In the coming weeks and months, I will deliver – on this site – a short course. A short course on the classics of the literature on leadership. It will draw on my edited volume, Leadership: Essential Selections on Power, Authority, and Influence (McGraw-Hill, 2010).
To say that I love this book is not to be immodest. For what I love about it is the evidence it gives of great literature on a subject of great importance. Leadership. I annotate each entry – but the book is not mine. It belongs to the great writers – from before Confucius to after Carson – whose work constitutes it.
Each of the relevant posts will consist of the following. First, a few of my own remarks. Second, short quotes from the preeminent thinkers and writers who comprise the collection.
Tomorrow I will begin at the beginning. With Lao Tzu (Laozi), the Chinese philosopher who, approximately 2,500 years ago, wrote the Tao Te Ching.
Today a few words about the criteria used to assemble the collection. Each entry had to be a classic of the leadership literature – which raises the question of how “classic” was defined. My criteria:
- Each entry had to be either about leadership or an act of leadership.
- Each entry had to have literary value.
- Each entry had to be seminal. It had to change forever what we thought and, or how we behaved.
- Each entry had to be universal – applicable not just to a single nation or even region but worldwide. Applicable not just to a single sector but to every sector.
- Each entry had to be timeless – enduring or, as it applied to recent entries, apparently enduring.
Buckle up. You’re in for a great – if occasionally bumpy – ride!