became involved in the Florida citrus industry and with high-
end real estate in southern California.
Barbara Corday credits her success partly to enthusiasm. “A
corporation, or a show, is only as strong as the caring and en-
thusiasm that the people who are involved in it on a daily basis
put into it. And I don’t think you can expect caring and enthu-
siasm from people you, the leader, don’t care about and are not
conscious of.... I think my enthusiasm is catching. I think
when I get on a project, if I love it, I can make you love it.”
Jamie Raskin agreed that passion is infectious: “If you hold
your ground and make your conviction known, people will
come around. I’m committed to radical principles. As Oscar
Wilde said, ‘I’m on the left, which is the side of the heart, as
opposed to the right, which is the side of the liver.’”
Gloria Anderson summed it up. “You can’t make being a
leader your principal goal, any more than you can make being
happy your goal. In both cases, it has to be the result, not the
cause.”
MASTERY
When I asked Marty Kaplan to describe the qualities of lead-
ership, he said, “Competence, first. A true sense of mastery of
the task at hand. Another is the ability to articulate, because if
someone is a complete master of what they need to know, but
is unable to explain why I should care about it, or want to
help, then they can’t get me to support them. And something
I prefer to see in a leader, but isn’t essential, is a level of hu-
man sensitivity, tact, compassion, and diplomacy. I’ve known
leaders who have had none of it and nevertheless were lead-
On Becoming a Leader