Initiative And Leadership
It is not Napoleon's brand of leadership that is recommended in this
course, although I will admit that Napoleon possessed all the
necessary fundamentals for great leadership, excepting one - he
lacked the spirit of helpfulness to others as an objective. His desire
for the power that comes through leadership was based solely upon
self-aggrandizement. His desire for leadership was built upon
personal ambition and not upon the desire to lift the French people to
a higher and nobler station in the affairs of nations.
CHERISH your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements. The brand of leadership that is recommended through this course of instruction is the brand, which leads to self-determination and freedom and self-development and enlightenment and justice. This is the brand that endures.
For example, and as a contrast with the brand of leadership through which Napoleon raised himself into prominence, consider our own American commoner, Lincoln. The object of his leadership was to bring truth and justice and understanding to the people of the United States. Even though he died a martyr to his belief in this brand of leadership, his name has been engraved upon the heart of the world in terms of loving kindliness that will never bring aught but good to the world.
Both Lincoln and Napoleon led armies in warfare, but the objects of their leadership were as different as night is different from day. If it would give you a better understanding of the principles upon which this Reading Course is based, you could easily be cited to leadership of today which resembles both the brand that Napoleon employed and that which Lincoln made the foundation of his life-work, but this is not essential; your own ability to look around and analyze men who take the leading parts in all lines of endeavor is sufficient to enable you to pick out the Lincoln as well as the Napoleon types.
Your own judgment will help you decide which type you prefer to emulate. There can be no doubt in your mind as to the brand of leadership that is recommended in this Reading Course, and there should be no question in your mind as to which of the two brands described you will adopt as your brand. We make no recommendations on this subject, however, for the reason that this Reading Course has been prepared as a means of laying before its students the fundamental principles upon which power is developed, and not as a preachment on ethical conduct.
We present both the constructive and the destructive
possibilities of the principles outlined in this course, that you may become
familiar with both, but we leave entirely to your own discretion the choice
and application of these principles, believing that your own intelligence
will guide you to make a wise selection.