Chapter 2 of Benins’ “On Becoming A Leader” is a great introduction to the essential ingredients of a leader. During the chapter, many of the famous political leaders of the 20th century are referenced in either a positive or negative way. For example former President Bill Clinton is referenced as the Comeback kid, while LBJ is said to have created a great war instead of a Great Society.
In this chapter, Bennis included quotes based on the values of a leader. According to Scientist Mathilde Krim “a value system, beliefs, are important so you know where you stand, but they must be your own value, not someone else’s”. Newspaper Executive Gloria Anderson said “I think we long for people who will stand up for what they believe, even if we don’t agree with them, because we have confidence in such people”.
Values drive a leader in the right direction, whatever that direction may be. Leadership is extremely important during challenging times, therefore values are of the up most importance during challenging times. Without values there is no certainty and challenging times cannot be escaped without having certainty. So, perhaps it is not a crisis of leadership, but a crisis of values.
Many political leaders today don’t seem to have many values, they are simply interested in staying in power. As long as society keeps breeding political leaders without values, we will continue to have a crisis of leadership.
