What Makes a Leader A True Genius?

Yesterday I was walking in downtown Washington D.C. I walked past the White House and then through the George Washington University Campus. While walking past the White House I saw many protest signs with messages directed at the President of the United State which made me think about what makes a leader a genius.

I got my answer a few minutes later when I saw a poster on one of the university buildings that stated the following.

"All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: Freedom; Justice; Honor; Duty; Mercy; Hope."

This was a quote by one of the world's most extraordinary leaders who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for "his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values." (Nobel Foundation)

Using only twenty-one words to summarize the universal principles that underlie leadership is truly genius.

There is much that can be learned by political and business leaders through this succinct comment made by an internationally recognized leader who - despite his shortcomings - earned so much respect from so many.