from the constituency vote alone. But this debate ignores our most recent experience of how our voting system works.
The SNP’s historic victory in the Holyrood election in 2011 was built upon the foundation of winning
53 constituency seats, but this alone wasn’t enough to deliver a majority government. It was the 16 seats the party won on the regional lists which took us over the line to be able to form a strong Scottish Government. The second vote will be equally crucial this time round.
The past few weeks have demonstrated that there’s only one credible candidate to be elected First Minster of Scotland. The campaign ends tonight. Tomorrow Scotland will make its choice.
I’m with Nicola.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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