The young chief executive and I agreed that this list of generic qualities was open-ended. How about calmness, or high energy, or resilience, or humour, or compassion? Each true leader revealed these and other qualities, like facets of a revolving diamond.
‘So enthusiasm comes to the top of the list,’ reflected the young chief executive. ‘I have certainly never encountered anyone whom I would call a leader who lacked it, have you?’
‘I cannot think of one,’ I replied. ‘Enthusiasm comes from the Greek verb that means to be inspired, literally en (within) and theos (god). The primitive idea, of course, was that exalted states of mind or passions were caused by the temporary or permanent possession of a person by some spirit or god. Panic, for example, comes from the Greek god Pan.’
‘It’s amazing what you can learn from words,’ reflected the young chief executive. ‘When you unpeel them like a chestnut you get to a shiny and often quite tangible core of meaning. Is passion the same as enthusiasm?’
‘It’s often used as a synonym, and in this context it means an object or feeling of desire or deep interest. I prefer enthusiasm – a lively or eager interest in a cause or activity, plus an energetic and unflagging pursuit of it.’
‘And it inspires enthusiasm in others too. It’s contagious,’ said the young chief executive.
‘Yes, as a general principle like inspires like. For example, love inspires love, trust inspires trust. So if you want to inspire people for the work in hand, be inspired about it yourself.’
‘That could hardly be more simple,’ he said.
‘In my National Service I served in the Arab Legion in Jordan as adjutant of a Bedouin regiment. One evening out in the desert, sitting and waiting for the brass coffee pots to sigh on the hot coals, a tribesman quoted a Bedouin proverb that has lived with me ever since: What comes from your heart is greater than what comes from your hand only. People will always respond to what they hear or see is in your heart.
‘The effect of a change of leader – an enthusiastic one in place of one lacking any powers of inspiring others – can seem quite magical, even where the work in question is drudgery or toil,’ I continued.
‘Can you give me an example or two of this principle in action?’ the young chief executive asked.
‘Will you settle for a couple of examples from classical times? Xenophon, a Greek general who had in his early twenties explored in the company of the world’s first and greatest teacher of the subject, Socrates, gives us two examples. The first comes from his observations of life aboard the Greek war galleys known as triremes, with three tiers of rowers drawn from the lowest class in Athens. Xenophon often sailed in the triremes, though he excelled as a commander of cavalry. To get the best out of these oarsmen – freemen not slaves – called for the kind of uplifting yet demanding leadership that produces enthusiastic teamwork, resulting in a great performance. Xenophon writes of the rowing-masters who could do it as if they were conductors of a winning chorus in the national competition:
On a warship, when the ship is on the high seas and the rowers must toil all day to reach port, some rowing-masters can say and do the right thing to sharpen the men’s spirits and make them work with a will. Other rowing-masters are so lacking in intelligence that it takes them more than twice the time to finish the same voyage. Here they land bathed in sweat, with mutual congratulations, rowing-master and oarsmen. There they arrive with dry skin; they hate their master and he hates them.
‘Xenophon achieved lasting military fame when, age 26, he became the leading general of a Greek mercenary force known as the Ten Thousand, who made an epic 800 mile march to freedom from the heart of the Persian empire when their employer was defeated and killed in battle. Xenophon proved to be an inspiring military leader himself, but he was equally renowned in the ancient world as a prolific author. He wrote the world’s first articles on leadership in the form of Socratic dialogues. In addition, while living on his estates in the shadow of Mount Olympus, Xenophon added another ‘first’ to his list, the world’s first article on management – in those days it was, of course, management of large estates rather than of industrial or commercial organizations. The Greek title of the article is the same as our word economy, which literally means household management.
‘The interesting thing is that Xenophon saw little or no essential difference between leading soldiers in battle, so they were willing and enthusiastic about the work in hand, and leading civilian workers on an estate. In other words, for the first time in history he conceived of leadership as a transferable principle. What he saw clearly is that human nature is the same, be it encountered in an armed Greek warrior, a sweating, toiling oarsman, a farm worker in the fields or a man with the lowest social status of all, a slave:
It is no less necessary for a farmer to encourage his labourers often, than for a general to encourage his men. And slaves need the stimulus of good hopes no less, no even more than freemen, to make them eager and steadfast.’
In my enthusiasm and intensity I will very often push people to the limits of their capabilities – and that must entail a certain degree of risk. The great thing is that the risk pays off when that person suddenly finds something in themselves they didn’t know was there.
Sir Georg Solti, orchestral conductor
‘I haven’t heard of Xenophon before,’ said the young chief executive, ‘but he certainly understood a thing or two about leadership. He must have been the first person in the world to have understood so clearly the importance of the combination of enthusiasm, bravery and skill in a military leader.’
‘Yes, you are right. Xenophon had seen soldiers under such a leader, as he said “working cheerfully, each man and all together, when it is necessary to work. Just as love of work may spring up in the mind of an individual soldier here and there, so a whole army under the influence of a good leader is inspired by love of work.” Consequently for Xenophon this kind of enthusiastic leadership is quite simply “the greatest thing in any operation that makes any demand on the labour of men.”’
‘And how necessary it is today,’ mused the young chief executive. ‘I wonder why we have undervalued good leadership so much…’
‘Probably because we thought it was something inborn, some gift that you either have or you don’t have.’
‘Some chief executives assume that they must have it by virtue of the fact that they have risen to the top.’
‘An unwarranted assumption in all too many cases,’ I commented. ‘Socrates and Xenophon pioneered the belief that leadership could be developed. They even identified some of the principles of leadership development that still apply today. Yet they were aware that some people are more gifted with leadership ability than others, especially when it comes to inspiring others.’
The young chief executive paused to reflect, and then continued: ‘I can now see very clearly why enthusiasm belongs to our first necessary condition – the qualities in a leader. In a TV documentary on the life of Rommel they quoted the reason Hitler gave for appointing Rommel to command the Afrika Korps in 1941. Hitler had said:
I picked out Rommel because he knows how to inspire his troops. This is absolutely essential for the commander of a force that has to fight under particularly arduous climatic conditions like North Africa.’
‘Rommel certainly proved to be an inspiring commander,’ I continued. ‘But this story illustrates that just having a leader of his calibre – a general with enthusiasm, boldness and skill – is not enough. To be able to inspire soldiers with confidence, love of work and desire for victory is of no avail if one is lacking the other necessary conditions for success, such as organization, weapons, ammunition, repair facilities and air superiority. Moreover, Winston Churchill found in General Montgomery a leader capable of inspiring the Eighth Army with new confidence in itself and a certainty that Rommel and the Afrika Korps were not invincible – they could and would be beaten. Enthusiasm is the base of the quickening, animating and inspiring power of a true leader.’
‘But surely there is more to it than that?’ said the young chief executive.
‘There is indeed,’ I replied. ‘But do you think that enthusiasm is within your grasp?’
‘Of that I have no doubt,’ he replied. ‘It’s a mystery to me, but my enthusiasm is like a fountain within me.’
‘Then you are not far from being an inspirational leader.’
Keypoints
There are three broad and converging approaches to the under- standing of leadership: Qualities (what you are), Situational (what you know) and Functional (what you do). All are important and should blend together.
A leader should exemplify the typical qualities or attributes of a good performer in their field. If, for example, you wish to lead a firm of lawyers, you should possess the five or six characteristics of a good lawyer.
There are also more generic qualities associated with leadership, such as enthusiasm, integrity, moral courage, the combination of toughness and fairness, warmth, and humility. Both typical and generic qualities are a necessary condition for someone to be recognized as a leader, but not a sufficient condition.
An enthusiastic person tends to inspire enthusiasm in others, so enthusiasm stands first on the list of generic leadership qualities. Enthusiasm is extremely common and it is within your grasp.
At times we all need encouragement. ‘There is a point with me,’ wrote Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘in matters of any size when I must absolutely have encouragement as much as crops need rain: afterwards I am independent.’
‘He Has A Look Upon His Face
That I Would Fain Call Master.’
‘What Is That?’
‘Authority’
William Shakespeare in King Lear
Your Position Never Gives You The Right
To Command. It Only Imposes On You
The Duty Of So Living Your Life That
Others May Receive Your Directions
Without Being Humiliated
Dag Hammarskjöld