by Jonathan Gifford | Apr 1, 2012 | Leaders from History
In the later phase of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte – then a mere Brigadier General (who had, in fact, recently been struck off by the revolutionary Committee of Public Safety and was therefore technically an ex-Brigadier General) famously said that...
by Jonathan Gifford | Mar 7, 2012 | Leaders from History
Napoleon’s first opportunity to demonstrate his exceptional leadership skills came with the French Revolution – the dramatic social upheaval that swept away all of France’s previous power structures and hierarchies, giving this apparently unremarkable...
by Jonathan Gifford | Feb 12, 2012 | Leaders from History
Abraham Lincoln, at a truly critical moment in American history, presented to a troubled and divided nation a clear and commanding vision: that the United States of America was ‘a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are...
by Jonathan Gifford | Feb 11, 2012 | Leaders from History
One of the most difficult tasks that a leader may face is to change the engrained ‘mood’ of an organisation; its very culture. South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, who, after his release and his later election as president of a country that had voted for the first...
by Jonathan Gifford | Jan 13, 2012 | Leaders from History
Zhou Enlai was Premier of the People’s Republic of China from the moment the Chinese Communist Party achieved power in 1949, following their defeat of the Nationalist government, until his death in 1976. A dedicated and lifelong communist, Zhou Enlai’s...
by Jonathan Gifford | Mar 19, 2011 | Leaders from History
One of the defining aspects of leadership is courage: having the bravery not only to stand up and ask people to follow but also to put one’s head over the parapet. Napoleon Bonaparte – the successful young general who emerged unexpectedly as...
