Developing Leaders? Developing Countries?

We develop leaders, and we develop countries. Or so we believe. We also believe that we develop countries by developing leaders. Perhaps we need to develop our thinking.

“Unhappy is the land that has no heroes,” comments a character in Bertolt Brecht’s play Life of Galileo. “No,” replies another. “Unhappy is the land that needs heroes.” If we can get past our need for heroic leadership, and past the narrow metrics of our economists, then perhaps we will be able to take a good look at ourselves, instead of having to run around developing others countries and leaders. Then, perhaps, we can start back on the tricky road to developing balance.

Original article by: Henry Mintzberg, Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montréal, Canada [Developing Leaders? Developing Countries?pdf]