I’ve been keeping tabs on the new blog from Common Purpose, the leadership development charity.  One of their writers reflects on a quality which we sometimes brush aside in the business of life:

Patience was the subject of our most recent practice along with the below quote from Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton: “Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.”

Elsewhere on the site Oliver Mack ponders whether women have a particular approach to leadership:

Being in a minority (as women often find themselves in business) women have to learn the hard way how to bring about change. They can’t rely on their positions of authority, their technical expertise and education. It just won’t get them as far. They learn how the system really works, where the power really lies and how to use it. They learn to be patient, how to get people on side, and avoid the blocks. They have to become much more sophisticated, and more aware of themselves in the process.

Maybe there is some truth in this. Perhaps more women do more of the above than men.  However surely the key issue here is that having the patience to become expert in your field and your organisation will give you both the tools and the authority to take a lead.

Image from Created in the Dark.

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