Indeed, the cantankerous and authoritarian general would operate with what was necessarily a sense of his individual capacity to lead his men into battle. To Patton, leadership does require some degree of extraordinary confidence, if not outright vanity, if one is to engage organizational goals with the sense of entitlement to exact decisions impacting the lives of so man. Such is also true if one is to contend with the constant challenges, setbacks and opponents inevitable when in command of so many people and policies. However, as his comments show, it is Patton's position that the leader should never view himself as removed from any degree of labor relevant to these goals. As it were, he suggests that the great and natural leader will take as much proprietary pride in getting his hands dirty as in offering administrative oversight. This is the equation that figures into the 'right stuff,' with...
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