Becoming a better leader through Stoicism

By Puneet Agarwal and Oluwakemi A. Fasanmi

Dwight Eisenhower defined leadership as, “the art of getting someone else to do something that you want to be done because he wants to do it, not because your position of power can impel him to do it, or your position of authority”. Great leaders are not born from the mother’s womb but are rather made over their life’s journey by developing certain attributes in themselves that made them forever into the history books.

With this column, we are going to cover some of the qualities that Stoicism philosophy encourages you to develop within you to become a great leader.

No Ego

One of the most common traits of great leaders is that they have no ego in them, as a result, they are always ready to accept criticism from their peers. Ryan Holiday mentions in his Ego is the Enemy book, “Aspiration leads to success (and adversity). Success creates its own adversity (and, hopefully, new ambitions). And adversity leads to aspiration and more success. It’s an endless loop.” Many early entrepreneurs, political leaders, business leaders fall prey to the Pride that leads them to arrogance and distracts them from achieving their dream. Pride dissuades us from thinking rationally by using the most important tool with us, our brain, and incapacitates us to see or learn anything new. Before we realise, we are on the way to failure!

Great leaders accept their mistakes when pointed out by others and instead of taking them as criticism, try to improve on those areas. These leaders don’t go out pointing mistakes at others or blaming others for their failures, believing that the ‘buck stops with them’. They try to find reasonable reasons for failure and take ownership of their own actions. By not wasting time on the blame game, they are able to quickly find solutions and correct the wrongdoing without making much fuss about it. This allows them to take a lesson for the future and the same mistake can be avoided then.

Consider obstacles as opportunities

A stoic leader never considers an obstacle as a roadblock to their path of success and considers them rather as opportunities for a lesson in their lives. It is a fact that most plans would not succeed 100% every time, and in real life, there are several times when many obstacles will come even after you have prepared an action plan while considering every possible scenario. The most important thing in such times is to have patience, and either continue to follow the same plan or improvise it, but never let the obstacles deter you from achieving the goals. Marcus Aurelius writes, “While it’s true that someone can impede our actions, they can’t impede our intentions and attitude, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable”.

When faced with the situation of civil war, Marcus Aurelius had the opportunity to kill Cassius like many other kings had done in the past against those who rebelled, but Marcus controlled his emotions. He saw this as an opportunity to set an example to all others on how to deal with the opponents in the case of civil wars, as he forgets Cassius for what he has done. It’s important for the leaders to see things as they are, transform obstacles into opportunities through their will and commitments, and make it a success through their actions. As writer Nicholas Taleb wrote, “transform fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking”.

Disciplined Action

One common thing that is coherent amongst any great leader is that they are disciplined in their actions. They develop a habit of performing actions, and do not let attention slip or let their thoughts derail them from these habits. They keep their heads and do not act rashly in times of adversity. This allows them to take decisions in a calm and composed manner and consider possible outcomes of their actions. Athenodorus, advisor to Caesar once said, “A punishment that’s delayed can still be imposed, but once imposed, it can’t be withdrawn”.

Great leaders do what they do, not to seek glory, reward, or recognition, but they consider it as their duty. Therefore, their followers consider them as a leader, trust in their abilities, and are ready to follow them even on the path to their death. By focusing on things that they can control, they develop the plans to be executed and trust in their abilities to achieve them. By developing a discipline habit to do what is supposed to be done, and not to postpone it to another day, they are able to achieve desired results within the timeline. As Seneca says, “Whatever can happen at any time can happen today.”

Learn continuously

Most stoic leaders become what they were because they either found a great mentor or considered someone to be their mentor. Martin Luther King considered Mahatma Gandhi his mentor when he started his Civil Rights movement. He understood the principle of Satyagraha, which was principled by Gandhiji, the challenges that a Satyaghree had to face in times of protest, and never to hate the one who is taking the wrong action. By finding the right mentor, we can overcome our shortcomings and let the mentors guide us toward the journey of success.

By building the habit of learning regularly, either by reading books or through discussing with the other counterparts, or any other manner, good leaders continue to learn and grow in their lives. They never believe that they have learned enough for their lifetime and there is no need of learning anything now. Great leaders do not just read more to spew out knowledge on the dinner table or on public forums, but because they want to get better, and better than most! They read what is useful, and what will make them a better individual, leader, businessperson, and leave everything aside which is trivial.

Good Teacher

One of the great qualities of stoic leaders is that they know when the right opportunity is to give an example of a lesson. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, after the severe bomb blast, refused to disclose the identity of the bombers and made an example for everyone around the world on how these situations can be handled without giving in to the outcry of the public and the expectations of the terrorist organisations. These leaders never miss a chance of showing their leadership abilities, internally or externally, and makes the most out of adverse situation. As Marcus Aurelius wrote, “what we do now echoes in eternity”.

References:

1. Dailystoic.com

2. Obstacle is the way, by Ryan Holiday

3. Ego is the enemy, by Ryan Holiday

4. Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday

5. Seneca, by Lucius Amnaeus