Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410210063
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: G6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY PRESTON BRYANT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
According to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills, the ancient Athenian statesman Pericles was the archetypal leader, and his 450 B.C. subjects, who understood and shared his noble goals, were the perfect followers. The unassailable and uncompromising Pericles derived his power from the great respect he received from those he governed.
In his latest book, "Certain Trumpets," Wills addresses the issue of leadership, offering up 16 leaders from history who, he believes, fit the Periclean model. He also notes how their respective followers distinguished themselves primarily by their willingness to be led toward a common goal.
Wills' subjects are from such arenas as government, religion, sports and the arts. Some are good; some not so good. And in order to further define or clarify each leader, he presents someone he thinks would be the leader's opposite.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an electoral leader. While some have described him as a masterful ruler, others have seen him as something of a weather vane, always pointing the way of the most popular political winds. Wills thoughtfully reconciles these two viewpoints, recognizing that Roosevelt got his way not by dictating but by knowing intuitively where his followers would want him to lead them.
FDR's opposite? Adlai Stevenson. Though an FDR-styled liberal, Stevenson was unable to discern, a la FDR, where his followers wanted to go. A rather aloof intellectual, Stevenson was content to let them come to him, and they often never did, leaving him without solid guidance.
Other studies in leadership include Mary Baker Eddy, a mid-19th century woman in a man's world who founded the Christian Scientists. She is contrasted, oddly enough, with the man who taught her everything she knew, the mind-over-pain therapist Phineas Quimby. Carl Stotz, the Depression-era founder and director of Little League Baseball, is a noted sports leader, who let his love of the game and his belief in its character-building qualities guide all the decisions he made in the name of the youngsters who played it.
Stotz's noted opposite is longtime baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Though credited with keeping baseball's name respectable in the days of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, his despotic management prevented team owners or players from seeing him in any Periclean light. Many fearfully obeyed him, but few genuinely followed him.
Perhaps Wills' most interesting comparison is between the graceful modern dance legend Martha Graham and today's go-go icon Madonna. One is an artistic leader, the other simply an entertainer. While both are depicted as having a high degree of business savvy, only one is distinguished for using it to foster admirable goals shared by others.
"Certain Trumpets" demonstrates that though many may be successful, not all who rise to the top are leaders. Obedient subordinates may speak only of a boss. Those who understand and endorse one's stated goals may trumpet a leader.
Preston Bryant was recently elected to an at-large seat on the Lynchburg City Council.
by CNB