The Monarch Candidate series of election questions

The Count

Arthur the Younger


Kingdoms Associated Press - London, England


I left Arthur's soapbox and wandered a little more in London Commons. A tent full of activity was begging me to enter. Being curious in nature, I did enter the campaign tent. Inside was that of a former heir, HRHAndreas Sharpe. Picking up a copy of the campaign I bide my time as he appeared busy with others. It was the typical political manifesto with who would do what job and events around England. I slipped the copy in my parchments for later reading. Once free of questions I asked him if he would like to have a KAP interview and so I began with questions for the interview.

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✍️ KAP
"With the lack of stability in the kingdom population-wise, how do you propose to get more people involved? "

Andreas Sharpe
"This is an issue that greatly concerns all of us and rightly so. There is no one single answer. However, by creating more opportunities for getting involved in communities, events and storytelling I believe we can become more attractive to new people, and being more inclusive would make people more inclined to stay in the Kingdom. This must be done at all levels, from Town involvement all the way up to the Crown. We have a wealth of creative minds, but we need to encourage and use them more to do this."

✍️ KAP
"What is your definition of leadership?"

Andreas Sharpe
"I have learned over the course of my years that good leadership comes down to a few basic tenets that I hope I will live up to:

1. Leadership begins with the person, not the position.
Before you can lead others, you must first manage yourself. Leadership is not so much a position you hold as it is a set of disciplines and behaviours you practice, the first and most fundamental of which is self-discipline. A leader without self-discipline is a disaster waiting to happen.

2. Leaders are as good at listening as they are at communicating.
People want their leaders to listen. Leaders don’t have to agree, but they do need to listen and seek to understand. People want to be understood at two levels: intellectual and emotional. At the intellectual level, people want the leader to understand what they are saying. At the emotional level, people want the leader to understand what they are feeling. Again, listening is not about agreeing with people. It is about respecting them and paying attention to them. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

3. Leadership is about wisdom, not intelligence.
There are plenty of smart people in positions of leadership. What we need are wise leaders. Our world has an overabundance of information, but we have a scarcity of real wisdom. Wise leaders have insight, that is, they see beyond the obvious. Why? Because they are looking!

4. Before you can lead, you must first learn to follow.
Great leaders are great followers. They are humble. They do not always need to be in charge. They understand the impact of great followership. If you don’t understand the dynamics of following, then you don’t understand the dynamics of leading. Many people in positions of authority are ineffective leaders precisely because they are not good followers.

5. Good Leaders create stability and drive change.
Effective leaders build and maintain a changeless core. From that foundation, they drive continuous change and improvement. The changeless core is a deep, unwavering commitment to shared values that gives people meaning and identity beyond their role in the organisation and beyond the circumstances, the organisation or its people may be facing. The commitment to continuous change derives from the leader’s recognition that success requires constant adjustment and continuous improvement. Today’s world deals ruthlessly with people and organisations who fail to adapt and change.

6. Good Leaders use their power by giving it to others.
Effective leaders are a source of power and energy for people, teams, and the organisation. They encourage the heart. They understand that power is not a zero-sum game. The more a leader empowers others, the stronger and more effective the leader and the team become.

7. Effective leadership requires courage. Lots of courage.
Courage comes from cor, which is the Latin word for heart. Courage means “strength of heart.” It takes great courage—that is, strength of heart—to be a great leader."

✍️ KAP
"What do you believe should happen to those close to you when they make an honest mistake?"

Andreas Sharpe
"When someone makes an honest mistake, they must be held accountable. I want to be very clear here that holding someone accountable is very different to punishing someone. If it is a mistake, that person must own it, and do their best to make it right. It doesn't matter how close that person is to me."

✍️ KAP
"Royal treasury - will you be transparent in how much is there and how it is spent?"

Andreas Sharpe
"Yes."

✍️ KAP
"What mistakes have you made that have improved who you are now?"

Andreas Sharpe
"I have made many mistakes in life. Far too many to list here, but I think the important thing about making mistakes is how one owns them, learns from them and moves forward. But you want a specific example… In my younger years, I had something of a short temper. I would speak without thinking, and this caused problems. As I have gotten older, I have learned that it’s better to take a step back for a moment and not just blurt out the first thing that enters my mind. A few years ago, during the election campaign of Queen Alexandria, I did lose my temper and ranted at someone because of what I saw as an attack on her person. I did not have all the facts then and did not know there were other, private issues, so my rant became exactly the thing I was ranting about. I regret outbursts like that to this day, and as I said I have learned that it is better to take a moment to “read the room” before speaking."

✍️ KAP
"Tell us about a time when your judgment has been tested in crisis."

Andreas Sharpe
"Shortly before the reign of the Mad King Frankie, I was the commander of the Mercia Regiment. It was a controversial appointment at the time. I made a unilateral decision to remove a prominent member of the regiment who happened to be my predecessor after certain discoveries of dishonesty were uncovered. Naturally, there was a lot of backlash for this, the person was a popular member of the community, and at the time, even though I had the support of the Count and my command staff, I did question my judgement and the decision I made because it furthered a rift that was opening within the community in the County."

✍️ KAP
"Are you open to the freedom of speech of anyone in the realm regardless of title or rank?"

Andreas Sharpe
"Yes. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right of all people. However, there are some that forget that freedom of speech is not freedom from the consequences of that speech."

✍️ KAP
"Many of the hardest decisions in the Kingdom won’t be consensus decisions. What will inform your decision-making?"

Andreas Sharpe
"While I do prefer reaching a consensus on matters, you are of course correct, there are times when that is not possible, and these will be the hardest decisions to make. I would be informed by what I know of the situation at the time, and I would be clear that responsibility of that decision falls on me and me alone. If after the fact, it turns out to have been the wrong decision, I would accept the consequences of that."

✍️ KAP
"Being a monarch requires decisiveness. Share with the readers some examples of your ability and willingness to be decisive."

Andreas Sharpe
"One example I have given in question 6. This next one is a more personal example. Years ago, there was a member of the Sharpe family, one Robert Steele. He decided to go on a spree of robbery and banditry, eventually robbing a prominent member of a large Mercian family, while the Sharpes were also living in Mercia. I immediately made a decision to not only expel him from the Sharpes and disown him, I also offered an apology and recompense to the injured party and his family. You may know Robert Steele as Sparky, now the leader of the “Knights of Gwydion” "

✍️ KAP
"What could cause you to fail as the monarch?"

Andreas Sharpe
"Forgetting that I serve the people, not the other way around."

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As we spoke, more and more continued to gather around inside. I thanked Andreas Sharpe for his time and quietly slipped out for some fresh air. I spied a headquarters for Danay Ashcroft who I had not heard of before and a fresh campaign headquarters of Katniss Locksley. This makes a total of five candidates and now seventeen days left to register. There is a rumour that a golden trophy is given for registering, but I have yet to see the trophy myself.

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Kallist0
England KAP
Editor in Chief
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Interviewees' opinions are those submitted in response to the questions asked of them and do not reflect the views of KAP or the reporter.