essay - GMAT: Issue 25

A powerful business leader has far more opportunity to influence the course of a community or a nation than does any government official.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Answer:
I don't agree with the opinion that business leaders can exert more influence on the course of a community or a nation than government officials. I think that government officials have advantages in terms of its power, its way, and its intention.

First, I believe that government officials have more power over the course of the community or the nation than do business leaders. The typical example is the president of the United States of America. Who can have more influence than President Bush does? He decided to start the Iraqi Invasion, not to sign Kyoto protocol, and to try to introduce 700 billion dollars bail out for Wall Street meltdown. On the other hand, Bill Gates, a founder of Microsoft, admittedly influenced the way of the world by producing a revolutionary product, Windows, but, in terms of the course of the nation, he did a little, I bet.

Second, it's clear that government officials have much more ways to exert influence on the community or the nation than business leaders do. That is, government officials have a lot of direct ways to affect the community or the nation such as constituting a new law, attending a congress, or making a speech for public. On the other hand, business leaders do not have. They can just exert indirect influence such as producing better products or advancing an opinion to government. Or, they are just privately able to attend various events such as casting a ballot or engaging in volunteer work. Therefore, as for the ways, business leaders have much less options than government officials do.

Third, I can say that if somebody wants to make the world better or change the course of the government, he would definitely choose to be a politician rather than a CEO of a corporation. I can take an example of Barack Obama, a candidate for the next president of the United States of America, my favorite politician at present. He had a choice when I graduated from university. The choice was that he would be a business person in Manhattan or would be a community organizer in Chicago. If he had chosen the way of being in the business world, he would have made big money, since he was pretty competent even at doing business. He, however, chose the way of a local community officer, although the payment was much less than one of the other job. Why did he do such a folly? The answer is simple. He just wanted to influence on the community, just wanted to improve people's quality of live, and just had an intention of changing the world. He did and will do in the United States of America.

To sum up, I disagree with the statement saying that business leaders have more influence on the community or the government than government officials do. It's because government officials have more power, because they have more ways, and because they have clearer intentions to change the course of the community or the government than business leaders do.