[February 11, 2017] It has often been said– and I want to reinforce it here – that successful leadership means possessing a strong ability to bring people together to achieve a common goal. Implied here is that the leader helps shape consensus in others. We see leaders do this through their good words and deeds.
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King, Jr., Baptist Minister, civil rights activist
Great leaders, both good and evil, have been known throughout recorded history for their exceptional ability to mold consensus to reach something that might have been considered unattainable or even unimaginable at the time. With focus, clarity of vision, calculated risk taking, and determination leaders can move toward any goal regardless of impediment.
Robert Oppenheimer, for example, led the World War II “Manhattan Project” to develop the first atomic bomb. Overcoming enormous theoretical, technical, ethical, and social obstacles, he was able to successfully shape the military and scientific community consensus and complete the project on time. There is an interview of Oppenheimer in 1965 where he discusses this very issue (see link here for both audio and transcription, 42:52 minutes).
The U.S. Apollo program is another example of doing the “impossible;” sending astronauts to the moon and back safely. Carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the goal was first conceived during U.S. President Eisenhower’s administration. Robert R. Gilruth and his Space Task Group would lead this effort and eventually fulfill the goal set by President John F. Kennedy’s proposal before Congress on May 25, 1961 (see link here for a retrospective analysis of Project Apollo).
Just as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, leaders are not on the lookout for consensus but are actively molders of it. It goes without saying that to do so requires a leader who is both knowledgeable of human psychology and can pull together those who can help make that leader’s vision feasible. This is not small task as we can see in Oppenheimer and Gilruth’s efforts.
The style of leadership (e.g., autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, etc.1) used to do this is not as relevant as the effort itself to build consensus. Leaders who can motivate networks of people to take responsibility for defining and achieving tasks that are difficult are rare and the epitome of greatness. That is why we refer to them as the best of the best.
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