Created for Greatness : The Power of Magnanimity

by Havard, Alexandre

• ISBN13: 9781467025164
• ISBN10: 146702516X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-26
• Publisher: Author Solutions

Summary

"Created for Greatness contains general pointers on how to achieve greatness and practical steps to follow. It is for those who really want to get down to brass tacks. Magnanimity is an ideal rooted in trust in man, and his inherent greatness. It is the virtue of action and entrepreneurship. It is the supreme form of human hope. Magnanimity is a virtue capable of setting the tone of one's entire life, transforming it, giving it new meaning and leading to the flourishing of the personality. Magnanimity and humility are the virtues specific to leaders. Magnanimity and humility are two words rich in meaning, possessed of extraordinary emotional and existential power, words that go straight to the heart because they embody a life ideal-the ideal of greatness and service. Magnanimity is the thirst to lead a full and intense life; humility is the thirst to love and sacrifice for others. Leadership is about achieving greatness by bringing out the greatness in others. It is a life ideal, which recognizes, assimilates and propagates the truth about man." The Author

Excerpts

CHAPTER 1 The Ideal of Magnanimity Magnanimity is an ideal rooted in trust in man, and his inherent greatness. It is the virtue of action. It is the supreme form of human hope. Magnanimity is a virtue capable of setting the tone of one's entire life, transforming it, giving it new meaning and leading to the flourishing of the personality. It is the first specific virtue of leaders. I have been teaching students of widely differing cultures and languages and religions about magnanimity—this virtue specific to leadership—for ten years now. In my experience, magnanimity, everywhere and without fail, stirs the passions. I have seen people change fundamentally through their encounter with this virtue. And I have seen people flee from the lecture hall, as if terrorized by the very idea. Magnanimity leaves no one indifferent. An affirmation of one's dignity and greatness Aristotle was the first writer to elaborate a concept of magnanimity (megalopsychia). For him, the magnanimous person practices virtue, and, as a result, considers himself worthy of "great things" (by which he means honors). While the magnanimous person may well deserve honors, he does not seek them. He can do without them because he possesses something better—virtue, the greatest of treasures. He knows that the entire universe and everything in it is worth less than his virtue. He is aware of being worth more and of deserving better. But compared to the greatness of the virtue he possesses, all of that pales to insignificance. Aristotle considered Socrates the model of the magnanimous person, although he never said so explicitly. Aristotelian magnanimity is that of the philosophers who hold the world in contempt the better to affirm man. It is equanimity in the face of the vicissitudes of life, indifference to dishonor (unless deserved), and contempt for the opinions of the multitude. It is not a question of pro-actively seeking to make things happen, but of putting up with things, of grinning and bearing it. Rather than developing one's abilities, the emphasis is on conquering oneself, on mastering one's autonomy and freedom. The magnanimous person affirms his human dignity and dominates a treacherous world, which he holds in contempt. Aristotelian magnanimity affirms one's dignity and greatness. It is an exalted vision of self. This awareness of one's value is something we discover in all leaders. It is in fact the beginning of leadership. Without this awareness of one's dignity and greatness there is no magnanimity and no leadership. Take the case of General de Gaulle. He refused to accept France's capitulation to Germany in 1940. Although a mere brigadier general and completely unknown to his countrymen, he was determined to avenge France's honor by calling the nation to resistance, which he would do in his famous address to the French nation over the airwaves of the BBC on June 18, 1940. But that was yet to come. His vision of the task at hand was preceded by his unshakable faith in his own dignity and greatness. This comes through in his War Memoirs: "Limited and alone though I was, and precisely because I was so, I had to ascend to the heights, never then to come down." Leadership begins with an exalted vision of self. Only then does it acquire a vision of what it seeks to achieve. When Darwin Smith became CEO of Kimberly-Clark in 1971, his company had a secure position in its sector. But Smith believed that being the head of a respectable company—one composed of mere functionaries—was beneath his dignity, an unworthy vocation for himself. His exalted vision of self allowed him to set the objective: to achieve greatness or perish. He decided to sell all of its factories that had been producing coated paper—the main source of the company's revenue—and used the proceeds to begin producing consumer paper products, deliberately placing the firm in direct competition with market leaders Procter & Gamble and Scott Paper. This decision brought about a spectacular turnaround in the firm's fortunes: it transformed Kimberly-Clark into the number-one paper-based consumer-products company in the world. Smith's sense of personal worth and dignity instilled in him an ill-disguised contempt for the opinions of the multitude: Wall Street analysts and the business media derided his decision; they were certain it would fail. Smith, like Socrates, did not consult the mob for its opinion. The virtue of action For Thomas Aquinas, the most important philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages, magnanimity is the insatiable appetite for great things (extensio animi ad magna); the magnanimous person is one whose heart is set on conquering the world and achieving personal excellence. Magnanimity is a longing for greatness—a burning desire, a sacred quest, an aspiration. Magnanimitas, the Latin word coined by Cicero in 44 B.C. to render the Greek megalopsychia, is equivalent to magnitudo animi, observes Aquinas, and animus implies irascible power, the instinct for combat and conquest. Magnanimity is the virtue of aggressiveness; it is ever prepared to attack, to conquer, to act with the impetuosity of a lion. (...) Magnanimity is the conquest of greatness. It is not content to initiate; it achieves. It is not content to aspire to greatness, but to attain it. It is like jet fuel: it is the propulsive virtue par excellence. Magnanimity is the virtue of action; there is more energy in it than in mere audacity. The magnanimous person achieves self-fulfillment in and through action. He gives himself over to it with passion and enthusiasm.