Qualities of Leader
Leadership is the lifting of man’s vision to higher sights.
The leader who basically focuses on himself or herself is going to mislead. The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any other trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader’s charisma. For leadership is not magnetic personality – that can just as well be demagoguery. It is not “making friends and influencing people” – that is flattery.
Leadership is the lifting of man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of man’s performance to higher standard, the building of man’s personality beyond its normal limitations. Nothing better prepares the ground for such leadership than spirit of management that confirms in the day-to-day practices of the organisation strict principles of conduct and responsibility, high standards of performance, and respect for the individual and his work.
ACTION POINT: Set strict principles of conduct and high standards of performance, and respect people and their work.
• Extracted from Peter Drucker’s book The Daily Drucker published in 2004.
