Conventional wisdom teaches that leadership is about looking forward. We are all taught that leading means creating a compelling vision for the future and inspiring others to follow us into that future. While I fundamentally share this view, I believe the past plays a critical role in how we lead. Leaders must be able to look back. We must learn lessons from our own experiences and from the experiences of those who came before us.
Philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” His words are especially true in the context of leadership. Either we can learn from the past, or we can continue to commit the same blunders. Many leadership “experts” argue that the problems and challenges facing today’s leaders require new leadership attributes. I contend that the attributes never change. How we use them may change, but the attributes remain constant.
I am always amazed at the diverse resources from which we can learn. One such resource is Rudyard Kipling’s poem, ‘If-.’ Kipling wrote ‘If-’ in 1895. He described in the poem sixteen essential leadership attributes. While Kipling’s ‘If-’ doesn’t provide a perfect list of all of the attributes of leadership, it does provide leaders a place to start their journey. Within its thirty-two lines and 288 words, Kipling packed powerful lessons. ‘If-’ directs us to know ourselves and what we believe. It encourages us to see things that others can’t or won’t. It challenges us to motivate others to attempt things they think are impossible. It dares us to dream big and work to attain our dreams. The most important lesson the poem teaches is having the boldness and courage to step up and lead.
The poem speaks for itself and reveals enduring wisdom.
‘IF-’
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
–Rudyard Kipling
So, what leadership advice could a twenty-first-century leader possibly get (or want) from a nineteenth-century poem – especially one written by a poet who is most remembered for his children’s stories? What can an Information Age leader learn from a Victorian Age poem?
It provides committed leaders with a framework on which to build our leadership careers. The poem is not a checklist that will guarantee success for an aspiring leader. There is no silver bullet for successful leadership. Rather, ‘If-’ describes a path we may choose to follow to become a better leader. It can guide us along this path. ‘If-’ has remained a compelling leadership guide for more than 100 years. It is simply written and easy to read and understand. Most importantly, the messages are direct and powerful.
This blog is dedicated to connecting today’s problems with similar challenges from history. I will attempt to reveal the enduring wisdom from historical events, so today’s leaders can apply this wisdom to deliver superior results.
