Books | Serve to Lead Group

M S Rao | Meka Ramakrishna Sayee

July 25, 2018 By James Strock

The article below is a special posting from international leadership guru, Professor M. S. Rao, of Hyderabad, India. He writes passionately about the accomplishments and promise of his son, Meka Ramakrishna Sayee. I hope you will find, as I do, actionable inspiration from what can truly be called a leading family. —JMS

To be the best in the world necessitates your drawing upon all your capacities. In the doing, you will draw on what is unique in yourself.
No one can replicate it. ―James Strock

We study the lives of great leaders to refill our inspiration. Authors often turn to notable international leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama to engage their readers.

In addition to eminent personalities, we must also take examples of otherwise ordinary individuals who overcame hardships and financial challenges to excel as extraordinary leaders in their own right.

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10 Watergate Leadership Lessons

April 17, 2018 By James Strock

Once again, Watergate analogies are in the air. Though they may be overdrawn, there are important lessons that remain evergreen from a historic, catastrophic leadership breakdown at highest level. These lessons are as familiar as Shakespeare or the Bible—and as pertinent as ever in the new world of 21st century leadership.

One major change: the rapid denouement of the Nixon presidency—from electoral triumph to dissolution in less than two years—would be greatly accelerated in today’s Internet age.

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10 Winston Churchill Leadership Lessons

January 24, 2018 By James Strock

winston churchill by karsh at www.servetolead.org

WSC, Personifying British Defiance (Karsh, 1941)

One layer [of Churchill’s character and personality] was certainly seventeenth century. The eighteenth century in him is obvious. There was the nineteenth century, and a large slice, of course, of the twentieth century; and another, curious layer which may possibly have been the twenty-first. –Clement Attlee

The anniversary of the birth of Sir Winston Churchill is a compelling occasion for reflection.

In a textbook case of projection, a preening popinjay, a BBC news personality called Paxman recently dismissed Churchill as a “ruthless egotist, a chancer, and a charlatan.”

Paxman and many others have speculated that Churchill could not be elected today.

These and other observations imply that Churchill’s leadership example is of limited value in our time. His life and work may provide anecdotes and entertainment, but little elucidation about things that matter.

This is surely wrong.

Winston Churchill’s storied, spectacular career holds numerous lessons for 21st century leaders.

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