you want to accomplish, and end the year by measuring how much you have accomplished. McKinsey imposes this discipline on its partners and pays them according to how many of the things on their lists they accomplish. Leadership I have had unique opportunities for observing men who manage great corporations – my clients. Most of them are good problem-solvers and decision-makers, but few are outstanding leaders. Some of them, far from inspiring their lieutenants, display a genius for castrating them. Great leadership can have an electrifying effect on the performance of any corporation. I have had the good fortune to work for three inspiring leaders – Monsieur Pitard, who was my boss in the kitchens of the Majestic Hotel in Paris; George Gallup; and Sir William Stephenson of British Intelligence. There has been a lot of research into leadership. It is the consensus among the social scientists that success in leadership depends on the circumstances. For example, a man who has been an outstanding leader in an industrial company can be a flop when he goes to Washington as Secretary of Commerce. And the kind of leadership which works well in a new company seldom works well in a mature company. There appears to be no correlation between leadership and academic achievement. I was relieved to learn this, because I have no college degree. The motivation which makes a man a good student is not the kind of motivation which makes him a good leader. There is a tendency for corporations to reject executives who do not fit their conventions. How many corporations would promote a maverick like Charlie Kettering of General Motors? How many advertising agencies would hire a 38-year-old man whose curriculum vitae read: ‘Unemployed farmer, former cook and university drop-out?’ (Me in the year I started Ogilvy & Mather.) The best leaders are apt to be found among those executives who have a strong component of unorthodoxy in their characters. Instead of resisting innovation, they symbolize it – and companies cannot grow without innovation. Great leaders almost always exude self-confidence. They are never