Who is the greatest leader of all time?

For anyone who wants to learn about making the difficult choices, building consensus, and maintaining a sense of humor is times of extraordinary stress, look no further than Abraham Lincoln. Read "A Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Godwin and be inspired.

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My nomination is to Muhammad Ali!!

Floating, stinging, punching, prophesying, he transformed his sport and became the world's most adored athlete (George Plimpton).....

Muhammad Ali is a retired American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxers of all time. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. After turning professional, he went on to become the first boxer to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times.

Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975.  Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. military based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. He was arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges, stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was successful.

Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these are three with rival Joe Frazier and one with George Foreman, whom he beat by knockout to win the world heavyweight title for the second time.

Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", and employing techniques such as the rope-a-dope.

In later life, Ali developed Parkinson's disease. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.

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Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon: King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches.[1] A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career.[2] He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986.

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The lady is not for turning!!. Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister was the longest since that of Lord Salisbury and the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century.[5] She was the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom, and the first of only four women to hold any of the four great offices of state. She holds a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, which entitles her to sit in the House of Lords.

Thatcher's political and economic philosophy emphasised reduced state intervention, free markets, and entrepreneurialism. She wished to end what she felt was excessive government interference in the economy, and therefore privatized many nationally owned enterprises and sold public housing to tenants at cut prices

On 2 April 1982, the ruling military junta in Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, British overseas territories that Argentina claimed.[82] The following day, Thatcher sent a naval task force to recapture the islands and eject the invaders.

She will also be remembered for the miners strike which took her head-2-head with Arthur Scargel. Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade unions, whose leadership she accused of undermining parliamentary democracy and economic performance through paralysing strike action.[100] Several unions launched strikes in response to legislation introduced to curb their power, but resistance eventually collapsed.[101] Only 39% of union members voted for Labour in the 1983 general election.[102] According to the BBC, Thatcher "managed to destroy the power of the trade unions for almost a generation."

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Adolf Hitler is my nomination.

First let me say he gets my vote because of hs exceptional leadership abilities of the Nazi party and his amazing oratory skills. I of course condem his actions on the Holocaust

So Hitler, a decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the precursor of the Nazi Party (DAP) in 1919 and became leader of NSDAP in 1921. He attempted a failed coup called the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in 1923, for which he was imprisoned. Following his imprisonment, in which he wrote his book, Mein Kampf, he gained support by promoting German nationalism, anti-semitism, anti-capitalism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. He was appointed chancellor in 1933, and quickly transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideals of national socialism.

Hitler ultimately wanted to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in Europe. To achieve this, he pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for the Aryan people; directing the resources of the state towards this goal. This included the rearmament of Germany, which culminated in 1939 when the Wehrmacht invaded Poland. In response, the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.[2]

Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers had occupied most of Europe, and most of Northern Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, with the reversal of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onwards. By 1945, Allied armies had invaded German-held Europe from all sides. Nazi forces engaged in numerous violent acts during the war, including the systematic murder of as many as 17 million civilians,[3] an estimated six million of whom were Jews targeted in the Holocaust and between 500,000 and 1,500,000 were Romanis.[4] Others targeted included ethnic Poles, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents.

In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun and, to avoid capture by Soviet forces less than two days later, the two committed suicide[5] on 30 April 1945.

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Pope John Paul II without a doubt!!

Why:
Pope John Paul has fulfilled three great dreams: helping end communism in Eastern Europe, heralding the third millennium and visiting the Holy Land in March 2000.

Background:
John Paul II was born in the Polish town of Wadowice.

In 1964, he was appointed archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI, who made him a cardinal June 26, 1967 with the title of S. Cesareo in Palatio of the order of deacons, later elevated pro illa vice to the order of priests.

The Cardinals elected him Pope at the Conclave of 16 October 1978, which his pontificate, one of the longest in the history of the Church, lasted nearly 27 years.

Driven by his pastoral solicitude for all Churches and by a sense of openness and charity to the entire human race, John Paul II exercised the Petrine ministry with a tireless missionary spirit, dedicating it all his energy. He made 104 pastoral visits outside Italy and 146 within Italy. As bishop of Rome he visited 317 of the city's 333 parishes.

He had more meetings than any of his predecessors with the People of God and the leaders of Nations. More than 17,600,000 pilgrims participated in the General Audiences held on Wednesdays (more than 1160), not counting other special audiences and religious ceremonies [more than 8 million pilgrims during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 alone], and the millions of faithful he met during pastoral visits in Italy and throughout the world. We must also remember the numerous government personalities he encountered during 38 official visits, 738 audiences and meetings held with Heads of State, and 246 audiences and meetings with Prime Ministers.

His love for young people brought him to establish the World Youth Days. The 19 WYDs celebrated during his pontificate brought together millions of young people from all over the world. At the same time his care for the family was expressed in the World Meetings of Families, which he initiated in 1994.

He gave an extraordinary impetus to Canonizations and Beatifications, focusing on countless examples of holiness as an incentive for the people of our time. He celebrated 147 beatification ceremonies during which he proclaimed 1,338 Blesseds; and 51 canonizations for a total of 482 saints. He made Thérčse of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Church.

He considerably expanded the College of Cardinals, creating 231 Cardinals (plus one in pectore) in 9 consistories. He also called six full meetings of the College of Cardinals.

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Sir Winston Churchill

What do you make of this man.  A man who kept his head when the country was at war.  A true leader one would say:

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, is widely regarded as one of the great wartime leaders. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, writer and artist. To date, he is the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature!!

During his army career, Churchill saw military action in India, the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns. He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in World War I, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

At the forefront of the political scene for almost fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the Asquith Liberal government. During the war he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He returned as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. In the interwar years, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative government.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and led Britain to victory against the Axis powers. Churchill was always noted for his speeches, which became a great inspiration to the British people and to the embattled Allied forces.

After losing the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951 he again became Prime Minister, before finally retiring in 1955. Upon his death, the Queen granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.

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Gandhi

I like this quote of the great man

"His philosophy of nonviolence and his passion for independence began a drive for freedom that doomed colonialism" By SALMAN RUSHDIE

Here is an overview:

Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi.
He pioneered satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded upon ahimsa or total nonviolence—which helped India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience while an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the resident Indian community's struggle there for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he organized protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers concerning excessive land-tax and discrimination. After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his followers in the Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930. Later, in 1942, he launched the Quit India civil disobedience movement demanding immediate independence for India. Gandhi spent a number of years in jail in both South Africa and India.

As a practitioner of ahimsa, he swore to speak the truth and advocated that others do the same. Gandhi lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun himself. He ate simple vegetarian food, experimented for a time with a fruitarian diet, and undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest.

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Nelson Mandela gets my vote!!

He is a man who inspires me especially as he has lived through very troubled times and still able to smile.

Here are some highlights:

Born 18 July 1918,served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to multi-racial democracy in 1994. As president from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation.

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NELSON MANDELA, and I think there is a very simple reason but a most powerful reason it is capacity to FORGIVE never underestimate this virtue it is the most difficult thing that we humans find to hard to do. It is a sign of true leadership that a man who was locked up for 27 years because of his colour and his passion to put right a terrible wrong, that on the day of his release he invited the guard who watched his every move for 15 of those years to have dinner with him on his first night of freedom. The most amazing thing about this gesture is that Mandela thought it was a natural thing to do. I could talk all day about this man. Read his book a long walk to freedom STUNNING. Regards Des

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I believe that Abraham Lincoln was the most consistent role model of the traits, characteristics, and character we discuss as key identifiers of excellent leaders. He was not perfect by any means, but he maintained his humility, his work ethic, his unwavering moral compass, his leadership by example, and his inclusion and engagement of excellent people, even when they were his competitors. In life, he sacrificed himself time after time to achieve his life's mission despite temporary failures. His presidency was characterized by his personal and national sacrifice to protect the vision and mission on which our country was founded and on which it still thrives today.

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It depends on the context/trait or time period you are considering. However, no one man or woman has ever become a leader without the support of their followers. Of the 20th century, several come to mind. Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandi, Nelson Mandella and John Kennedy.

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Alexander the Great, also known as Alexander III, was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon during the time of 336–323 BC. Alexander is considered the most successful military leader of all time, sporting an undefeated battle record. Upon his death, Alexander had conquered most of the world then known to the ancient Greeks.

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We all know that Sir Isaac Newton was a great mathematician and physicist and one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time. Newton laid the foundations for many of the mathematical and laws of physics. Today, many of the work in the field of mathematics, physics, and astronomy were based on Newton’s laws. You should also remember that it was Newton’s conception of the Universe based on the Nature and the laws of nature that changed the way we thought about the Universe. Newton didn’t have to build a force of followers like Mahatma Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King to revolutionize the world. He did it by sharing his intellectual knowledge to the world

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We all know that Sir Isaac Newton was a great mathematician and physicist and one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time. Newton laid the foundations for many of the mathematical and laws of physics. Today, many of the work in the field of mathematics, physics, and astronomy were based on Newton’s laws. You should also remember that it was Newton’s conception of the Universe based on the Nature and the laws of nature that changed the way we thought about the Universe. Newton didn’t have to build a force of followers like Mahatma Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King to revolutionize the world. He did it by sharing his intellectual knowledge to the world

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It has to be Ronald Reagan:

Ronald Reagan was a successful Hollywood actor who was president of the Screen Actors Guild, then turned politician and served two terms as Governor for California, then two terms as President of the United States of America.

Reagan is best known to the world for his one-liners, the most famous of them was addressed to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. "Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall" said Reagan standing in front of the Berlin Wall. That call made an impact on the course of human history.

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It has to be Bill Gates.

Why....

- Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution
- is one of the most influential people in the world. He is co-founder of one of the most recognized brands in the computer industry with nearly every desk top computer using at least one software program from Microsoft.
- after stepping down as CEO for Microsoft, he has pursued a number of important endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000
- number one on Forbes list of "The World's Richest People" from 1995 to 2007 and 2009. Curent Net worth US$53 billion!!

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My vote goes to Mikhail Gorbachev because he pushed open the gates of reform within the Soviet Union that ultimately lead to end of the cold war!

I have some nice quotes fyi:

- Democracy must learn to defend itself

- Certain people in the United States are driving nails into this structure of our relationship, then cutting off the heads. So the Soviets must use their teeth to pull them out.

- I am a Communist, a convinced Communist! For some that may be a fantasy. But to me it is my main goal.

- If people don't like Marxism, they should blame the British Museum.

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I don't understand why we are looking mostly at political figures as they are figure heads mostly. I think we need to look at business.
So my vote goes to STEVE JOBS, Chairman and CEO of Apple

During the early days of his 30-year career, Steve twice altered the direction of the computer industry.....In 1977 the Apple II kicked off the PC era, and the graphical user interface launched by Macintosh in 1984 has been aped by every other computer since.

Since his return to Apple in 1997, he has revolutionized consumer electronics with the iPod and ipad. On top of this, he has persuaded the music industry and television networksto distribute their assets to the iTunes Music Store.

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No doubt in my mind , who the greatest leader of was / is and that's Sir Winston Churchill . I have a very rare collection of books on famous leadres that I have read repeatedly , and my conclusion has always been that Churchill leads the way .

I say this because , we the world needed him to show bravery and dignity during the dark days when Germany thought they had the superior powers to rule the entire continent. His speeches were carefully crafted and delivered in a bold but friendly fashion to ensure the Allies of promising days ahead .

One of his most famous speeches included the following ; " we shall fight on the land , we shall fight in the air , we shall fight in the sea, but we shall NEVER SURRENDER. Today we can hear those same words echoed by many leaders at various capacities they are involved with . Although said in somewhat of a joking matter , we still get the drift of it .

Larry Woolley
Algoma,freetoasthost.ws

Sault Ste Marie Ontario Canada

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No doubt in my mind , who the greatest leader of was / is and that's Sir Winston Churchill . I have a very rare collection of books on famous leadres that I have read repeatedly , and my conclusion has always been that Churchill leads the way .

I say this because , we the world needed him to show bravery and dignity during the dark days when Germany thought they had the superior powers to rule the entire continent. His speeches were carefully crafted and delivered in a bold but friendly fashion to ensure the Allies of promising days ahead .

One of his most famous speeches included the following ; " we shall fight on the land , we shall fight in the air , we shall fight in the sea, but we shall NEVER SURRENDER. Today we can hear those same words echoed by many leaders at various capacities they are involved with . Although said in somewhat of a joking matter , we still get the drift of it .

Larry Woolley
Algoma,freetoasthost.ws

Sault Ste Marie Ontario Canada

quote comment add new comment

No doubt in my mind , who the greatest leader of was / is and that's Sir Winston Churchill . I have a very rare collection of books on famous leadres that I have read repeatedly , and my conclusion has always been that Churchill leads the way .

I say this because , we the world needed him to show bravery and dignity during the dark days when Germany thought they had the superior powers to rule the entire continent. His speeches were carefully crafted and delivered in a bold but friendly fashion to ensure the Allies of promising days ahead .

One of his most famous speeches included the following ; " we shall fight on the land , we shall fight in the air , we shall fight in the sea, but we shall NEVER SURRENDER. Today we can hear those same words echoed by many leaders at various capacities they are involved with . Although said in somewhat of a joking matter , we still get the drift of it .

Larry Woolley
Algoma,freetoasthost.ws

Sault Ste Marie Ontario Canada

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I think that Nelson Mandela is the greatest leader of all time.

He has worked tirelessly for the benefit of South Africa and especially against the apartheid regime. He survived 27 years on Robben Island as a political prisoner and showed no bitterness when he was released. His capacity to forgive is tremendous and his ability to negotiate and bring the different political groups to work together to form the multi-racial democracy is what makes him stand apart as a leader. He is the greatest leader of all time because his hard work, his talend and skills have changed the lives of the people of South Africa for the better and forever. He has inspired millions around the world to work for justice and peace.

He is recognised worldwide as a symbol of the fight for human rights and racial equality.

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