know where you’re going, and why, you cannot possibly
get there. That guiding purpose, that vision, was well il-
lustrated by Norman Lear.
- The second basic ingredient of leadership is passion—the
underlying passion for the promises of life, combined with
a very particular passion for a vocation, a profession, a
course of action. The leader loves what he or she does and
loves doing it. Tolstoy said that hopes are the dreams of
the waking man. Without hope, we cannot survive, much
less progress. The leader who communicates passion gives
hope and inspiration to other people. This ingredient
tends to come up with different spins on it—sometimes it
appears as enthusiasm, especially in chapter eight, “Get-
ting People on Your Side.”
- The next basic ingredient of leadership is integrity. I think
there are three essential parts of integrity: self-knowledge,
candor, and maturity.
“Know thyself,” was the inscription over the Oracle at
Delphi. And it is still the most difficult task any of us
faces. But until you truly know yourself, strengths and
weaknesses, know what you want to do and why you want
to do it, you cannot succeed in any but the most super -
ficial sense of the word. Leaders never lie to themselves,
especially about themselves, know their faults as well as
their assets, and deal with them directly. You are your own
raw material. When you know what you consist of and
what you want to make of it, then you can invent yourself.
Candor is the key to self-knowledge. Candor is based in
honesty of thought and action, a steadfast devotion to
principle, and a fundamental soundness and wholeness. An
architect who designs a Bauhaus glass box with a Victorian
On Becoming a Leader
