Przywództwo „wiecznego prezydenta” – przypadek Wojciecha Szczurka w Gdyni
The leadership of an “everlasting mayor” – the case of Wojciech Szczurek in Gdynia

Summary/Abstract: The president of Gdynia, Wojciech Szczurek won all direct elections in the first round, with a very large advantage over his rivals. His election committee – Samorządność (Self-governance) – has always won an absolute majority in the city council. W. Szczurek belongs to the category of „everlasting mayors”. The aim of these considerations is to find an answer to the key question concerning the specificity of W. Szczurek’s local leadership. The main hypothesis was adopted that the peculiarity of the leadership of Gdynia’s president results both from the personal attributes of W. Szczurek and the socio-cultural specificity of the inhabitants of the city. Gdynia was built by the settlers who came here less than 100 years ago. It was also hypothesized that the leadership of W. Szczurek is the result of combining three leadership styles: manager, artist and priest. It was also assumed that the politicians of the president’s Samorządność election committee emphasized his achievements, competences and non-party status. In turn, his opponents (affiliated with parliamentary political parties) downplay his success, and only emphasize his PR skills. The considerations were based on the author’s original research – first of all – in-depth interviews with some of Gdynia’s councillors. Deliberations were supplemented by the results of survey research: the perception of an ideal president’s attributes among local politicians from the Tri-City (Trójmiasto – Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot) was examined. The method of weighting the preferences of choice was used. The general conclusions are as follows. The specificity of W. Szczurek’s leadership in Gdynia results from the socio-cultural framework of the city and the leader’s personal qualities. These personal features allowed to indicate three of his leadership attitudes: an effective manager, a sagacious judge and a helpful scout.

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