Leadership is an important quality in society.
- Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand. [Colin Powell]
- In order to be a leader, a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence, the supreme quality for leadership is unquestionable integrity. [Dwight D. Eisenhower]
- A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be. [Rosalynn Carter]
Leadership is an especially important quality. The strength of a society can depend on it.
Real
True Narratives
Book narratives:
- Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas (Random House, 1990).
- Simon Shuster, The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky (William Morrow, 2024) is “an intimate account of the invasion’s early months, and it captures his thesis — that Zelensky’s effectiveness as a wartime leader is rooted in his skills as a performer, honed over more than two decades in the entertainment industry.”
- Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (Penguin Press, 2010).
- Robert Middlekauff, Washington’s Revolution: The Making of America’s First Leader (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015): “Washington was energetic, commanding and relentless; once he set his mind to anything, he saw it through. At the same time, he was capable of great self-restraint, rarely giving way to impulses that might prove reckless. Washington’s complementary character traits did not fire off and on, like strobe lights, but worked together to achieve what Middlekauff calls ‘a prevailing steadiness.’”
- T. Ferris, Great Leaders: Historic Portraits from the Great Historians (1889).
- Nancy Goldstone, The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem and Sicily (Walker & Company, 2009).
- Marie Arana, Bolívar: American Liberator (Simon & Schuster, 2013). “ . . . he assumed the magnificent title of ‘Liberator and Dictator.’”
- Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, The China Mission: George Marshall’s Unfinished War, 1945-1947 (W.W. Norton & Company, 2018): this book “tells the story of Marshall’s unsuccessful mission to China. Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, it is at once a revealing study of character and leadership, a vivid reconstruction of a critical episode in the history of the early Cold War and an insightful meditation on the limits of American power even at its peak.”
- Doris Kearns Goodwin, Leadership: In Turbulent Times (Simon & Schuster, 2018): a leadership study on four United States presidents.
- Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walking with Destiny (Viking, 2018): a mammoth one-volume biography
- William Manchester and Paul Reid, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill (a biographical trilogy): Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 (Little, Brown and Company, 1984); Alone, 1932-1940 (Bantam, 1988); Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 (Little, Brown and Company, 2012).
- Erik Larson, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (Crown, 2020): “How Churchill Brought Britain Back From the Brink”
From the dark side:
- Eric A. Posner, The Demagogue’s Playbook: The Battle for American History from the Founders to Trump (All Points, 2020): “Is Donald Trump a Danger to Democracy?”
Technical and Analytical Readings
- Kiran Chauhan, Emma Crewe & Chris Mowles, eds., Complexity and Leadership (Routledge, 2023).
- Nathan O. Hatch, The Gift of Transformative Leaders (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
- Keith Grint, Leadership: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010).
- Mike Studeman, Might of the Chain: Forging Leaders of Iron Integrity (Stone Tower Press, 2024).
- Joseph A. Raelin, Leadership-as-Practice: Theory and Application (Routledge, 2016).
- Paul Joyce, Strategic Leadership in the Public Sector (Routledge, 2nd edition, 2017).
- Mark E. Mendenhall, et. al., Global Leadership: Research, Practice, and Development (Routledge, 3rd edition, 2017).
- Ronald E. Riggio, What’s Wrong With Leadership?: Improving Leadership Research and Practice (Routledge, 2019).
- Joan Poliner Shapiro & Jacqueline A. Stefkovich, Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education (Routledge, 5th edition, 2021).
- Ross Blankenship, Everyday Leadership: A Guide to Developing Your Mindset As a Leader (Routledge, 2024).
- Nathan Harter, Foucault on Leadership: The Leader as Subject (Routledge, 2016).
- Mark Learmonth & Kevin Morrell, Critical Perspectives on Leadership: The Language of Corporate Power (Routledge, 2019).
- Mike Ettore, Trust-Based Leadership: Marine Corps Leadership Concepts for Today's Business Leaders (Fidelis Leadership Group, 2020).
- Bert Cannella, Sydney Finkelstein & Donald C. Hambrick, Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards (Oxford University Press, 2009).
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
- The Island President: chronicling the brief presidency of Mohamed Nasheed, of the Maldives, who tried valiantly to save his tiny island-nation from the ravages of global warming, which threatens to submerge the islands
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Novels:
- Etaf Rum, A Woman Is No Man: A Novel (Harper/HarperCollins Publishers, 2019): “There’s a burden that comes with being among the first of your kind; the potential for misinterpretation is too great to leave much to chance.” (Sometimes leadership consists of being the first to do something.)
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Jazz drummer Art Blakey mentored a wealth of young musicians who went on to become jazz greats in their own right. “For many jazz musicians in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, the goal was to play with Art Blakey.” He “helped pioneer modern bebop drumming and hard bop.” Like most musicians, he learned from others. In music, he was a true leader by example, and in his distribution of solo riffs to his players. Books about Blakey and his Jazz Messengers, and sidemen, are by John Ramsay, and Alan Goldsher. Here is a link to his releases, live performances, and a documentary film.
Compositions:
- Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, String Quartets: composed in the brilliant (as opposed to classical) string quartet style, the first violinist is the star and clear leader. Individually, they are String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 61 (1835) (approx. 26’); String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 62 (1836) (approx. 20’); and String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, Op. 90 (1838) (approx. 30’);
- Friedrich Kuhlau, Flute Quintets, Op. 51 (1822) (approx. 79’);
- Kuhlau, Flute Sonatas (approx. 150’);
- Diego Ortiz, Recercadas del Trattado de Glosas (1553) (approx. 63-76’);
- Boris Lyatoshynsky, “Grazhyna”, Op. 58 (1955) (approx. 19’), is a symphonic poem based on the epic poem “Grażyna” by Adam Mickiewicz, about a chieftainess who leads her people into war against the Tuetonic Order.
Albums:
- Miles Davis Quintet, “Live in Europe 1967, Vol. 1” (158’)
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Nickelback, “Leader of Men” (lyrics)
Visual Arts
Film and Stage
- Henry V: Shakespeare’s historical-dramatic exploration of the “nature of leadership and its relationship to morality”. The two greatest film versions star Lawrence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh
- Mutiny on the Bounty: a commander without judgment or emotional stability
- Danton, a “powerful story about the ethical boundaries of power and leadership”
- Moonlighting: leadership gone awry