Living Dangerously - Issue 32

Is an ideal leader someone who combines Socrates's self-sacrifice with Thoreau's "self über alles"? Or is it someone who follows Mandela's way of forgiving enemies and competitors? Draw up a list of the qualities that you think make an ideal leader. And remember, to think big thoughts, you have to start big.

5. Now ask yourself, "What will I settle for?" Then make another list. (This is the list to live up to.)

People don't usually want to compromise their list of leadership qualities, which might include such items as "Leaders do what they say they'll do." It's easier to think in the realm of the ideal than in the realm of the practical. We routinely idealize what a leader is, and so we never learn how to be the best leader that we can be. The "best" stays safely out of range.

6. Creativity isn't always about imagination. Try thinking without using your imagination at all. (It's one of the most difficult things that you can do.)

Imagination is a survival tactic that helps us get through surreal times. But imagination is also a form of sentimentality. To be truly wise requires dealing with the here and now. Machiavelli's "The Prince" warns: "It appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of a matter than the imagination of it; for many have pictured republics and principalities which in fact have never been known or seen."

"Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince' as a job application," Hill said. He wrote it to educate the young prince Lorenzo in the art of gaining and maintaining power, hoping that it would persuade Lorenzo to give him a job. It has been said that Machiavelli showed up at court offering his little treatise at the same time that someone else showed up with another gift: greyhounds. Lorenzo delighted in the dogs -- and ignored Machiavelli and his book. Not long after that incident, Lorenzo lost hold of Florence. As for Machiavelli, his little book has educated generations of leaders in the art of seeing things as they are, not as we wish they would be.

7. Check yourself in your mind's mirror.

On the mountaintop, we read no current books on leadership. No goofy "Who Moved My Cheese?" and no sublime "Built to Last." Instead, Radcliffe chose works that have been around for centuries. Bateson implanted in us the importance of revisiting a text. "It becomes a way of measuring what has happened to you since you last read it," she said. "Think of how frequently some people read the Psalms, or some other part of the Bible. They do it to go back to a place where they've been before." Have you got a text like that in your life? If you do, then read it again.

8. Don't be embarrassed to think grand thoughts.

An actress in our group spoke about the time she struggled with how to portray Queen Elizabeth: "I asked my director, 'How do I play the queen when I don't know what it's like to be a queen?' And my director said, 'You don't play the queen. Others play the queen.' " The revelation? Others "play" the leader's role by paying tremendous attention to what the leader does and by acting subserviently toward that person. The director meant that the actress needed only to be herself, because that's what a leader is -- an authentic self.

9. Get chummy with something that you find repellent.

Carol, a brilliant executive in our group, had just lost her high-powered job because of a takeover. When we were asked which text repelled us, Carol thought for a long time and then raised her hand. Her voice shook as she spoke: "I finally understand why I hate Plato. He told the truth, and I've been telling myself lies. I'm one of those people Plato writes about. I have a Harvard education. I'm one of the elite. But I've always been afraid of the responsibility that Plato discusses. I haven't accepted responsibility for my talents. That's why I stayed in a job that was too small for me in the first place. Now I have an opportunity to remake my life. And this time, I'm going to look for work that's bigger than my talents."

10. Recognize that you are a stranger to yourself.

"We live with strangers every day," said Bateson. "It begins in the morning, when we're looking in the mirror and brushing our teeth." People we think we know, certainties we think we cherish -- these are phantoms. There is little in anyone's identity that has to be preserved. We think that as leaders we are supposed to show gravitas: depth, profundity. But in fact, the goal should be playfulness -- to go on playing, learning, and changing.

We came to the mountaintop thinking that we knew what we wanted out of life. Now we're not so sure. We're changing our notions of leadership, because we're changing our notions of ourselves. Instead of trying to know yourself, Bateson suggested, ask yourself a question: "What is my commitment?"

For one weekend on a mountain, we were as unguarded as if we had never been hurt or made fools of. What that weekend gave us is the certainty that real leadership cannot exist without great thoughts. There is no such thing as a hero who lacks a sublime quality. And heroism is one form of leadership that lasts.

Harriet Rubin (hrubin@fastcompany.com), a Fast Company contributing editor, is based in New York City. To learn more about Radcliffe's seminars, visit the Radcliffe institute on the Web (www.radcliffe.edu).