The secret word on leadership
We have been led to believe that an army of generals cannot win a war. We have always been trained to distance ourselves from the leader within us and accept the role of follower. However, leadership is what it takes to move people forward and change their lives for the better. Leadership is key to happiness and development, both personally and socially. Furthermore, the potential for leadership exists within each of us and discovering it is within our reach. As Brian Tracy says, “You have within you, right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world throws your way.”
The interest in what makes effective leaders is as old as history itself. However, the literature on the subject is more like a contest of personal statements about leadership and the formulation of frameworks, models and approaches. In the study and discussion of leadership, everyone seems to have a personal vision. Even the definitions of leadership are as varied as the explanations. Philosophical discourses on leadership are too scant to be useful, while discussions have been in terms of morality or elusive life prescriptions for the general population as in Rawls’s Theory of Justice. In psychology, social psychology, politics and organizational behavior there are very interesting entries on “leadership”, but these entries are rather descriptive, without being analytically or critically rigorous, and the philosophical issues have to be distilled out of the maze of considerations.
Some years before seizing the reins of power, a prince asked his wise adviser to write a book on leadership, a kind of guide for his rule as the new king. The sage spent several years writing down his knowledge and wisdom on the matter. When the book was finally completed, the sage was summoned to write an executive summary to save the busy prince from spending a lot of time reading it. Meanwhile, the prince was involved in important matters and could hardly find time to even read the summary of the book. He then asked the sage to sum up the entire leadership book in one word. A few months later, the sage returned to the prince to reveal the magic word of leadership that sums up all his knowledge and wisdom. When the word was revealed, the prince proudly and laconically replied that he had always known it.
Claire Booth Luce popularized the idea of ”life imprisonment,” noting that ultimately history often sums up a leader’s contribution in a single sentence. She has also popularized the idea that we are the perpetrators of our own “life sentence.” If you want your ‘life sentence’ to bear the stamp of an effective leader, you need to know the secret word that sums up all the wisdom and knowledge about leadership. Don’t worry if you don’t know the word. Leadership can be improved and developed through lifelong learning and experience. However, leadership principles and concepts can be more quickly mastered through study and training. You may be surprised at how easily the word of leadership can be expressed.
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