Henry Kissinger’s best selling “Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy” (2022) revolves around six detailed biographies through which leadership is analyzed. The biographies are interesting, and his access to these people presents unique insights. However, the “so what” aspect of leadership from these six biographies is underdeveloped. Notes:
“Leadership is most essential during periods of transition, when values and institutions are losing their relevance, and the outlines of a worthy future are in controversy. In such times, leaders are called upon to think creatively and diagnostically: what are the sources of the society’s well-being? Of its decay? Which inheritances from the past should be preserved, and which adapted or discarded? Which objectives deserve commitment, and which prospects must be rejected no matter how tempting? And, at the extreme, is one’s society sufficiently vital and confident to tolerate sacrifice as a way station to a more fulfilling future?” (p. xviii)
“By the time Nixon took office, the US had been involved in Vietnam for nearly two decades; as he was being inaugurated in January 1969, 30,000 American servicemen had already died in battle, and multiple antiwar protests, some of them violent, had taken place all over the country. At my first meeting with Nixon after the election at the Pierre Hotel, he emphasized that he was determined to end the war in Vietnam during his first term. He vowed to the families of fallen servicemen an outcome compatible with America’s honor. He would seek to achieve it by a diplomacy of linkage with the Soviet Union. Conceivably his idea of an opening to China would also play a role. But he would not sell out. The security of free peoples, as well as international peace and progress, depended on restoring and eventually renewing American leadership. Military and political efforts had to remain concurrent.” (p. 149)
“Mediocre leaders are unable to distinguish the significant from the ordinary; they tend to be overwhelmed by the inexorable aspect of history. Great leaders intuit the timeless requirements of statecraft and distinguish, among the many elements of reality, those which contribute to an elevated future and need to be promoted from others which must be managed and, in the extreme case, perhaps only endured. Thus both Sadat and Nixon, inheriting painful wars from their predecessors, sought to overcome entrenched international rivalries and initiate creative diplomacy. Thatcher and Adenauer found that a strong alliance with America would be most advantageous for their countries; Lee and de Gaulle chose a lesser degree of alignment, which was appropriate for adjustment to changing circumstances.” (p. 402)
“Great leadership results from the collision of the intangible and the malleable, from that which is given and that which is exerted. Scope remains for individual effort – to deepen historical understanding, hone strategy and improve character. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote long ago, ‘We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.’ It is the role of leaders to help guide that choice and inspire their people in its execution.” (p. 416)
