Fear Your Strengths

Chapter 5The Complete Leader

OF ALL THE LEADERS we have encountered, Will Stonecraft came closest to possessing ideal versatility. As the head of a major line of business in his company, Will was fluent both strategically and operationally and kept both perspectives in continual balance. He rarely talked strategy without considering the operational implications, and when he raised tactical issues, it was always in a strategic context. He had a singular ability, possessed by very few in- or outside of organizational life, to be absolutely, forcefully direct and at the same time nonthreatening. He was able to confront people with such tact that though they got the message loud and clear, they didn’t so much feel confronted as considered, reassured, ...