Whether a man is burdened by power or enjoys power; whether he is trapped by responsibility or made free by it; whether he is moved by other people and outer forces or moves them - this is of the essence of leadership.
Interpretation
Leadership involves the complex dynamics of power and responsibility, affecting both the leader and those they lead.
The quote by Theodore White emphasizes that the nature of leadership is defined by how one interacts with power and responsibility. It illustrates that a leader's experience can vary greatly, as they may feel burdened or liberated by their role, and are influenced by external factors or may serve to influence others. This intrinsic complexity is central to understanding what it truly means to lead.
In practice
In a leadership seminar, to highlight the complexities of being in charge.
Generally students are the best vehicles for passing on ideas, for their thoughts are plastic and can be molded and they can adjust the ideas of old men to the shape of reality as they find it in villages and hills of China or in ghettos and suburbs of America.
Power in America today is control of the means of communication.
I happen to think that American politics is one of the noblest arts of mankind; and I cannot do anything else but write about it.
Politics in America is the binding secular religion.
History is always best written generations after the event, when clouded fact and memory have all fused into what can be accepted as truth, whether it be so or not.
To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform.
There is no contest between the company that buys the grudging compliance of its work force and the company that enjoys the enterprising participation of its employees
If you're looking for the safe choice, you shouldn't be supporting a black guy named Barack Obama to be the next leader of the free world.
Talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they'll say, 'God, he said exactly what I was thinking.' And when they begin to respect you, they'll follow you to the death.
Learn to lead in a nourishing manner. _x000D_ _x000D_ Learn to lead without being possessive. _x000D_ _x000D_ Learn to be helpful without taking the credit. _x000D_ _x000D_ Learn to lead without coercion.
Leaders lead but in the end it's the people who deliver.
An executive should be a realist; and no one is less realistic than the cynic.
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