How To Be Great

From Cleopatra to Churchill – Lessons from History's Greatest Leaders

James Adonis

• Publisher: Nero
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781863958004
• eBook ISBN: 9781925203790
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

What can we learn from the great leaders of the past? In this unique and engaging volume, James Adonis, one of Australia's best-known leadership educators, shows how we can apply the lessons of history to the challenges of the present. Drawing on examples from Walt Disney to Joan of Arc, Adonis explores the many different aspects of good leadership, illustrating how history's most successful leaders have used particular leadership styles to their advantage, and explaining how we can use those same techniques in the modern workplace.The key to good leadership? Adaptability. Certain situations may require Benjamin Franklin's pragmatism, Dorothea Dix's dynamism, or something altogether different – the most important lesson is that the very best leaders are able to adjust their style to suit any given situation.Covering more than fifty historical leaders, ranging from Julius Caesar and Eleanor Roosevelt to less familiar figures such as suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, US President James Madison and environmental activist Wangari Maathai, How To Be Great is an entertaining and insightful leadership book with a difference.

1

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

At the age of twenty, Alexander the Great succeeded his father to become the King of Macedon, a small kingdom in northern Greece that, within a decade, would be more powerful than its modest beginnings would suggest. In the ten years following his ascension to the throne, Alexander grew the Hellenic empire to a region so expansive that the Ancient Greek influence was felt as far east as India and as south as northern Africa, comprising the countries we know today as Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan and more. Such conquests, following one emphatic victory after another, had never before been attempted, let alone achieved.

The result was over three million square kilometres of captured land, with the Ancient Greek philosophy and civilisation imposed on millions of people in what might very well have been one of the earliest models of globalisation. In this vast expanse, an area comprising dozens upon dozens of cities, most of which were surrendered with little opposition, international trade flourished. These states, once independent and insular, were now connected to each other in commerce and in custom. Of course, such a campaign today – bringing invasion, death and destruction – would rightly be seen as barbaric and a humanitarian catastrophe. But, in the context of ancient history, where such morals were respected less than military strength, it nevertheless serves as an example, albeit a bloody and ruthless one, of what can be achieved with brave and heroic leadership.

It was this type of leadership that would set the standard for the military rulers who followed, not just in Europe but all around the world. Indeed, thousands of years later, Alexander the Great’s talent for inspiring loyalty and devising strategy are still emulated by leaders today, both practically and ideologically.

During his time as a general, Alexander could best be described as a leader who led by example. When he issued directions to his soldiers, he did so not from the comforts of a palace but from the battlefront. This meant he confronted the same enemies his soldiers confronted, he suffered the same wounds his soldiers suffered and he endured the same horrors his soldiers endured. And it is that characteristic – leading by example – that is the first leadership lesson in this book.

In essence, leading by example can be defined by how willing you are to do what you want your employees to do. Research demonstrates that team members very quickly begin to emulate their leader’s behaviour. One particular study, however, found there were two very interesting conditions that determined whether employees would follow the example set by their leader.² The first was that the leader had to be close, not distant. The second was that the leader had to be perceived as worthy.

On the first point, distance is an important thing to consider if you’re seeking to be more effective. If you’re constantly away in meetings and have little contact with your staff (‘contact’, by the way, doesn’t include email), you can safely assume you’re a distant leader. What that means is that employees won’t feel connected to you, and with that essential bond absent, they’re less likely to follow you, let alone attempt to emulate you.

The second consideration is worthiness. Employees will be more willing to follow you – not just in instruction but also in behaviour and attitude – if they see you as someone who deserves to be followed. If what you personally worship is hierarchy and power, you’re almost guaranteed to struggle to be seen as worthy. But if your key priority is your team and their potential for success, your position will almost certainly be reciprocated.

You can see both proximity and worthiness clearly in Alexander the Great. He wasn’t a distant leader – he was there with his men, day in day out, fighting alongside them, risking precisely what they were risking. And he was worthy. His record of success was unparalleled, a brilliance that inspired not only his own Hellenic forces but also those of his allies, many of whom even joined his military upon being conquered, so that Alexander’s soldiers, numbering in the tens of thousands, were a diverse representation of different ethnicities.

Based on Alexander’s successes, here are some suggestions on how to lead by example:

• Be visible. There’s no example to set if people don’t get a chance to see it.

• Be reflective. Ask yourself this question: Would you be happy being led by someone like you? And if everyone in your team behaved the way you do, would that be okay?

• Be proactive. If the answers to the previous two questions were in any way negative, do something about it. Start by enhancing your self-awareness. The easiest way you can do this is by asking your employees for feedback on your leadership. But be warned: if you haven’t built a trusting relationship with them, they’re unlikely to be honest. So perhaps your first step – especially if you’re a distant leader – is to become more present and to connect meaningfully with your team.

• Be consistent. Avoid being the type of leader who personifies the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ maxim. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.

‘I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.’

— ALEXANDER THE GREAT

2

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Eleanor Roosevelt was much more than just a First Lady; she was a leader in her own right who pioneered many of her own firsts. She was the first presidential spouse to hold her own press conferences, at which she only allowed female journalists to attend. She was the first First Lady to speak openly about racial issues. She was the first to have a regular newspaper column in which she wrote about feminism and other matters considered bold and discomfiting. And, perhaps most admirably, she was among the first American delegates to the United Nations.

Such boldness is perhaps all the more astonishing when we take into account her younger years. She was awkward as a child, with a shyness that was only exacerbated by the death of her parents and brother at a young age. Eventually she married her fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who would go on to become the president of the United States with the help of Eleanor’s encouragement and sharp campaigning. At the time of his election, she warned the American people she would be a ‘plain’ and ‘ordinary’ First Lady. It was a promise, thankfully, she would not keep, even though it attracted her fair share of enemies.

The guiding principle of Eleanor Roosevelt’s leadership, according to many scholars, was morality. In particular, she exhibited what are referred to as the four Cs of moral leadership: conviction, commitment, courage and character.³

Those can be seen most vividly in her work with the United Nations. In 1946, she was the elected chair of the Human Rights Commission tasked with drafting an international bill of rights. In the two years that followed, her conviction and diplomatic skills were tested to the extreme as she clashed and negotiated with delegates around the world. Her commitment was on show as she worked with them to navigate their differences in pursuit of a unifying statement. And yet despite those formidable challenges, in the early hours of 10 December 1948, a majority of member nations voted for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Then they proceeded to give Eleanor Roosevelt a standing ovation in recognition of her leadership – and in particular her courage and strength of character – on this important matter.

Underpinning moral leadership are the elements of conflict and consciousness.⁴ Conflict is inevitable within groups of people. Whether a group happens to be a family or a bunch of friends or a team of employees, conflict is bound to arise. That’s because whenever people get together to work on a task there are always underlying tensions and hostilities, each one an unlit match waiting to be sparked. It is during conflict, however, that the real moral leader arises. And that morality is characterised first and foremost by a leader’s consciousness.

Consciousness is the ability of a leader to spot imminent conflicts by observing team members for signs of disengagement and stress. Consciousness occurs when leaders are in tune with their employees’ needs, wants and ambitions, remaining aware of whether those are on track to be met. Conscious leaders make mental notes of what caused conflicts in the past so that they’re better prepared for those that arise in the future.

What makes moral leadership so important is that leaders have extraordinary influence, especially those on the frontline who have the greatest amount of contact with employees. That could be you. What you say and do often determines how your employees think, feel and act. When you act immorally, or even when your morality is questionable, you give your employees the green light to do the same thing, with consequences you won’t be able to predict until it’s too late. So, to be a moral leader:

• Choose your role models carefully. Don’t look up to people just because they’ve successfully climbed the corporate hierarchy. Look up to them because they’ve succeeded while still maintaining the four Cs: conviction, commitment, courage and, most importantly, character.

• Identify your core principles. Whenever you’re faced with a moral dilemma, compare the available solutions with those principles and select the solution that best fits with what you hold dear. (Although if your core principles are only about the accumulation of power and wealth, moral leadership is possibly not high on your list of priorities and you’ve probably already abandoned this book. If you’re still with me, consider adding a few more to your list such as generosity, fairness, honesty and service.)

• Make it easy to be moral. Speak out against immorality. If you notice anything immoral in your workplace, and especially within your team, let it be known immediately that it is unacceptable.

• Keep any promises you make and take responsibility for your actions.

‘One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes . . . and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.’

— ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

3

MAHATMA GANDHI

Much of the success of India’s independence movement can be credited to Mohandas Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, meaning ‘great soul’. His peaceful protests and doctrine of nonviolent civil disobedience transformed civil rights movements not just in his own country but also in many others. The freedom that his movement helped to bring to India after eighty-nine years of British rule was not his only achievement – Gandhi also strove to alleviate poverty, expand women’s rights and diminish the discrimination of the ‘untouchable’ lower castes.

Gandhi’s efforts were not without opposition, and several attempts were made on his life. The first was a bomb thrown at his car. The second was a knife-wielding opponent who ran towards him. The next was a derailment of the train on which he was travelling. Another was a bomb that exploded at a venue at which he was due to speak. And the final attempt, this one successful, was by a gunman at point-blank range, when three bullets killed one of history’s most significant figures. The next day, more than a million people walked through the streets in mourning.

And yet, even though he was aware of the assassins and their brutal objective, Gandhi had nonetheless declared he did not regard any of them as enemies. He simply persevered with his mission to create an independent India, despite the threats to his life and several stints in prison.

Of the many lessons to be learned from Gandhi, the one most fitting is inclusiveness. His brand of inclusive leadership is perhaps best seen in his use of nonviolence. He never saw his opponents as foes to be conquered or overpowered but as people with hidden compassion that could be awakened. He saw trust as integral to every interaction because he trusted implicitly that there was goodness within every individual, goodness capable of making even the hardest souls realise they had erred, prompting them to take corrective action.

Non-inclusive leaders are those who do things to people. This idea was prominent in the corporate leadership of decades gone past, where the leader was supposed to be the one with all the answers. There was a perceived superiority associated with leadership, even though it was obvious in many cases that the leader had no idea what was going on.

Inclusive leaders, on the other hand, do things with people. This is an important distinction because it means that anyone can be involved in leadership duties. A formal leader might be a boss in hierarchy and job title, but that formal status should also include a willingness to allow employees to assume informal leadership responsibilities whenever opportunities arise. This necessitates what are known as the four Rs of inclusive leadership: respect, recognition, responsiveness and responsibility.⁵

Respect goes beyond the modern concept of diversity, which denotes the acceptance of differences between people, such as those that exist with age, gender, sexuality and race. Genuine respect goes further because it also comprises the ways in which leaders actively demonstrate respect – by the warm and welcoming tone of their voice, the openness of their body language and the fairness of their decisions.

Recognition, too, is more than merely saying thanks to employees for a job well done. True recognition encompasses the identification of each employee’s unique strengths and talents, the public promotion of those attributes and the incorporation of them at work as much as possible.

The same principle applies with responsiveness. It’s more than just providing employees with prompt responses to their enquiries. It also involves pre-empting those enquiries by staying aware of the moments when your employees’ enthusiasm is dimming, so that you can take preventative action. It isn’t paradoxical to call it proactive responsiveness.

Responsibility, similarly, isn’t just about taking responsibility but also about sharing it. Ofte...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Alexander the Great
• 2 Eleanor Roosevelt
• 3 Mahatma Gandhi
• 4 Queen Elizabeth I
• 5 Jesus
• 6 Joan of Arc
• 7 Napoleon Bonaparte
• 8 Catherine the Great
• 9 Abraham Lincoln
• 10 Cleopatra
• 11 George Washington
• 12 Florence Nightingale
• 13 Julius Caesar
• 14 Margaret Thatcher
• 15 Martin Luther King Jr.
• 16 Harriet Tubman
• 17 Christopher Columbus
• 18 Anne Sullivan
• 19 Charlemagne
• 20 Amelia Earhart
• 21 Theodore Roosevelt
• 22 Mother Teresa
• 23 Louis XIV
• 24 Emmeline Pankhurst
• 25 Ronald Reagan
• 26 Eva Perón
• 27 Benjamin Franklin
• 28 Wangari Maathai
• 29 Winston Churchill
• 30 Benazir Bhutto
• 31 Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 32 Maria Montessori
• 33 Woodrow Wilson
• 34 Indira Gandhi
• 35 James Madison
• 36 Golda Meir
• 37 James Cook
• 38 Clara Barton
• 39 Henry Ford
• 40 Dorothea Dix
• 41 John F. Kennedy
• 42 Wilma Mankiller
• 43 Vladimir Lenin
• 44 Carrie Chapman Catt
• 45 Robert Owen
• 46 Princess Diana
• 47 Che Guevara
• 48 Ayn Rand
• 49 Nelson Mandela
• 50 Jane Addams
• 51 Walt Disney
• 52 Mary Parker Follett
• Endnotes
• Bibliography & Further Reading
• Back