The Myth of the Strong Leader

Oxford politics professor Archie Brown disputes the common view that the most admirable and successful leaders are strong ones who dominate colleagues and control policy-making. Surveying political leadership across the past hundred years, he argues that collegial leaders are too often written off as weak, though cooperation frequently achieves more. He sets redefining leaders such as Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and Margaret Thatcher, who stretched what seemed politically possible, against rarer transformational figures like Nelson Mandela, Charles de Gaulle and Mikhail Gorbachev, who helped bring about systemic change. Even in authoritarian systems, Brown contends, collective rule is a lesser evil than personal dictatorship, where cultivating a strong leader cult tends to come before oppression.

Bill Gates included it in My Favorite Books of 2016, saying the year's fierce election led him to it and that Brown shows the leaders who contribute most tend to collaborate, delegate and negotiate.