The Greatness That Cannot Be Taught

Ridgway was very different, a leader for the new, modern era. His leadership was of a more egalitarian kind, premised on letting the men fighting under him find something within themselves that made them tough and combat-ready. The point of his leadership was not that they would think that he was a great general -- although in time they did -- but that they would fight well because they were now more confident about who they were and what their mission was, and confident, too, that they were tough and well prepared. And in a stunningly short time, he turned the Eighth Army around and made it a remarkable fighting force, one that could stalemate the vastly superior number of Chinese.

Don't just take my word for it. Listen to the normally taciturn General Omar Bradley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs, talk of that moment and of the role played by Ridgway: "It is not often in wartime that a single battlefield commander can make a decisive difference, but in Korea, Ridgway would prove to be the exception. His brilliant, driving, uncompromising leadership would turn the battle like no other general's in our military history."

That was leadership at its best: a truly great man rising to the heights during an unforeseen, desperate occasion, lifted by his talents and his instincts, and imposing the force of his will on so many disheartened others. It was as if he had prepared for this moment during his entire career -- and maybe he had. You won't find the secrets of it in any of his books. He did what he did because to do anything else would have been less than who he was.

David Halberstam, who won a Pulitzer Prize at 30 for his reporting on the Vietnam War, is the author of more than a dozen books, including The Best and the Brightest, The Powers That Be, and War in a Time of Peace. His next book, due out October 2005, is about the Korean War.

Discussion Guide

Interested in further exploring some of the ideas and issues in this article? Consider starting a Fast Company reading group. Here are some possible conversation catalysts:

David Halberstam lays out his outline for what makes a "Super-CEO." Who are the rising Super-CEO stars in business today? Would Jeff Bezos of Amazon, A.G. Lafley of Procter & Gamble, or H. Lee Scott of Wal-Mart fit this category? If not, what are they lacking? General Ridgway had his defining moment of leadership in Korea -- what moments in business have separated good leaders from great ones? Any examples from your company?