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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Marcus Aurelius' 10 Rules For Being An Exceptional Leader

The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius ruled from 161 to 180 A.D. and has maintained the reputation for being the ideal wise leader whom Plato called the "philosopher king."

His book "Meditations" has inspired leaders for centuries because of its timeless wisdom about human behavior.

It's a collection of personal writings from the chaotic last decade of his life. This turmoil inspired him to develop his interpretation of Stoic philosophy, which focused on accepting things out of one's control and maintaining mastery over one's emotions.

We've taken a look at a section from Book 11 in which Marcus writes reminders to himself on how to be a great leader. Using Gregory Hays' accessible translation of the ancient Greek (Marcus used the language of his philosophical heroes), we've broken down his 10 points into further simplified language, contextualized by the rest of Marcus' ideology.

Here are 10 things every great leader should know:

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Smart man!

Paladin said...

If only the leadership at the WCBOE along with the Government of the City of Salisbury would heed such advice.

...Pity, as so much more could be done for the common good given these esteemed reminders.

Paladin

Anonymous said...

And I thought Plato lived prior to Jesus Christ?