Peace comes when you talk to the guy you most hate. And that's where the courage of a leader comes, because when you sit down with your enemy, you as a leader must already have very considerable confidence from your own constituency.
Interpretation
True peace requires dialogue, even with those you dislike, showcasing a leader's courage and confidence.
Desmond Tutu emphasizes that achieving peace involves confronting difficult relationships, particularly with adversaries. A true leader demonstrates courage by engaging in conversations with those they oppose, indicating a deep-rooted confidence in their mandate and support from their followers. This willingness to dialogue highlights the strength and authenticity of leadership.
In practice
This quote can be used during a leadership conference to emphasize the importance of dialogue and reconciliation.
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.
The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.
I think we would be stronger if half our countries and companies were run by women and half our homes were run by men.
A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.
The best organizations are filled with people who have a wealth of choices as to what work they choose to do. We need to give them every reason possible to solve the world's problems.
At the end of the day, people will follow you or people will be energised by you if they buy into your vision or purpose. So the most important thing is to be true to yourself. That's why I would say to be a great leader - you, first and foremost, have to be a great human being. And sharing that purpose and sharing the values.
The era of using people as production tools is coming to an end. Participation is infinitely more complex to practice than conventional corporate unilateralism, just as democracy is much more cumbersome than dictatorship. But there will be few companies that can afford to ignore either of them.
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