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n Oct. 20, Indonesia witnessed the end of the 10-year administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired general-turned-politician, and the beginning of the administration of Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, an entrepreneur-also-turned-politician whose popularity started locally.

Massive popularity became the ticket for Yudhoyono and Jokowi to win their elections. Both were media darlings and the kings of polls following their presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2014 respectively. From their journeys to the direct presidential elections, Indonesian democracy has seen the making of popularity-based leadership. Leadership is thus often perceived as identical to popularity.

Yet a leader often faces the need to make decisions that can risk his or her image. World leaders, such as Sukarno, Nelson Mandela or JF Kennedy, had proved that being a leader is not merely about being popular in the eyes of their people.

The new Indonesian president, Jokowi, has broken the traditional image of leadership, which has largely been about smart appearances, untouchable elite positions and being almost exclusively owned by elites from the aristocracy, the established political parties or the military. Jokowi has demonstrated his own leadership style, which relies on the importance of innovation and friendship among other things.

He has introduced a new approach in running his programs during his local and provincial administrations, which includes cutting red tape and utilizing information technology.

Jokowi has also successfully demonstrated a new style in public communication that is more relaxed, easy-going and has fewer psychological pressures and structural boundaries.

The term blusukan, meaning an impromptu visit and inspection, which refers to Jokowi'€™s style of communicating directly with his people, has become widely acknowledged. In a nutshell, innovation and friendship have attracted public media that have led to Jokowi'€™s rising popularity.

However, after Oct. 20 what Jokowi needs is not popularity. He needs confidence '€” calm self-assurance to create necessary work plans that gives maximum benefits to the public, even though they may spark widespread objections.

Jokowi needs confidence to be able to promote national agendas to repair existing problems, although the agendas may lead to political conflict even with his supporting parties. Moreover, Jokowi needs confidence in giving orders, direction and protection for his subordinates, even though his decisions may cause inconvenience to close allies.

Confidence is also needed by the new president to handle a difficult situation in which his policy options may be very limited. The recent public debate on fuel subsidies will most likely be the first test for Jokowi'€™s confidence in making timely decisions amid a scarcity of policy options.

The confidence should also be in place to deal with limited political support. The recent political battles in the legislature may become a lesson for Jokowi to become more confident and optimistic in facing other political tensions in the very near future.

Jokowi has offered insightful yet unfinished new concepts of leadership at the national level. As a new president, he needs to confidently prove that his leadership style suits Indonesian cultural and social dimensions. He needs to show us that his leadership is made of not only popularity, but also of belief and hard work.

Leadership is a continuous exercise that entails hard work to change the status quo, behavior, values and even beliefs '€” and thus may risk losing popularity.