Exercise 2. Open the brackets using the appropriate words.

TYPES OF LEADERS

IF YOU’RE A LIAR, A BULLY OR A CHEAT, THEN YOU TOO COULD BE A GREAT WORLD LEADER

Tracy McVeigh, the Observer

If you want to get ahead, be egotistical, stubborn and dis­ agreeable. And a bit of untidiness will help too.

At work look out for the people with the messy desks and the reputation for being underhand and manipulative, the bullying ones who never listen to your advice, and the colleague who tells blatant lies. They are the ones destined to triumph.

These are the findings of an in-depthexploration of great­ ness which reveals that a person’s personality type is a clear in­ dicator of success.

The research presented yesterday to the American Psycho­ logical Association conference in Washington, examined the tra­ its of the most successful men in the US history — all 41 Presidents – and compared them to more average individuals.

The truth is that being nice gets you nowhere — not to the White House or Number 10 or even on to a parish council.

The researchers discovered that the great Presidents were low on straightforwardness, vulnerability and order. “The very characteristics which mark people out as an unattractive choice as a spouse or a neighbour make them successful as leaders”, said Rubenzer. “One real surprise was that people who are a little disorganized do a bit better. Abraham Lincoln was notoriously untidy, and it certainly seems to be an asset”.

The psychologists asked 100 biographers and historians to help them fill in questionnaires and then scored them on differ­ ent characteristics. Forcefulness, the willingness to flatter and manipulate, egotism and assertiveness all seemed to help push Presidents up the ladder of greatness.

Rubenzer and his team believe that the same applies to suc­cess in all walks of life. The completed personality profiles showed strong links between the characters of the great, and com­ mon traits among the bad.

“As far as UK goes, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher fit right into our model. Stubborn, assertive and socially often obnoxious – just the right stuff to make them great figures in history. This research can equally be applied as a measure of who will succeed in the world of business and the workplace”, said Ruberzer.

The team further categorized the Presidents into seven per­sonality types: innocents, autocrats, good guys, introverts, ac­tors, philosophers, extroverts and maintainers. Innocents: too nice for their own good, these people make it to the top through a fluke. In Britain John Major and the late Alec Douglas-Home, a Tory Prime Minister in the sixties, are in this category. Auto­crats: the disagreeable, bossy bullies. Using the rules applied by the researchers, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill and the US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon are in this group. Introverts: erratic, anxious and tense, like British PMs Ramsey MacDonald and Anthony Eden, and US President Her­bert Hoover. Extroverts: publicity-hungry, assertive, dominant, but somehow low on organizational skills. Bill Clinton – des­tined for the history books if only for his sex life, say research­ers – and Tony Blair are examples. Actors: similar to extro­verts but less open. They have low concentration. Ronald Re­agan and Harold Macmillan are examples. Philosophers: their interests are wide and they are not afraid of change – like Clem­ent Attlee, Labour’s post-war election victor. Maintainers: tra­ditional, holding family values and not open to new experiences. George Bush and Harry Truman are in this group.

Exercise 1. Match the English adjectives with their Russian equivalents.

7) anxious g) упрямый, упорный

8) tense h) закулисный, тайный

9) blatant i) командирский, распоряжающийся

Exercise 2. Open the brackets using the appropriate words.

1. She was supremely (самолюбивая) at heart.

2. Speculations about the crisis of Christian civilization are nothing but (неприкрытая) propaganda of Islam.

3. Mind you, I’ll really not tolerate such (отвратительный) behaviour.

4. People showed (упорное) resistance to the plans for a nucle­ ar power station in their town.

5. Success makes a person (самовлюбленный).

6. The provocation was so strong and so (неприкрытый) that it was amazing there was not a riot.

7. He is known to treat his colleagues in а (командирский) manner.

8. We wondered which (тайный) dodges our adversaries would attempt this time.

9. There was а (напряженное) silence as the police waited for the terrorist’s next move.

10. Older children are less (себялюбивый) than younger ones, and are more willing to accept other people’s ideas.

11. With (явный) discourtesy the reporters continued to harass the bereaved family.

12. The government is (беспокоится о том, чтобы) to reassure everyone that the situation is under control.

13. He managed to win the elections by using (закулисные) methods.

14. His writings arc brilliant but (беспорядочный).

15. She charged the firm, which had rejected her, with (явный) sex discrimination.

Exercise 3. Translate the sentences below using the following adjectives: blatant, underhand, egotistical, obnoxious, bossy, erratic, anx­ious, tense, stubborn.

1. У него масса отвратительных черт. но он надежный че­ловек.

2. Атмосфера в комнате ожидания была чрезвычайно на­пряженной.

3. Властная натура посла и склонность отдавать распоря­жения командирским голосом заставляли его подчинен­ных трепетать.

4. Взволнованные кандидаты с нетерпением ожидали ре­зультатов голосования.

5. Бессистемная деятельность компании вызывает обеспо­коенность ее акционеров и деловых партнеров.

6. Несмотря на упорное сопротивление военного лобби президенту удалось назначить нового министра.

7. Посол счел поведение первого секретаря вопиющим не­ повиновением.

8. Он был человеком несомненно талантливым, но себялю­бивым. и с ним было трудно поддерживать деловые от­ ношения.

9. Путем закулисных маневров и вероломных интриг ему удалось взять под контроль всю компанию.

10. Население оказало упорное сопротивление планам пра­вительства по строительству атомной электростанции.