Page 190 - The extraordinary leader

8

NEW INSIGHTS INTO

LEADERSHIP

DEVELOPMENT

I dreamed a thousand new paths. I woke and walked my old one.
—Chinese Proverb
There are always many choices, many paths to take. One is easy. And its only
reward is that it’s easy.
—Anonymous

Warfare through the 1700s to the middle of the nineteenth century was
characterized by rows of soldiers marching straight toward their enemy. The
opposing forces would do the same. Despite the fact that cannons and rifles
being fired straight at them would kill thousands, it was not until the Ameri-
can Revolution that this pattern was challenged. When American revolution-
ary soldiers fought the British, they hid behind trees, lay prone on the ground
to avoid being easy targets, and fought an entirely different type of war. In this
chapter, we propose a similarly radical approach to developing leadership skills.
Rather than continuing the “frontal assault” approach that has been popular
for so long, we propose a different way to attack the problem.
Suppose that in an effort to improve your leadership effectiveness you
wanted to improve your professional or technical expertise. Think about an

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