"There has never been as much talk about leadership as there is today and there has never been such a lack of true leaders."
Gerardo Castillo, professor at the University of Navarra, publishes his new book "14 unexpected leaders".
"There has never been so much talk about leadership as today and there has never been such a lack of true leaders", said Gerardo Castillo at the University of Navarra. The doctor in Pedagogy from this academic center, has presented his latest book "14 unexpected leaders"; a reflection on the basic characteristics of authentic leadership and the typical qualities of the leader, through the analysis of specific historical figures: Pericles, Hernán Cortés, Simón Bolívar, Lincoln, Shackleton, Churchill, Lawrence of Arabia, Golda Meir, Reagan, Kennedy, Mandela, Thatcher, Luther King and Corazon Aquino.
"All of them came to leadership by surprise and at a late age. These testimonies allow us to delve into different styles of exercising leadership, without the intention of comparing them with each other," said Castillo. The book discards autocratic and transactional leadership and focuses on democratic leadership, which is distinguished by the participation of the members of group. Although, as Gerardo Castillo clarified, "participation is not an end in itself, but a means to seek the common good. The ultimate goal pursued must possess a moral superiority. Authentic leadership is moral leadership.
Gerardo Castillo pointed out that a good leader must possess, among others, the capacities of "bold vision to imagine and create the future; clearly communicate his vision to others and persuade them to make it their own; transmit his commitment to act with reference letter to values; design good strategies for the achievement of objectives; accept great challenges and resist adversities".
Without proposals for the future or moral referents
"Without leadership, society is left without proposals for the future or moral referents" declared Castillo. "The main cause of the crisis of leaders that we are experiencing is the pragmatism that permeates today's society. From the utilitarian mentality, the only thing that interests us is to achieve practical results and satisfy material needs. This approach stifles great ideals," he said.
According to the professor of the University of Navarra, "at present we do not find leaders with stature and we are going back to some who have already retired". Among those who are still active, he highlighted Lula da Silva (chosen by Time magazine as the most influential leader in 2010), who in his eight years as president of Brazil, achieved the social and economic transformation of his country, turning it into a world power. "However - he pointed out - the new leaders move more in the cultural and social sphere than in the political one. Alexander Solzhenitsin, award Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, or Tatiana Goricheva, founder of the first Russian feminist movement and great protagonist of the rediscovery of God in communist and atheist Russia, are good examples of this". The author concluded by stating that "today's society needs to educate young people to lead it. I hope that this book will be a good instrument for this great goal educational ".
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