The problem is that the heroic view of leadership looks at people in terms of a pyramid. At the top are great figures. They have clear, strong values and know right from wrong. They act boldly, sacrifice themselves for noble causes, set compelling examples for others and ultimately change the world. At the bottom of the pyramid are life’s bystanders, shirkers and cowards. These are T.S. Eliot’s “hollow men”, afraid to act and preoccupied with self interest. They inspire no one and change nothing.

But where does this view leave everyone else? Most people, most of the time, are neither saving the world nor exploiting it. They are living their lives, doing their jobs, and trying to take care of the people around them. The pyramid approach, by saying little about everyday life and ordinary people, seems to consign much of humanity to a murky, moral limbo. This is a serious mistake.

Consider the view of Albert Schweitzer, a man who, by any standard, was a truly heroic leader…..Schweitzer changed many lives and inspired countless others. Yet, in his autobiography, he wrote these words about the role of great individuals in shaping the world:

Of all the will toward the ideal in mankind only a small part can manifest itself in public action. All the rest of this force must be content with small and obscure deeds. The sum of these, however, is a thousand times stronger than the acts of those who receive wide public recognition. The latter, compared to the former, are like the foam on the waves of a deep ocean.

This is a remarkable almost radical statement. Here Albert Schweitzer, a great man, telling us to rethink and even devalue the role of great figures in human affairs. He compares their efforts to “foam” and instead praises “small and obscure deeds.” ….

The vast majority of difficult, important human problems - both inside and outside organizations - are not solved by a swift, decisive stroke from someone at the top. What usually matters are careful, thoughtful, small, practical efforts by people working far from the limelight. In short, quiet leadership is what moves and changes the world.

Excerpted from
Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing
Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr.
Harvard Business School Press, 2002

A farmer, at death’s door, desired to impart to his sons an important secret and called them to his deathbed and said, “My sons, I am shortly about to die. I would have you know, therefore, that in my vineyard there lays a hidden treasure. Dig and you will find it.”

When their father died, the sons took spade and fork and turned the soil of the vineyard over and over again in their search for the treasure which they were told lay buried in the soil. Yet, they found no treasure; but the vines, after so much thorough digging, produced a bountiful, lush crop of grapes such that had never been seen before.

The Farmer and his sons
Aesop