Leadership In Julius Caesar

Leadership seems to be a somewhat nebulous, undefinable trait, yet, one can readily note examples of it—images of history’s greatest leaders come to mind: Abraham Lincoln; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Mahatma Gandhi; Julius Caesar; and so forth. These men exemplify effective leaders, not because of their physical prowess but due to their their phenomenal characters, whether they be as civil rights leaders, generals, or presidents, which allowed them to inspire others and instill them with confidence and purpose. This ability to instill others with purpose does not come from a single personality trait, such as charisma—although, charisma certainly is a component of leadership. After all, someone of outstanding social appeal may not be able to handle the mental burden of, say, spearheading a movement, commanding an army or regiment, or ruling a group of people. Even though charisma does not

Plenty of charismatic leaders have seemingly given purpose to many lives; however, they are not necessarily made good leaders because of this. For instance, the Roman people adored the Emperor Caligula so much that, upon his entrance to Rome, they hailed him as “our babe” and “our star,” and, according to Philo of Alexandria, everyone admired him in “all the world, from the rising to the setting sun.” Even though Caligula inspired his people and seemingly gave them purpose, he was, in fact, a terrible leader, submitting to depravity and senselessly slaughtering many of his own citizens. Caligula was certainly a leader but he was just as certainly not a good one. So what separates the good from the bad; the sociopathic dictators from those wishing to better the world through their rule? Two boundaries separate our best leaders from our worst: first, the ability to not only influence a mass of people but also be kind in “one-on-one” interactions with one’s followers; and second, to act in the interest of everyone’s greater good, not just one’s