Leadership That Matters

Chapter

SEVEN

Vision—How Leaders Think

Some leaders look but don’t see how things happen … Understanding how things happen makes the right actions obvious … Effective leaders understand the consequences of actions.

Tao Te Ching, Chapters 35, 73, and 74

Chapter Three concluded with our recognition that there must be more to transformational leadership than learning a set of skills. Specifically, we came to believe that certain aspects of the leader’s character play a crucial role in guiding leadership action. Our notion of character is more than the old idea of fixed “traits.” We see key elements of the leader’s character as attributes that leaders can develop. The elements of leadership character parallel three basic aspects of human personality: ...