(Nov. 2, 2022) revisits Henry Kissinger’s new book on six world leaders and six strategies. He says great leaders are either statemen or prophets. Kissinger is 99 this year!
here for my tribute to Dan Busby (1941-2022) and his legacy of leadership books and baseball books.
Margaret Thatcher said Singapore's prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was “one of the twentieth century’s most accomplished practitioners of statecraft.” Read more in Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy.
PART 2 OF 2: “A Posse of Half-Dedicated Inadequates”It was challenging to title this review since Henry Kissinger delivered so many great one-liners. Runners-up included:[ ] “This was no time to go wobbly.”
[ ] “I introduced him, as he asked, simply as a friend from Singapore.”
[ ] "He spent more time in prayer than at the podium."
This is Part 2 of 2 of my review of the expansive book by Henry Kissinger,
Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy.
Click here to read Part 1 of 2, spotlighting three world leaders and three unique strategies: Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, and Richard Nixon.
As I mentioned in my first review, I could have written eight reviews and you wouldn’t tire of Kissinger’s commentary and private conversations with six strategic world leaders:PART 1 OF 2:• Introduction: “The Axes of Leadership” (
listen to the first 5½ minutes)
• Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany (1949-1963)
• Charles de Gaulle, President of France (1959-1969)
• Richard Nixon, President of the U.S. (1969-1974)
PART 2 OF 2:• Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt (1970-1981)
• Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore (1959-1990)
• Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the U.K. (1979-1990)
• Conclusion: “The Evolution of Leadership”
So here's a quick look at Kissinger’s analysis of two ideal leadership types: the statesman and the prophet. In this issue: the other three world leaders and their unique strategies.
PART 2 OF 2: Anwar Sadat, Lee Kuan Yew, Margaret ThatcherTHE STRATEGY OF TRANSCENDENCEAnwar Sadat (1918-1981), President of Egypt (1970-1981)Imagine! More than 25 years of Middle East conflict—and you think you can be a peacemaker? Kissinger notes this about Sadat: “The combination of his quietist personality and his friendship with [President Gamal Abdel] Nasser had limited the usual incentives to develop a political base of his own—and he was never a natural politician. He spent more time in reflection, and in a way at prayer, than at the podium.”
• Kissinger writes of the Israel/Egypt peace process, “Sadat had just finished reading the letter and folding it when an assistant entered the room and whispered something in his ear. Sadat walked over to me and kissed me on both cheeks: ‘They have just signed the disengagement agreement at kilometer 101.
I am today taking off my military uniform—I never expect to wear it again except for ceremonial occasions.’” • “Of the individuals profiled in this volume, Sadat was the one whose philosophical and moral vision constituted the greatest breakthrough for his time and context.”
•
Oh, my. Sadat spoke joyfully to Kissinger about a planned celebration in Cairo when “the Sinai will come back to us.” He invited Kissinger to attend, but then said, “No, you shouldn’t.” He explained, “It will be too painful for the Israelis to give up this territory. It would hurt the Jewish people too much to see you in Cairo celebrating with us.” So Sadat suggested Kissinger come a month later. Sadly, Sadat was assassinated on 6 October 1981, before that event could occur.
THE STRATEGY OF EXCELLENCELee Kuan Yew (1923-2015), Prime Minister of Singapore (1959-1990)Raise your hand if you’ve ever read anything about Lee Kuan Yew, who created the powerhouse city-state, Singapore. (
Me neither.) His Chinese heritage and his Cambridge University education “gave him exceptional insight into the dynamics of the interaction between East and West—one of the essential fulcrums of history.”
Lee Kuan Yew was a guest in Kissinger’s home (in later years). This “inside baseball” chapter about Lee is absolutely fascinating. • “When he became leader of independent Singapore in August 1965, he took charge of a country that had never before existed—and hence, in effect, had no political past except as an imperial subject.” Note: Lee visited 50 countries in 1965!
• “Greening the city became a high priority.” And this: “Singaporeans (or foreigners, for that matter) could be fined for jaywalking, neglecting to flush a toilet or littering.
Lee even requested a weekly report on the cleanliness of the restrooms at Changi Airport—which, for many travelers, would provide a first impression of Singapore.” • “In the process, he grew into a world statesman and sought-after adviser to the great powers.” Margaret Thatcher called him “one of the twentieth century’s most accomplished practitioners of statecraft.”
• Singapore became an independent nation in 1965 under Lee’s “strategy of excellence.” By 1973, “Singapore had become the world’s third-largest oil refining hub.”
• Built on the shoulders of Prime Minister Lee’s leadership, Singapore was ranked as the second-least-corrupt country in the world for 2021 (a place it shares with Norway and Sweden). Note: Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand are tied for first, according to Transparency International.
Visit the website to see where your favorite country ranks!
•
Lee often said that Singapore’s territory was “some 224 square miles at low tide,” and “smaller than that of Chicago.” Then 1.9 million people, the 2022 population is 5.9 million.
• “Lee was respected by leaders of states far more powerful than his own to a unique degree because he furnished insights that enabled them to grasp their own essential challenges.”
In a toast to Nixon at a White House dinner in 1973, Lee said,
“We are a very small country placed strategically at the southernmost tip of Asia, and when the elephants are on the rampage, if you are a mouse there and you don’t know the habits of the elephants, it can be a very painful business.”
• “On his four visits to our weekend house in Connecticut, he would always bring his wife and generally one of his daughters.” And this! “Twice, at his request, I took him to local political events: one, a fundraiser for a congressional candidate; the other, a town-hall meeting.
I introduced him, as he asked, simply as a friend from Singapore.” Oh, my! THE STRATEGY OF CONVICTIONMargaret Thatcher (1925-2013), Prime Minister of the U.K. (1979-1990)With the UK so prominent in the news recently (Liz Truss is out and now Rishi Sunak is the new prime minister), you’ll be tempted to read this chapter first—and it’s worth your time. Known as the “Iron Lady,” Thatcher was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. Kissinger’s analysis is part history, part leadership-under-the-microscope, and part British Political System 101.
• Yet, in 1990 when Thatcher’s lack of support was imminent, Kissinger communicated his urgent counsel to Thatcher. He writes, “My suggestion did not find favor: Thatcher believed her duty lay on the world stage,” so Thatcher continued with her planned travel schedule to Northern Ireland and Paris. The result:
“Thatcher left the management of her campaign to what may only be described as a posse of half-dedicated inadequates.” Having lost the confidence of her party, she resigned.
• “General Norman Schwarzkopf spoke for many friends of Britain when he demanded of his British counterpart: ‘What sort of a country have you got there when they sack the Prime Minister halfway through a war?’”
• Believing that the British people would “recognize the difference between sturdy principles and passing fads,” Thatcher said this in a 1983 interview:
“There would have been no great prophets,
no great philosophers in life, no great things to follow,
if those who propounded their views had gone out and said,
‘Brothers, follow me, I believe in consensus.’”
• “I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together.” Thatcher introduced that famous remark into the political lexicon after meeting Gorbachev for lunch. But did you know that Konstantin Chernenko (1911-1985) was still the Soviet Union’s head of state in 1984? Strategically, she was building relationships with the likely future leader of the Soviet Union.
• You think Ukraine is unique? Kissinger’s book was published in July 2022, so he has some late-breaking insights on Ukraine. Thatcher had her fair share of squabbles to resolve: the Falkland Islands, plus Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China.
Kissinger describes Thatcher’s leadership as “steadiness” and “steeliness.” • There was more on the crisis front: Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Encouraging George H.W. Bush, Thatcher told him,
“This was no time to go wobbly.” Kissinger notes, “The firm tone that Thatcher helped to set during the early days of the conflict was an important factor in the eventual liberation of Kuwait.”
• While Thatcher was a major player in the historic fall of the Berlin Wall (see Robert Orlando’s documentary and book,
The Divine Plan), she “feared that not all the demons of Germany’s past had been exorcized.” Kissinger notes that Napoleon is said to have observed, “To understand a man, look at the world when he was twenty.” Thatcher turned 20 in 1945.
NOTE: In
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books, I squeezed in a mention of this Kissinger book while reviewing Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s book,
Leaders: Myth and Reality (Book #81). Using the compare-and-contrast methodology from
Plutarch’s Lives, he spotlights 13 leaders and contrasts Margaret Thatcher with “Boss” Tweed. (Read my review.)
KISSINGER'S CONCLUSION, "The Evolution of Leadership" (22 pages) is prophetic. All six leaders, he writes, "understood the importance of solitude" for "reading a complex book carefully, and engaging with it critically..." Nixon traveled to San Clemente, Calif. (where I live), for solitude and "deep literacy." Kissinger cautions,
"Small wonder that on many contemporary social-media platforms, users are divided into 'followers' and 'influencers'; there are no 'leaders.'"While I urge you to read Kissinger's fascinating and important book, it would also make a spectacular Christmas gift for a team member, friend, or family member. To order from Amazon, click on the title for
Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy, by Henry Kissinger.
Listen on Libro (19 hours, 9 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:1) Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore (1959-1990), wrote in his 2000 book,
From Third World to First: “I discovered early in office that there were few problems confronting me in government that other governments had not met and solved. So I made a practice of finding out who else had met the problem we faced, how they tackled it, and how successful they had been.”
Does our team have a plan to discover how like-minded organizations have tackled problems that we’re currently facing?2) Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt (1970-1981), flew to Israel on Nov. 19, 1977, “to global astonishment.” Kissinger writes, “Sadat’s journey to Jerusalem was that rare occasion in which the mere fact of an event constitutes
an interruption of history and thereby transforms the range of the possible.”
Does our organization have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal, or if you prefer, a Big HOLY Audacious Goal) that would be recognized as an interruption of history?
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books
Part 1: How to Read a Book!Book #5 of 100:
Know Can Do! Put Your Know-How into Action For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #5 in
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.
Know Can Do! Put Your Know-How into Action
by Ken Blanchard, Paul J. Meyer, and Dick Ruhe
“The gap between knowing and doing,” declares one of the characters in this short business story, “is probably wider than the gap between ignorance and knowledge.”
•
Read my review.
• Order from
Amazon:
Know Can Do! Put Your Know-How into Action •
Download John’s 100 Must-Read Books list.
Ken Blanchard, and his co-authors, deliver the gap solution:
the power and practice of repetition, repetition, repetition. Plus, “people should learn less information more often, rather than learn more information less often.”
Read fewer books, they preach, and read them not once, but four times. They recommend that you follow-up seminar attendance with a weekly one-hour coaching call for six weeks. There’s much, much more—and this 115-page book is a foundational book that will impact everything you read.
It’s a must, must, must-read-read-read-read.
PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Have you studied the science of repetition and frequency in communicating your mission and message? (Click here for an HBR article.) Do your customers (and donors) want more messaging or less? How do you know? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
