April 03, 2009

Leadership: Reactive or Proactive?



"Leaders are people who can discern the inevitable and act accordingly."


Donald Trump


On the surface, OK, but is "inevitable" the same as unchangeable? I don't think so.


Instead I would suggest that leaders are people who can discern the
likely and act accordingly.

What do you think?

3 comments :

  1. It's both actually.

    One can assess things, sensing what will happen for certain and take action based on that.

    One can also assess things, sensing what will likely but not necessarily happen and take action to change the course of events before they occur. We see a lot of that happening now in both the private and public sectors.

    And in doing so they change the likely to a new inevitable.

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  2. Excellent comment Adrian; one of the best I've seen.

    You highlight what is really the first requirement. Determine what is inevitable and what is not. With that done, create plans that take into account the former as well as plans to change the latter.

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  3. I think real leadership is about changing the likely course of events because if that wasn't true, any CEO would do just as well as the next.

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