‘By contrast, leaders are called for where change is dominant, where the climate is dynamic rather than static. Change can always be expressed in the metaphorical language of a journey. You are where you are now; you do not know where you will be tomorrow, but you know it will not be here – if you stand still or tread water you will drown. Leaders are those who know the way ahead. They can formulate a desired destination and identify the route that has to be taken, the steps along the way. More than that, they can inspire others to face and overcome the rigours of the journey. What is it about these leaders that makes them inspirational?’
‘May I suggest a parable? You recollect that I used the analogy of the Laws of Aerodynamics to advance the thesis that there are certain timeless and timely laws or principles in the leadership field? If we explore the parallel further, it turns into a parable. Let me explain what I mean.
‘Our modern concept of the Laws of Aerodynamics goes back to an English engineer, inventor and designer named Frederick Lanchester, who built the first experimental motor car in Britain, in 1895. Turning his attention to aeronautics, he laid the theoretical foundations of aircraft design in his article Aerial Flight (1908). Most of the Laws of Aerodynamics he identified in it stem from Newton’s Laws of Motion.
To them must be added an application of the work of Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernouilli, who pioneered the modern field of hydrodynamics, the one touching on the conservation of energy: the flow of air over the upper wing is constrained by the shape of the wing – it accelerates over the upper surface, therefore pressure goes down and creates a suction on top of the wing. We must add, too, the Law of Continuity of Flow.
‘Yet, amazingly, an acute Frenchman noticed that if one simply totalled up these laws, flight seemed impossible! Hence D’Abernet’s Paradox, wherein he proved that on the basis of known laws flight is impossible, yet at the same time we know that flight is possible – birds do it.
‘The solution to the puzzle lies in an assumption that has to be made about the nature of air. Namely, if you assume that air has low viscosity or adhesiveness, so that it sticks to the wings, then flight becomes intelligible. So among the Laws of Aerodynamics we find, of all things, an assumption. The parable is this: true leaders tend to make the assumption that people do have the seeds of greatness in them.’
‘What do you mean by greatness in this context?’ asked the young chief executive.
‘I wouldn’t like to try to specify or quantify it, but I am thinking again of magnanimity: that degree of spirit that enables one to bear trouble calmly, to disdain meanness and revenge, and to make sacrifices for worthy ends. The generous and courageous spirit, I submit, is not the quality of a few great individuals, but is spread far and wide in humanity. Those who exemplify it are the true nobles among us. Our word noble comes from the Latin verb for “to come to know”. As we come to know people, either directly or through articles, we sometimes discover that they are noble, that they do have outstanding qualities which situations – often great adversities – bring to the surface. And some of the noblest among us are children.’
The Task Of Leadership Is Not To
Put Greatness Into Humanity
But To Elicit It
For The Greatness Is Already There
John Buchan in ‘Montrose and Leadership’, a lecture given at the University of St Andrews, 27 January 1930