Why Should Anyone Be Led by You

The event was a poignant reminder—leadership emerges in all kinds of places. Dr. John was a person more than a role player. He made his patients feel special through the exercise of skill. He revealed his passions, including fast cars. He helped build a great practice. He knew that leadership was not a part-time job. And finally, in his closing remarks, he recognized insightfully that his care for the task could sometimes make him diffi

He was himself, he communicated his differences, but with skill, and in context. His colleagues and patients were happy—proud, even—to be led by him.

Which personal differences could form the basis of your leadership capability?

Think, too, about your personal values and vision for those you are leading.

On the contrary, successful enterprises in the long term are energized in pursuit of some other goal, and it is as a by-product of this that they deliver value to shareholders.

In all the time we have spent in and around organizations, we have never heard a phone call that began, “Sorry, I’ll be home late tonight—I’m increasing shareholder value.” We have heard calls about helping colleagues, delighting customers, making great music, pushing on with research, getting personally rich—all manner of things—but never has the mantra of shareholder value moved anyone to exceptional performance.

Yet, in these troubled times, we favor the view of another giant of the Enlightenment: Immanuel Kant. His ethical theories are most clearly expressed in his doctrine of autonomy,

First, he insists, we can never rely on hierarchy as the basis of morality

Second, Kant tries to suggest a principle that could guide our conscience—this also seems of burning relevance to the world we live in now: “Always regard every man as an end in himself, and never use him merely as a means to your ends.”

the necessity of shared moral values as a condition of our freedoms, and the search for a sense of community in an age where the old sources of social integration are getting weaker.