SELF-MASTERY IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC TO HAVE

28 Aug SELF-MASTERY IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC TO HAVE

Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, said “the strong person is not the one who can wrestle with the powerful, but the one who can control his anger.”

The self-mastery is one of the most important characteristics that a leader should have. Wearing the heart on sleeve is a privilege which not available to true leaders. During the war of Gettysburg, Lincoln wrote an angry letter to his general. It was later found in his desk, among other papers. He never posted it. Famous scholars, including Dale Carnegie, speculate that before sending this letter, Lincoln must have told himself that he is far away from the battlefield, and the general has more exposure to the bloodshed and cries of the battlefield. The decision that looks bad to a person being seated in peace is removed from ground realities.

Lincoln may or may not have been right; it can be debated. However, there is little room to debate the greatness of Abraham Lincoln as a great leader. And this self-mastery, to withhold his response,
to reconsider it, and allow himself to choose a better response is the result of a self-mastery that great leaders possess.