Any
society, whatever its political system, is perpetually in transit between a
past that forms its memory and a vision of the future that inspires its
evolution. Along this route, leadership is indispensable: decisions must be
made, trust, earned, promises kept, and a way forward proposed. Within human
institutions – states, religions, armies, companies, schools – leadership is
needed to help people reach from where they are to where they have never been
and, sometimes, can scarcely imagine going.
Without
leadership, institutions drift, and nations' courts grow irrelevance and,
ultimately, disaster. Leaders think and act at the intersection of two axes:
the first, between the past and the future; the second, between the abiding
values and aspirations of those they lead. Their first challenge is analysis,
which begins with a realistic assessment of their society based on its history,
mores (customs), and capacities. Then they must balance what they know, which is
necessarily drawn from the past, with what they intuit about the future, which
is inherently conjectural and uncertain. It is this intuitive grasp of
direction that enables leaders to set objectives and lay down a strategy.
For
strategies to inspire society, leaders must serve as educators –
communicating objectives, assuaging doubts, and rallying support. While the
state possesses by definition the monopoly of force, reliance on coercion is a
symptom of inadequate leadership; good leaders elicit in their people a wish to
walk alongside them. They must also inspire an immediate entourage to translate
their thinking so that it bears upon the practical issues of the day. Such a
dynamic surrounding team is the visible complement of the leader’s inner
vitality; it provides support for the leader’s journey and ameliorates (makes better) the
dilemmas of decision.
Leaders
can be magnified – or diminished – by the qualities of those around them. The
vital attributes of a leader in these tasks, and the bridge between the past
and the future, are courage and character – courage to choose a direction among
complex and difficult options, which requires the willingness to transcend the
routine; and strength of character to sustain a course of action whose benefits
and whose dangers can be only incompletely glimpsed at the moment of choice.
Courage
summons virtue in the moment of decision; character reinforces fidelity to
values over an extended period. Leadership is most essential during periods of
transition when values and institutions are losing their relevance, and the
outlines of a worthy future are in controversy. In such times, leaders are
called upon to think creatively and diagnostically: what are the sources of the
society’s well-being? Of its decay? Which inheritances from the past should be
preserved, and which adapted or discarded? Which objectives deserve commitment,
and which prospects must be rejected no matter how tempting? And, at the
extreme, is one’s society sufficiently vital and confident to tolerate
sacrifice as a waystation to a more fulfilling future?
from the book - LEADERSHIP - Six Studies in World Strategy
by Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger KCMG is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
edited By
Noor Mohamed
16/8/22
2.07am
