Leadership in Crisis: Can You Match Alexander the Great's Selflessness?

Hi, Alexander the Great, the Greek king, was a man of mixed qualities (like all of us). He had some good qualities and some bad qualities. What I am going to talk about are his good leadership qualities. Instead of writing pages and pages, it is better to explain it with an example.

Once Alexander the Great led his army across a desert. Naturally, the availability of water was nil or very rare. He and his soldiers were near death from thirst.

In the noonday sun, two of his scouts brought what little water they were able to find. It barely filled a cup. Alexander's troops were shocked when he poured the water into the burning sand.

The king said, "It is of no use for one to drink when many thirst."

So leaders/managers, can you match Alexander the Great?

Regards,
sundarjayram.

After a very long time, I am posting my comment on this site. I should say, this quality is lacking in most of our leaders and managers. Very few are doing justice to their roles and really deserve to be leaders/managers. Even though the sentence uttered by that great leader, "ALEXANDER," was very simple, it really means a lot.

I haven't heard this story before, or I might have forgotten. Whatever it is, I would like to thank you for sharing this story with us. I will not forget this story and will definitely share this with my friends and acquaintances to inspire them to become great leaders in their careers.

That's true leadership. A leader should work like subordinates are working, without any bias.

Regards

How about the water for the one who needs it the most, then just wasting the hard-earned resource... Does it qualify as a leadership act?

---

The water was truly useless for a variety of reasons.

1. It would not quench the thirst of any single individual. Maybe, it would wet the throat, but not quench the thirst. Even if it did, it would be for a very short time, and everyone would be back in the same thirsty situation. Is it worth the trouble?

2. If it must be given to the neediest, how do you identify such a person without making everyone else think "hey, I need it the most"? The moment I announce, "this water will be given to the neediest", a fight will break out among the troops to prove the worthiness (or neediness).

3. If I were to decide who is the neediest purely based on my judgment and no inputs from anyone else, my troops will call me biased, question my judgment, and second-guess my leadership and decisions (not a healthy position for a leader to be in).

4. If I take the inputs of a few, then I will be called as having "insiders" and "outsiders" circles and would not be a leader of all. Will slide into the same situation where my troops will begin to question my leadership.

5. If I take it myself (I am the leader, and a leaderless army is no good, so I must survive), I will be seen as a selfish jerk, not caring about the well-being of the troops, and not be seen as a leader.

I am no Alexander. But if I were in that situation, I would think - I can't use it myself, I can't give it to any single person, I cannot satisfy my entire team with it. So, it's truly useless to my team and me. So, I am going to let it go! It is politics at its best and truly leaderly.

Regards,

-Som G

"how about the water for the one who needs the most then just waste the hard-earned resource... does it be a leadership act"