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Dune’s Leadership Lessons
How Leaders Make Better Decisions
How willing are you to face the Gom Jabbar? To prove your humanity in the face of peril? To hold and use the sacred crysknife when necessary? Can you lead yourself and others beyond that of entropic impulsivity? Are you willing to take the pressure that comes with massive titles such as Duke, Emperor, and Kwisatz Haderach?
Leadership is a crucial responsibility in any organization; this is some common knowledge for any experienced professional. One must possess certain qualities and be able to see the “big picture.”
Like Paul Atreides, leaders must be able to see the constantly shapeshifting future and adapt alongside the flow of it. Be willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of it. They must do so and be their own suspensor lamp simultaneously. By this, I mean of course that a leader must be able to see and understand the perspective that is larger than themselves and their immediate colleagues; the “greater good” as some would refer to it. They must shine their light wherever they go, illuminating the path for not only themselves, but for others as well.
Frank Herbert’s supreme science-fiction masterpiece, Dune, is an excellent archive to study for anyone learning to be a better leader. One needn’t read the entire catalog of books and media to understand…
