an important conclusion in Jim Collins’s extraordinary book From Good to Great (New York: HarperBusiness, 2001) is that the executives of these successful companies weren’t charismatic, flashy men and women. They were humble people who respected the opinions of others. A good opportunity to extend the validity of Collins’s research is to ask a question such as, “Are there circumstances in which you actually don’t want a humble, noncharismatic CEO?” We suspect that there are—and defining the different circumstances in which charisma and humility are virtues and vices could do a great service to
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