What makes a good leader?

Leadership comes for most in two different ways the first kind being a natural leader
who is born with talent to have conviction and belief in what they are doing.

The 2nd kind being someone who may not have these natural talents but have
blossomed into a great leader through experience for example brian o driscoll was not a
good captain at the beginning of his irish career however “he grew into it” according to
former player Alan quinlan.
Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a
common goal.

Whether this is for business to achieve sales goals, a sports team to win cups or for an
army to win a war they never come easy and it takes a good leader to do so, when
describing a leader i put a huge emphasis on the difference between a ‘leader’ and a
‘boss’ as there is a huge difference between the two which i can describe using a simple
analogy “A boss points the boat in which direction to go but a leader will also help it row”

I think an ideal world is when we eliminate the boss and have leaders instead, as
leaders have the ability to inspire conjure a vision and give people a collective reason to
fight at the same time not telling them it was going to be easy as nothing ever is.

From my limited experience with leaders it is important that the people they are leading
know any victory you have no matter how big or small counts, it could be the simple act
of making your bed which ensures you have completed the first task of the day and are
ready to take on the world.
There are so many great examples of extraordinary leaders in life however no leader is
perfect.

However i believe inspiring a movement bigger than yourself for future generations is
something no ordinary man or women can do and that has led me to chose the
following leaders.

My chosen leaders
For my chosen leaders i have selected
(1) ‘Sun Tzu’ a Chinese general, military strategist, writer and philosopher who wrote
the distinguished book “The art of war”.
(2)’Dwight D. Eisenhowe​r’ the ​34th U.S. President and ​a five-star general in the United
States Army

Sun tzu
Sun tzu is often referred to as the founding father of modern leadership, his altruistic
way of writing helped him compile all his leadership knowledge into a book that would
become an icon for future generations.

I would be confident that every leader on this planet has used some of his writings to
help them in their path as a leader, it's not difficult to pinpoint his leadership traits as he
basically invented them in modern teachings.

Discipline should not be restricted to yourself only, instead, it should cover all the people
associated with you in the organization. You can clearly define the specific roles of each
and every individual associated with you.
Sun Tzu put a huge emphasis on ‘iron discipline’ this is why he is accredited for all the
battles he won.

“The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one
be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it,
will suffer defeat: let such a one be dismissed!”- Sun Tzu the art of war.

Sun Tzu started this whole “art of deception” theory that has been used ever since.
Managing an organization is an art and you should learn it from various resources. No
matter whether it is a big or small organization, you need to put equal strength to
manage and make it a success.
Sun Tzu was spectacular at this and did so with precision whether he was managing his
whole army or his LI’s(chinese units) and generals, that is why in his book he dedicates
a whole chapter to “laying plans”.

Sun Tzu wrote “Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter
of organization.”

Sun Tzu was praised for his ability to appear strong when weak which is a trait I feel
defines a great leader , although weaker in numbers through his ability to manage he
supposedly defeated an army 20 times the size of his.
This has adapted into modern society into the quote “fake it until you make it”.

Sun Tzu although strict showed great humility

“Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to
admit mistakes and make amends for them.” (The art of war)

There is no doubt this man was a wise man considering his role as a leader.He defied
all possible challenges at a time where not many could do so he created a standard that
only the wisest of leaders could display which is why i believe he is one of the best
leaders of all time.
General Dwight Eisenhower
In matter of fact the leadership qualities of both leaders are much of the same kind as I
believe Eisenhower used Sun Tzus teachings during his time as a leader.

Eisenhower never underestimated the importance of planning and preparation. Similar

to Sun tzu ,His experience taught him that war is chaotic and unpredictable, and hence
the way to victory was to be prepared for as many eventualities as possible. Once again
two great leaders praising the efforts of planning , this is no coincidence.
(Quote from him biography) “If you want to succeed in what you do, planning is crucial
so that you will always be focused and purposeful in your execution.”

As not only a member of the military but as a political candidate during his time he
needed to lead by persuasion a famous quote by eisenhower was
“I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him,
he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is
gone”.
Eisenhower believed the power of persuasion was to people see if they have a common
goal, and when it came to this eisenhower had a moral precept. This is what he said “ I
have one yardstick by which I test every major problem – and that yardstick is: Is it good
for America?”.
And in a country as patriotic as America eisenhower smartly gained his following
through this as Americans sought to fight for freedom which they believed they were
being stripped of.

Finally Eisenhower famously said, “Anger cannot win. It cannot even think clearly.

His mother told him that hating or being angry at someone only hurt one’s self; that
often the other person didn’t care or even know about the anger. After reflecting on this,
Eisenhower resolved to rid himself of this useless vice, and save his energy for thinking
clearly according to “eisenhower in war and peace”.

Moral of the story don't let anger cloud your judgement.

“Pessimism never won any battle.”

Conclusion
These leaders are very easily comparable to each other as i believe Eisenhower read
the art of war as many great leaders have , i believe he also applied his more modern
approach to things which worked equally as well for him as it did for Sun Tzu.

Probably the most notable comparable event of the two leaders would be D-Day , Sun
Tzu wrote about the art of deception “Appear weak when you are strong, and strong
when you are weak.” This, one of many stratagem helped him claim victory in particular
at the “battle of boju” where he supposedly defeated an army that had a 10x numerical
advantage (30,000 troops to 300,000).

Sun Tzu using his cunning abilities enabled to him to snatch victory as the opposition
secured and focused troops to wrong dispositions.

In comparison to eisenhower he used this strategy on D-Day deceiving the nazis that an
allied invasion was happening at Calais and instead it happened at normandy and this
ment the nazis were heavily focused at Calais not so much at normandy which is
ultimately why the allies won WW2.

Overall these are 2 of my personal favourite leaders , and it is only after reading the art
of war and the beginning of eisenhower's book i have come to realise that they gave
something to everyone that can apply to basic life whether its not letting anger cloud
your judgement or how to be cunning in the running of a business these leaders
inspired something greater than themselves that is why they will be remembered for the
rest of history.