What Makes Great Leaders Great: Management Lessons from Icons Who Changed the World

CHAPTER 52

Act Responsibly

LEARNING FROM

Hippocrates

The now almost 2,400-year-old Hippocratic Oath, named after Hippocrates of Kos (circa 460–370 BC), established physicians’ fundamental obligation to exercise their profession responsibly and to the best of their ability. In essence, the key maxim derived from Hippocrates’ teachings “primum non nocere” (First, do no harm) applies to anyone seeking to exercise their profession responsibly, including management. No doctors, managers, or legal experts can actually promise to do only good, but they can promise not to knowingly do harm. This was what Peter F. Drucker considered to be the fundamental ...