the years of lyndon johnson the path to power

Successful leaders somehow manage to do both-accumulate power and use it to some great end. Without a vision beyond their own advancement, they were almost paralyzed once the goal had been achieved. They did not know what to do with the power they had so expertly accumulated. Kramer, have described cases, often in the pages of this magazine, of successful senior managers who have stumbled on the last rung of the ladder or failed at the top because they could not make the switch from ambitious executive to corporate leader. Students of business leadership, such as Dan Ciampa and Roderick M. This tension is as real in business as it is in politics. The temperament and behavior of the ambitious, cynical player adept at amassing power is often at odds with those of the daring and imaginative visionary able to achieve great things with that power. The trouble is that the combination of the two skills is rare. No one can lead who does not first acquire power, and no leader can be great who does not know how to use power. “Today, when CEOs have acquired more and more power to change our lives,” Caro says, “they have become like presidents in their own right, and they, too, need to align themselves with something greater than themselves if they hope to become truly great leaders.” But what it invariably does is reveal a leader’s true nature.

Power doesn’t always corrupt, he insists. In this wide-ranging conversation, Caro shares his insights about the nature of power, the complexity of ambition, and the role that the greater good can play in the making of a leader. Caro’s deep understanding of the inner workings of power offers senior executives a nuanced picture of leadership at the highest level.

For the past 27 years, the two-time Pulitzer prize–winning biographer of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson has focused on the question of how Johnson amassed and wielded power. This magazine is replete with examples of successful senior managers who could not make the switch from ambitious executive to corporate leader because they did not know what to do with the power they had so expertly accumulated. The tension is as real in business as it is in politics. Amassing power requires ambition, a focused pragmatism, and a certain ruthlessness that is often at odds with the daring, idealistic vision needed to achieve great things with that power. No one can lead who does not first acquire power, and no leader can be great who does not know how to use that power.

The years of lyndon johnson the path to power