The New York Times bestseller Henry Kissinger consummate diplomat and statesman examines the
strategies of six great twentieth-century figures and brings to life a unifying theory of
leadership and diplomacy “An extraordinary book.” - The Wall Street Journal “ A must
read...His books - including this one - will hopefully be read well into the future. Indeed our
present and future leaders would benefit from reading all of Kissinger's books. They are
timeless." - The New York Journal of Books “Leaders ” writes Henry Kissinger in this
compelling book “think and act at the intersection of two axes: the first between the past
and the future the second between the abiding values and aspirations of those they lead. They
must balance what they know which is necessarily drawn from the past with what they intuit
about the future which is inherently conjectural and uncertain. It is this intuitive grasp of
direction that enables leaders to set objectives and lay down a strategy.” In Leadership
Kissinger analyses the lives of six extraordinary leaders - Konrad Adenauer Charles de Gaulle
Richard Nixon Anwar Sadat Lee Kuan Yew and Margaret Thatcher - through the distinctive
strategies of statecraft that he believes they embodied. To each of these studies Kissinger
brings historical perception public experience and because he knew each of the subjects and
participated in many of the events he describes personal knowledge. Leadership is enriched by
insights and judgements that only Kissinger could make and concludes with his reflections on
world order and the indispensability of leadership today.
