[u]Nadia Burns[/u], age 17.

[b]1)[/b] [img]http://i64.tinypic.com/2rdkzg2.jpg[/img]
[b]2)[/b] Portland, Maine, United States of America
[b]3)[/b] Strength of will. Leadership is not a rewarding undertaking; all blame is laid solely at your feet, and regardless of what you do, you alienate someone. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and someone in charge who wants to appeal to the masses and save their popularity does their people no good. Thus, strength of will, coupled with logic and informed reasoning, is a desperately valuable trait, and one found in a small number of individuals throughout the world.
[b]4)[/b] It's likely ridiculous to peek back into my childhood for moments of poor leadership - children are inherently poor leaders to begin with - but it's in my childhood I have to delve because it's there I find the most obvious examples, if not the most philosophical. Leading games and childhood adventures often offers those pivotal minutes where you should have been a better leader and failed. You go out with your friends into the forest to find a place for a clubhouse and find a shack instead. Your friends want to enter the shack. You don't. You suggest not to. They tease you. You give in, because pleasing the masses outweighs will. You spend the next thirty minutes running away screaming because the shack isn't empty, it houses a wild animal, and when your parents ask you about the neighbor girl who hasn't been found yet at dinner that night, you think back and consider what you should have done differently. I wasn't a very headstrong child, and I was easily upset, and if I'd just been a little stronger in spirit, perhaps these things could have been avoided.
[b]5)[/b] Step one, re-evaluation. Sit down and comb over what assets remain under my control, collect them and keep them nearby to check again when needed. Step two, planning. Take that previously garnered information and sit down with my team to work out a reasonable method of utilizing them to deal with the most imminent threat to myself and my nearest ally. Step three, utilization. Enact the previously concocted plan to the best of the abilities of my militia and/or ambassadorial team.
[b]6)[/b] Morale. The masses are a great asset, and also large, and potentially dangerous to anyone who tries to enforce protocol beyond their emotional breaking point. Internal riots are just as dangerous as war.
[b]7)[/b] Genghis Khan. Throughout his lifetime, he exhibited sound judgement and an intense drive, even when it came time to divide his kingdom between his sons, making choices based on logical reasoning for the betterment of his dynasty even at the risk of alienating some of his peoples.
[b]8)[/b] Martial prowess, wilderness survival, espionage training, getting a good night's rest, agricultural skill, the art of persuasion.
[b]9)[/b] The illness. The war will rage until it dies, which might be sooner if more people die. There's nothing to rebuild if there's no people left in the wake of disease.
[b]10)[/b] I consider myself intelligent, quiet and a bit scattered. I'm much less likely to brazenly throw caution to the wind or approach things head-on, as I prefer a cautious and subtle approach to all issues presented to me. Social connections come with some difficulty, but I endure them; I suspect I'm still standoffish with individuals I consider friends.