Oprah Winfrey once said: “What matters is that you light up someone else’s life with your life.”
A leader is a broad concept. Some people build business empires. Others make scientific breakthroughs. Others create works of art, set sports records, or invent new ways of thinking.
How do different people become leaders? David Rubenstein, himself a recognized leader, has compiled 30 interviews with outstanding personalities. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Ginsburg, Warren Buffett and many others in “Being a Leader” tell how they cope with failure, innovation, change and crisis.
Being a Leader
How do you become a leader?
What plays a key role? Drive, talent, training, experience? Maybe you just need to be in the right place at the right time? And why so many people who became great leaders at a mature age, did not show leadership qualities in their youth?
These questions are hard to answer because no two leaders are alike. Nevertheless, there is one thing they all have in common.
Six types of leaders
The desire to change the world and improve people’s lives. The desire to achieve goals. The ability to motivate others. The ability to learn and respond sensibly to crises. All these may sound like common words, but the book shows how these qualities unfold in the lives of each of the characters.
Whether you aspire to be a leader or not, the honest answers of outstanding people are sure to help you look at yourself and the world around you in a new way.
Three Good Decisions a Year
Not Jeff Bezos came up with the idea of selling books online. Others were already doing it when he founded Amazon in 1994. But he had a vision for how best to use software to boost sales.
“If you can make a decision based on analysis, do it. But in life, it turns out that the most important decisions are always dictated by instinct, intuition, taste and heart,” Jeff says.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon; owner of the Washington Post
Your job is by no means to make thousands of decisions a day. If I make three good decisions a day, that’s enough. Warren Buffett thinks he’s doing well if he makes three good decisions a year.
All of our top executives do the same. They work in the future and live in the future. None of my subordinates are focused on the current quarter because that quarter’s results were predetermined three years ago. That’s exactly what you should be doing. You have to work two or three years ahead.
There is still a long way to go
Christine Lagarde was Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for eight years. She had to deal with the global financial crisis, the defaults, the aftermath of Brexit, the slowdown in emerging and frontier markets. And with discrimination.
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund
Now there is a clear economic rationale that the more women on the board, on executive committees and management teams, the higher the return, the better the results, the greater the profits. So even if you have a very, very cold heart, no moral imperatives, no empathy for women and no commitment to inclusiveness, you should still think about involving women in decision-making.
There are still times when I walk into a room full of men and there’s that slight smile on their faces that means one of two things: “There she is again! Now she’s going to talk about women!” or “I wonder what she has to say at all?”
Have we made progress? To some extent, yes. Do we still have a long way to go? Absolutely.
Building Something of Our Own
For
many years now, Yo-Yo Ma has been considered one of the most prominent classical music performers in the world. In recent years he has served as a cultural ambassador and promoted the importance of art to humanity.
Yo-Yo Ma, cellist, citizen of the world, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Winning awards is terrific because you get a better chance to do what you want to do. But awards mean only external recognition, but they don’t give you inner satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment.
I’ve learned that a person who strives for an external goal and finally achieves it only experiences fleeting pleasure. There is a level of complete fulfillment, and this is where the general term I’m going to use comes in: culture.
If you are engaged in art, science, culture, you want to create something solid enough for someone else to build something of their own on.
Of course one does not become a leader by reading a book about leadership. The right qualities emerge and are perfected over the course of a lifetime. But the stories in the book are inspiring and show how much value one person can bring to the table when challenged.
Based on the book “Being a Leader
”
Cover of the post – unsplash.com
P
.S. Want to get helpful book tips and nice discounts every week? Subscribe to our newsletter. There’s a gift in the first email.
The post Just three good decisions a year. How Leaders Handle Crises appeared first on Business.
