Thursday, September 29, 2011

Leadership | Strategy

"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

Can anyone believe these are the first lines from the book 'Enterprise Architecture as Strategy'? Isn’t Leadership skills common across all areas?

This comes from the person who held the US Central Command. Just trying to think through his words...

Oxford defines Character as ‘the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual’ and I have to search for the definition for the word ‘Moral’. I could scratch my head and remembered the Moral Science during my primary school education.

Back to Dictionary, it defines Moral as ‘concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior’. But, who can define the right or wrong of an action? A person with Character?

What happens to leaders with great character but without power? Or Power is just the mere shield created by the leader's character?

Is the definition of leader evolving but definition of Character cannot change?

Or did he mean, Strategy can be devised at any point by a leader with character. Everything makes sense when you put the word character for Leadership. With Character trust is earned, trust makes it all work. Any thoughts?