The Ideal Leader

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Plato's views on leadership who argues in favor of individual virtue as the guiding principle of the ethical leader who places the needs of his followers ahead of his own. The paper then contrasts this to Machiavelli who had a much less idealistic view of leadership. The paper explains Machiavelli's stance that a leader should maximize his own power at all times, even acting unethically, in order to ensure the leader's specific goals will be achieved.

From the Paper:

"The qualities of an ideal leader are not as clear as we might immediately think. In fact, if it really were all that easy to determine out the characteristics of the ideal leader, then there probably wouldn't be so many books published each year on the subject. Understanding the best qualities of a leader, and what makes them so, is not an easy task. How we define the best types of leadership is indicative of the kind of society and world in which we want to live, as well as the degree to which we are willing to accept the realities of human nature and human society."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Kemerling, Garth. "Machiavelli: Principality and Republic." Philosophy Pages. 27 Oct. 2001. 17 Nov. 2007 <http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/3v.htm>.
• Korab-Karpowicz, W.J. "Plato's Political Philosophy." The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Bilkent University. 2006. 17 Nov. 2007 <http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/platopol.htm>.

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