Re: Leader****p in SF

<lal_al@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:733ffe20-dd1c-40d0-acb8-6ef72be627e2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>I like reading about leaders.  Great men with vision who change
> things.  One definition of a leader is this: "The difference between a
> leader and a follower is that a leader changes the environment to
> adapt to him, and a follower changes to adapt to the environment".
> This is also my style of leader****p.
>
> What is your definition of a leader?  Can you recommend a SF book that
> studies leader****p?

 To paraphrase ol' Ben Franklin: 'Neither a leader nor a follower be'.

  I dunno about a book but there was one throwaway line that I always 
wondered about.

 This could also be a YASID.

 I think it was a Steve Stirling, or possibly Jerry Pournelle or from one
of 
their universes.

 The scene was some urgent space battle where the leader[captain] has to 
make decisions which he does quickly.

 He thinks to himself or the narrator supplies the logic: 'In a critical 
situation the most im****tant thing is to make decisions quickly. If in the

end they turn out to be the right ones, so much the better.'

 I can see where that's coming from but something made me balk at
accepting 
it as an axiom.

 Another earthier comment on leader****p, I'm pretty sure was a Stirling. 
Some guy caught in a espionage/suspense situation is pondering his choices

and wonders if the bosses would back him up. He decides that anyone who 
expected those kinds of bosses to back you up better have a jar of
Vaseline 
handy.

 Pithy, but with a certain timeless realism.