Although the Estonian president has significantly less direct power than, for example, the president of Ukraine, given today's geopolitical risks, the role is likely to be extremely important for Estonia. Even if the duties of the president may be somewhat unclear to our own people, it is important to recognize that in a crisis, allies will judge the actions of Estonia's president in comparison with better-known presidents elsewhere, rather than focusing on the specifics of our constitution.

That is why it is crucial that we elect the best possible president — someone capable of handling complex situations well. Of course, "good" means many different things to different people. To help make the best choice, we are preparing a practical guide for those responsible for electing the president as part of a civic initiative.

In Estonia, the president is elected by members of parliament and an electoral college, which makes it possible to apply best practices from successful hiring. These are the practices we want to share.

Leadership selection decisions are generally among the poorest management decisions. Only about half of those who hired someone a year ago believe they chose the right person and would make the same decision again today.

Based on our long-term experience in executive recruitment, as well as professional literature, the main reason for this failure is that people typically start by comparing candidates and listing tasks before agreeing on what the selected leader is expected to achieve. "This is a great person and they're currently available" is often the driver behind hiring decisions. It's no wonder things frequently go wrong.

The Estonian Constitution also lists about 20 duties that the president must perform. Focusing on tasks in hiring is a classic shortcut to failure, because it does not define the desired outcome. Usually, each task can be carried out in ways that lead to very different results. In most cases, without setting clear goals, no meaningful result is achieved at all.

If, for example, we are selecting an athlete to send to the next Olympics, we don't start with names. Eneli Jefimova, Henry Sildaru, and Ott Tänak are all excellent athletes — but only in their respective disciplines. Before choosing candidates, we must decide what event we are selecting for.

All proposed presidential candidates are excellent individuals — otherwise they would not be nominated. But which one is best suited for the next five years depends on what we expect the president to achieve during their term. The Constitution does not define this — and perhaps it is better that it does not, since every era brings different challenges and needs.

According to best practice, selecting a successful leader involves three steps:

1. First, agree on the goals the leader must achieve. Although there are usually many goals, only one to three are truly critical.
2. Only after agreeing on the goals can we define the criteria — skills and experience — that enable those goals to be achieved.
3. Finally, once the criteria are defined, we can begin searching for and comparing suitable candidates.

Often, when goals and criteria are well thought out, the pool of potential candidates expands — making it more likely to select an excellent leader.

The website presidendivalimised-2026.ee and its Facebook forum have been created so that everyone who considers this issue important can take part in the discussion. As a first step, we encourage everyone to think about what, in your opinion, are the one to three most important goals the next president of Estonia should achieve.

With the help of Estonia's thoughtful citizens and by following the fundamentals of recruitment, we hope to find the best possible president — one who is trusted both by the public and by our international partners. As a bonus, such a process gives any elected president a far stronger starting position for succeeding in their role.

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