I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.
Interpretation
Leadership often arises in the absence of clear direction, as individuals step up to fill the void when needed.
Desmond Tutu's quote emphasizes the nature of leadership as not necessarily a position of power, but rather a response to situations where guidance is lacking. It suggests that when there is a vacuum in leadership, some individuals will naturally take charge, regardless of their initial intentions or qualifications. This phenomenon reflects the human instinct to lead and take responsibility when circumstances call for it.
In practice
In a team meeting where no one is taking charge, I might quote Desmond Tutu to encourage someone to step up.
The fossil reserves that have already been discovered exceed what can ever be safely used. Yet companies spend half a trillion dollars each year searching for more fuel. They should redirect this money toward developing clean energy solutions
As much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression, and injustice, the world has an even greateer instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth, freedom and love.
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.
Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone's back.
Gaza is going to test who believes in the worth of human beings.
In the Marine Corps, your buddy is not only your classmate or fellow officer, but he is also the Marine under your command. If you don't prepare yourself to properly train him, lead him, and support him on the battlefield, then you're going to let him down. That is unforgivable in the Marine Corps.
Obama does seem to have what both FDR and Lincoln had, which is the recognition that you have to hold back at times and then wait to come forward.
The leader's main job is to make themselves obsolete.
The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders - people who not only have enormous amounts of energy, but who can energize those whom they lead.
American political scions evoke a central contradiction in our thinking. We believe - or say we do - in nurture, not nature. Yet we are comforted by the aristocratic notion that leadership might run in the bloodlines.
When it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing round. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity.
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