Nearly twenty years ago I read Leadership is an Art by Max De Pree. The former CEO of the legendary company Herman Miller, De Pree was one of the great business leaders of his day. So naturally, I was eager to find out what he had to say.
The book had a profound impact on my understanding and practice of leadership. The most significant line for me was, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.”
I’ve always …