Is leadership making progress?

This article is part of the Contemporary leadership series

Talking with Professor Stew Friedman of the famous Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, I told him I’d been struck by the powerful strain of optimism in his work.

“Well, I’m glad that you picked that up,” he replied, “because that is, to me, the hallmark of what leaders have to do; to convert the harsh realities of today into a hopeful path to make the world a little better. It is about looking at reality as clearly as you can and then creatively, and in concert with other people, trying to figure out ways to improve the human condition.”

Napolean concurred – “leaders are dealers in hope”, he said. With hope comes the possibility of progress.

Des Dearlove is co-founder of the Thinkers50. He is an Associate Fellow of Said Business School at Oxford University; an adjunct professor at IE Business School, where he taught the Strategic Communication Module on the International MBA; and the author of a bestselling study of the leadership style of Richard Branson. He has taught on the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme, and the Swarovski Academy in Switzerland, and teaches media skills and crisis management at Cranfield School of Management.

He is a former columnist to The Times, contributing editor to the American magazine Strategy+Business, and co-editor of the bestselling Financial Times Handbook of Management. His books available in more than 20 languages include Gravy Training and Generation Entrepreneur (co-authored with Stuart Crainer).