Napoleon Hill
In all this leadership it is difficult, if not impossible, to
separate from the element of pure leadership that selfish element of
personal gain or advantage to the individual, without which any
leadership would lose its value.
It is in military service only, where men freely sacrifice their lives for a
faith, where men are willing to suffer and die for the right or the
prevention of a wrong, that we can hope to realize leadership in its
most exalted and disinterested sense.
Therefore, when I say leadership, I mean military leadership. In a few days the great mass of you men will receive commissions as officers. These commissions will not make you leaders; they will merely make you officers. They will place you in a position where you can become leaders if you possess the proper attributes. But you must make good, not so much with the men over you as with the men under you.
MAKE excuses for the shortcomings of others, if you wish, but hold yourself to a strict accountability if you would attain leadership in any undertaking. Men must and will follow into battle officers who are not leaders, but the driving power behind these men is not enthusiasm but discipline.
They go with doubt and trembling that prompts the unspoken question, "What will he do next?" Such men obey the letter of their orders but no more. Of devotion to their commander, of exalted enthusiasm, which scorns personal risk, of self-sacrifice to insure his personal safety, they know nothing. Their legs carry them forward because their brain and their training tell them they must go. Their spirit does not go with them. Great results are not achieved by cold, passive, unresponsive soldiers.
They don't go very far and they stop as soon as they can.
Leadership not only demands but receives the willing, unhesitating,
unfaltering obedience and loyalty of other men; and a devotion that
will cause them, when the time comes, to follow their uncrowned king
to hell and back again, if necessary.
You will ask yourselves:
"Of just what, then, does leadership consist?
What must I do to become a leader?
What are the attributes of leadership, and how can I cultivate them?"
Leadership is a composite of a number of qualities. [Just as success is a composite of the fifteen factors out of which this Reading Course was built.] Among the most important I would list Self-confidence, Moral Ascendency, Self-Sacrifice, Paternalism, Fairness, Initiative, Decision, Dignity, Courage. Self-confidence results, first, from exact knowledge; second, the ability to impart that knowledge; and third, the feeling of superiority over others that naturally follows.