Last night I attended a lecture by Simon Murray. If I tell you he was in the
Foreign Legion (a plan of mine for the last year or two), ran the Marathon des Sables and trekked to the South Pole (as well as becoming a millionaire businessman) you will appreciate why I was eager to listen to him. His lecture addressed the issues of “where have all the leaders gone?”
He was pretty despairing of modern society, and reflected on the heroes he grew up with -Nelson, Churchill, Scott- with the heroes of today -Pete Docherty, Amy Winehouse, Big Brother et al.
I was interested in the characteristics he saw as being essential in leaders:

• Intellectual Honesty. It is critical that you remain true to yourself.
• Charisma, an inspirational spark.
• Self-sacrifice: the willingness to give of yourself.
• Tolerance
• Fairness
• Sense of Humour
• Optimism
• Courage, such as that shown by Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird.
• A “Don’t give a damn” edge. He quoted this slogan from the side of a plane in the Battle of Britain where the death rate was as high as 10%:

  “When my flying days are over, And from this world I pass, I hope they bury me upside down, So the world can kiss my ass.”

What do you think? Is he right to despair? Are his prescriptions for what makes a good leader correct? Have your say in the comments…