Leadership: The Most Important of All Disciplines That Must Be Mastered

Leadership: The Most Important of All Disciplines That Must Be Mastered

The ancient philosophers and historians, from whom much of Western Civilization thought is based, believed that of the four cardinal virtues, prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, fortitude is the cardinal or pivotal virtue. Fortitude or courage as it is often referred by, is the cardinal virtue because all other virtues depend on it to be effective. If fortitude is the cardinal virtue, then it can be stated emphatically that leadership is the cardinal discipline since all other disciplines depend upon it for effectiveness. No organization or individual leader can be effective and successful if they have not mastered the discipline of leadership. Regardless of how well the other disciplines are executed the leader will be no more successful than the degree to which leadership skills and abilities have been developed.

The adage that knowledge is power still rings true today but is not a complete definition anymore. Before the knowledge and information age was born, this statement could be accepted as a truth in and of itself. Before the advent of the computer chip, fiber optics, and satellite communication, the few who monopolizes the knowledge horded the power. Usually these were the few who held the high positions in our organizations. Information and knowledge moved and transferred throughout the organization and from one individual to another at a much slower pace than it does today. Today, in what Thomas Freidman refers to as a flat world, information and knowledge is available to almost anyone at anytime. No one can monopolize it or horde the power that it manifests anymore. Information is not a rare commodity it use to be.

The time between creative ideas and execution has been shortened. It is fair then to state that power has been redefined as the rapid and effective execution of knowledge and information. Just possessing knowledge, as more people have access to today, has less power than anytime in the history of world. How quickly leaders put the available knowledge to work to affect the mission and purpose of their organization is where the real power is manifested in the flat world where we find ourselves living today.

Leaders no longer have the luxury of father time when faced with decision making. The playing field has been leveled between countries, organizations and individuals. Technology has flattened the hierarchy of every organization and has heightened, almost overnight, the importance of the decipline of leadership at all levels of an organization. More than ever before in the history of mankind has leadership been so critical to the success of organizations around the world.

The metaphor of a wagon wheel with its outer rim, spokes, and hub illustrates this knowledge and information world we woke up in a few years ago. The rim of the wheel represents the flat world in which we live. The spokes represent the conduits of information and knowledge and the hub represents the leaders of organizations. Before the flattening of the world the wheel looked quite different than it does today. There were considerable fewer spokes or conduits of information channeling toward the leader. Today that wheel is overcrowded with conduits flooding the leader with knowledge and information. This overflow of data demands a restructuring of organizations because leaders at the top of the organization no longer are able to command and control every facet of the organization. It is impossible, impractical, and if it is attempted, then organization implosion will result.

The flattening of our world has forced organizations to restructure to a flatter, more efficient and empowering entity. Where there use to be a few top leaders and a lot of followers beneath them, there is now an organization filled with leaders of all stripes and colors at every level. When a single leader, or a small group of leaders, at the top of the pyramid cannot possible make every organizational decision, it goes without saying, the decisions must still be made by someone. Empowerment has become a strategic necessity rather than an option for organizations. Those who a few years back could only follow commands and directives from the top are now finding themselves empowered and in roles of leadership. They are making both tactical and strategic decisions everyday that only a few years ago would and could only be made by the top echelon of the organization.

If all of what has been stated here is true, and what we now find in our organizations are leaders leading leaders rather than leaders leading followers, no one can argue or doubt the exponential growth and importance of teaching, learning, developing, and mastering the discipline of leadership throughout all levels of the organization. The decision that a private infantry soldier is expected to make in Iraq today, that could only be made by a command officer a few years ago, can have serious repercussions all the way to the White House today. It is of paramount importance then, that foot soldier understands and practices effectively the discipline of leadership. It is no different in our non-military organizations, except perhaps the issues we face in our daily work are not usually life and death issues faced by our military men and women. Leaders in our organization must understand the discipline of leadership and think, act, and lead strategically.

Leadership is the discipline that makes all other disciplines possible. The importance of leadership is greater today than ever before in our history because there are no more followers – we are all leaders. If today’s organizations are not developing and preparing its leaders seriously, there will be a hefty price to pay in the near future. Poor leadership in the round world was more forgiving than it is in the flat world. Poor leadership in today’s knowledge and information based world will leave organizations in the ash bin of failure. Everyone is a leader today. No one can choose whether they want to be a leader or a follower. Organizations that understand that there are no followers anymore, only leaders, will be the organizations that reap the benefits and rewards of the flat world we find ourselves in today. Those that do not grasp this vital insight, well, they will exist no longer, or if they do, will be inconsequential in the knowledge and information world.


C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Scribner, 1943).
Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History Of The Twenty-First Century (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).