‘Who in your opinion are the greatest leaders?’ asked the young chief executive.
‘Those who undergo the severest tests and still stand their ground.’
‘Then I am not sure I want to be one,’ he laughed. ‘Seriously, I expected you to name some names. Can you give me an example of what you have in mind?’
‘Take belief in people. We agreed that good leaders are among those who have a high or positive view of human nature: they believe in the inherent goodness of people. Not as good as we might be. As someone wrote over the mirror in an Arizonan bar:
I ain’t what I ought to be,
I ain’t what I’m going to be,
But I ain’t what I was!
‘Despite seeing the ugly side of human nature, good leaders do not lose faith in the underlying goodness within us. In Long Road to Freedom (1994), Nelson Mandela writes:
Even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps just for a second, but that was enough to reassure me and keep me going. Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.’
‘How about confidence in the successful achievement of the task?’