said, “When I’ve finished all my work and talked to everyone I
talk to, then come those moments when nothing’s in the way,
and I feel most intensely those things that are true in me.”
Those moments when nothing’s in the way. It’s in such mo-
ments that meaning begins to emerge, and understanding, and
new questions, and fresh challenges.
John Sculley summed it up: “Organizations can do a lot to
assure that they don’t have good leaders. There are things in
the organization, the roots of its culture, the bureaucracy of its
processes, that make it very difficult for even talented people to
rise and become strong leaders.” But organizations can also do
a lot to ensure the rise of their most talented people. Just as
thought should precede action, reflection should follow it, on
the organizational as well as the personal level.
LEARNING = LEADING
An organization should, by definition, function organically,
which means that its purposes should determine its structure,
rather than the other way around, and that it should function as
a community rather than a hierarchy, and offer autonomy to its
members, along with tests, opportunities, and rewards, because
ultimately an organization is merely the means, not the end.
Since the release and full use of the individual’s potential is
the organization’s true task, all organizations must provide for
the growth and development of their members and find ways of
offering them opportunities for such growth and development.
This is the one true mission of all organizations and the
principal challenge to today’s organizations.
On Becoming a Leader