"Margaret Thatcher has been one of the world's most influential and respected political leaders, as well as one of the most controversial, dynamic, and plain-spoken."
In the world of politics, to be respected and influential, you have to truly believe in what it is you say. That's the plain-spoken part of the equation mentioned above, which deals with certainty of ones convictions. Those that do the double-talk thing, are those that have no conviction but the latest fad or popular topic.
Controversy in politics comes from the same thing. Those that truly believe in something will be considered controversial because they won't waver off it.
I want to bring that thought into business management. Very similar things happen with strong business leaders. Think of Jack Welch and the people that continue to attack him to this day because he believed in how he did things so strongly that he changed not only the fortunes of General Electric, but many companies around the world, as they emulated his success.
They attack him because they didn't like his surety of conviction and strength of personality that resulted from those convictions. He may have been controversial, but who cares. What he did was his job. He brought GE from being a relatively small company when he to over the reigns, to the international behemoth it is today.
He saw that to survive the coming international competition, he would have to position GE as a global company. He was wildly successful.
This comes from that narrow vision that all great leaders have. Margaret Thatcher knew what the country needed, and she refused to move off course from that conviction.
Those of us who are narrow in vision, and sure in conviction, may not necessarily be popular, but we will do the job we're meant to do for our businesses, and that's to make them profitable over the long term.
Don't let that word narrow turn you off. In other areas of a business it isn't a good word, but when it comes to vision and core values, it has to be narrow and non-negotiable.
Margaret Thatcher had that narrow and powerful vision that she refused to be moved off of, and changed Britain, the world and business probably forever.
Margaret Thatcher Resources:
The Best Quotes From Margaret Thatcher's 'Statecraft'
Margaret Thatcher & the Revival of the West
Interview with Margaret Thatcher
Magaret Thatcher's Life in the Shadows
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