When setting out into the world with an exciting, disruptive idea, it’s easy to forget that once the idea works you have to run the company. You have investors and shareholders to answer to and employees who rely on you for paychecks. The challenges that come with leadership are among the hardest in the business world; every decision you make has more consequences, and the moral decisions that come along the way are enough to challenge even the most steadfast of leaders. So how did the world’s greatest leaders - the ones who have written history and shaped the world we know today - do it? Here are 7 lessons on leadership you can learn right now.

1. WHAT PLATO, SUN TZU, AND 5
OTHER GENIUSES CAN TEACH YOU
ABOUT LEADERSHIP

2. The challenges that come with leadership are among the hardest in the business
world; every decision you make has more consequences, and the moral decisions
that come along the way are enough to challenge even the most steadfast of
leaders.
SO HOW DID THE WORLD’S
GREATEST LEADERS DO IT?
Find out now...

3. Answer: they turned to some of the greatest thinkers in history.
Napoleon and Bill Clinton studied The Prince. Books like The Art
of War have inspired everything from Communist strategy in the
Vietnam War to victory in the Super Bowl.
So if you want to separate the dreamers from the entrepreneurs
in this world then look at their bookshelves...

4. Know the enemy, your team and yourself, says Sun Tzu in The Art of
War, and the battle will be won before it is even fought.
Want this great thinker’s wisdom? Consider these questions:
What information can you gather that’s out of reach of the
competition? What are their weaknesses, and how can you take
advantage?
Read more...

5. It’s better to be feared than loved (if you cannot be both), according to
Machiavelli’s The Prince.
Want this great thinker’s wisdom? Consider these
questions:
What do you value more: being liked, or being a
successful powerful leader? By Machiavelli’s standards,
you cannot be both.
Read more...

6. A team is better off with a strong leader at its helm and a hierarchy
to support it, Thomas Hobbes argues in Leviathan.
Want this great thinker’s wisdom?
Consider these questions:
How can you find a balance between
being a strong leader and a fair
Leviathan?
Read more...

7. In Republic, Plato advises that a leader must be strong, but they
must represent reason and seek knowledge and truth.
Want this great thinker’s wisdom?
Consider these questions:
Your business and its employees are a
reflection of yourself. Plato valued
reason, knowledge, truth, and justice in a
leader. Does your leadership style
encompass all of these traits?
Read more...

8. Robert Putnam emphasises the importance of
a sociable team for productivity in Bowling
Alone.
Want this great thinker’s wisdom? Consider these questions:
Do members of your team feel connected with each other? Do
they socialise, or are they glued to their computers? If it’s the
latter, then their productivity will suffer. How can you help them
reconnect on a personal, not just professional level?
Read more...

9. Happiness is the goal of human life, John Stuart Mill argues in
Utilitarianism, so the best decision is the one that promotes the
greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people.
Want this great thinker’s wisdom? Consider these
questions:
When faced with a tough decision as a leader: which
choice will mean the greater amount of happiness for
the greater number of people?
Read more...

10. Modern institutions use surveillance to shape our behavior, control our
souls, and limit our individualism, warns Michel Foucault in Discipline
and Punish.
Want this great thinker’s wisdom? Consider
these questions:
Why do you follow your industry’s “modus
operandi”? Is the fear of being judged
stopping you from making your own rules and
testing your own theories?
Read more...

11. LOOKING FOR MORE LEADERSHIP LESSONS
FROM HISTORY’S BRIGHTEST MINDS?
From Plato to Piketty, Macat curates
and explains the most important
books ever written in a way that
helps you become a better leader.
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