Is there a tribe, a nation, or a people whose identity does not rest in part upon the heroic, even mythic exploits of its greatest leaders and liberators? From Moses and Joshua, Pericles and Alexander, Horatio and Anthony, Genghis Khan and Ivan the Terrible, on to Arthur and Alfred, through Columbus and Pizarro, Joan of Arc and Napoleon, Elizabeth and Drake, Washington and Lincoln, Nelson and Wellington, El Cid and Cortes, Tecumsah and Sitting Bull, Bolivar and O'Higgins, down to Churchill and Montgomery, Stalin and Zhukov, Roosevelt and Eisenhower, Jinnah and Nehru, MaoZedung and Chou Enlai. It matters not whether these heroes were morally good or morally bad. Their status as national or tribal heroes is beyond rational debate. They are embedded in the consciousness of their descendants and immune to the judgements we bring to bear on lesser mortals.
But who follows them? Kennedy? Thatcher? Reagan? Blair? Bush? Hardly.
Read more: 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP SKILLS: PART ONE [click]
