A Great Leader Is . . .

Great Leader seems always to be defined as what we don’t have at the moment. Deeper definitions include decisiveness, courage and a fervent wish to serve the definers particular ethnic or economic group. And because everyone wants someone who believes in the same truth they believe, getting at what constitutes true leadership requires some study.

I got caught up in this endless circle recently with a couple of friends. Reaching no consensus I decided to do a reality check with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, one time Roman Emperor.

"What are the critical, timeless qualities a leader must possess," I asked.

“Begin the morning by saying to yourself,I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial,” Marcus Aurelius said, getting quickly to the point. “All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.

‘Well, yes,” I said, “but that seems more an example of noble patience on your part. My concern is leadership.”

Looking down his long nose at me, he continued: “But I, who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity . . . . “

He paused for a breath. I was beginning to suspect this would produce no sound bites.

“. . . For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.”

He stared at me, perhaps waiting for a response. Hearing none he sat and began what I assumed was meditation. Or, a nap.

Leaving the emperor, I found a room without CNN, NPR or Fox and pondered. Though impressed by his apparent compassion and lack of cynicism, I was most surprised by the absence of arrogance - his very visible humility.

It’s a different world today, my friends explain, and give me the look that wonders if I just got off the bus. Different, yes, I say, but how? Marcus Aurelius was emperor of Rome when Rome ruled the known world. That’s a lot to look after. Bigger than Pakistan, meaner than Iraq. Other than some technological differences the world he dealt with was a lot like our world today. Threats abounded. Fundamental economic and social changes were in the making. Character mattered. Courage mattered. Political skill mattered.

Go back a hundred years when Teddy Roosevelt quipped about talking softly but carrying a big stick. We can argue about his missing humility but not about his confidence in his country. FDR understood leadership means asking for sacrifice in time of crisis. John Kennedy knew if we don’t take care of all our people our people won’t take care of America.

Where are the leaders today who possess the character traits history always demands of its best? Our mistake will be settling for someone because they’re an improvement over what we have now. That’s not good enough. The bar is set so low we need a quantum jump. If we’re very lucky this year, we’ll continue to sense potential greatness lurking in the Democratic Party.

Maybe lucky is the wrong word. We are, after all, a nation governed by it's people. Maybe we need to make our own luck.