You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it. And without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance.
Quoted from Eric Shinseki’s 2003 speech when he retired from the Army. Shinseki is Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
December 9, 2008 at 7:36 am
Veterans should take heart at the prospect of Gen Shinseki taking lead of the VA. The man had the guts to tell the old administration the truth they didn’t want to hear. They forced him to retire. Now vindicated, he promises to bring the same courage to work on veterans’ behalf. Honesty in government … what a concept.