Chapter 4. With So Many Books on Leadership, Why Are There So Few Leaders?

A leader is most effective when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, his troops will feel they did it themselves.

Lao Tzu

This chapter is about the kind of leadership that arises from the Three Laws of Performance—leadership that has the power to rewrite the future of a group, an organization, perhaps a country. The result of such efforts is remarkable success, with the effect Lao Tzu foretold—leaders who act as catalysts, with people around the leader feeling they did the work themselves.

Becoming such a leader is no small task, in part because the experts don't agree on what leadership means, how to do it, or what it looks like when people ...

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