1. Arête: The Foundation of All Great Leadership
Across time, whether man or woman, no matter the endeavour or the field, the foundation of all great leadership has always remained the same: it is excellence. Excellence in craft and excellence in being.
Excellence in craft is clear enough: we must cultivate our area of expertise – whether it is engineering, law, finance – until we reach high levels of competence. For it is competence, after all, that opens doors and confers the skills, and the right, to properly vie for leadership.
However, excellence in craft is only half the equation. The other half, and the more essential one, for craft can only go so far without it, is learning the overall art of human excellence. Why? Because put very simply: an excellent leader is someone who has learned to become an excellent person, namely someone who embodies excellence in being.
Leadership is an art, a performing art. And in the art of leadership, the artist’s instrument is the self. The mastery of the art of leadership comes with the mastery of the self. Ultimately, leadership development is the process of self-development.
― James Kouzes, Executive, author and Leadership expert
Leadership is quite literally synonymous with human excellence. This is the truth that has been known all the way back since antiquity. Indeed, the ancient Greeks, and the Stoics as well, had a term for this art of excellence: they called it Arête. There is no exact English translation for Arête. Its ancient Greek meaning was two-fold: it could mean excellence in a specific craft or field, such as law, finance or public speaking. Or, in its higher sense, it meant a combination of human excellence and moral virtue, the cultivation of which led to highest possible levels of achievement in overall personal excellence.
And all aspiring, and accomplished, leaders, who were serious about their vocation, made a point to cultivate both excellence in their specific field and the higher form of Arête. It was also one of the main functions of ancient philosophers, including of course the Stoic philosophers, to advise and to help train leaders in Arête, so that they could excel in their roles. The most famous examples of this in all Western civilization, were Aristotle serving as teacher to the young Alexander the Great, and various Stoic philosophers serving as guides to the great emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius.
While ancient, Arête has never gone out of style, and since it is the foundation of all great leadership, it will indeed always remain its core curriculum. It is easy to grasp that human excellence is the foundation of leadership, when one thinks of the qualities which great leaders generally display: courage, intelligence, self-knowledge, temperance, self-command, justice and of course, the crowning jewel of leadership, Wisdom. These are in fact all attributes of human excellence, or Arête, and to which the ancient philosophers first gave a name: they called them the Virtues.
“Excellence” is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act “rightly” because we are “excellent” in fact we achieve “excellence” by acting “rightly.”
― Plato
Later in Western civilization, the Christians also went on to adopt these Virtues, from their Greek and Stoic predecessors, integrating them into the core of their own tradition, and naming them the “Cardinal Virtues.” They lived through the whole Middle Ages, albeit through a Christian lens. And then, the whole ancient Greek legacy, including centrally its philosophy of Arête, helped to spawn the entire Renaissance and subsequent modern era!
Such was the pedigree of this noble and wise tradition, first articulated by the likes of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and many of the illustrious Platonists and Stoics that followed them. And while we speak of Stoicism, this entire philosophy itself was devoted to helping citizens and leaders alike to develop in themselves the various attributes of human excellence, for they argued, correctly, that a flourishing and successful life was itself a by-product of cultivating Arête, and its associated Virtues.
In the early 21st-century, we often think leadership is just excellence in craft – that an MBA, advanced expertise in law, computer programming, or finance, is all you really need to lead. However, if we wish to become, and to remain, superior leaders we will necessarily have to devote ourselves to Arête, namely: we will need to simultaneously hone our craft and the overall art of human excellence. And what are the core components of Arête, or the foundation of leadership itself? They are the long-term cultivation of the Virtues, practising the interdisciplinary art of leadership, and pursuing a path devoted to developing overall excellence, a noble path which the ancients actually called ... Philosophy – since it was in fact precisely the applied art of personal excellence.
Putting it into Practice
Make a learning plan to hone both your on-the-job skills and the overall art of excellence.
Consider how much you put the Virtues into practice. Can you think of a recent time when you exhibited: courage, self-command, temperance, prudence or justice?
Examine some of your weaknesses (a temper, difficulty managing emotions, rashness, harshness etc.), and consider whether you actively, regularly, cultivate a Virtue that counterbalances and corrects this tendency in you. If not, make a plan to work on developing a new, helpful Virtue each month.
Think of leaders whom you admire (past or present), and identify what their core qualities were. Have them present in your life (through books, quotes etc.) and inspire yourself from their example.
Cultivate the foundations of the interdisciplinary art of leadership.