Today I spoke for a group of inspiring leaders on the subject of what it takes to get heard, get respect, and get results. The leaders we admire have gravitas – defined officially as ‘seriousness or sobriety in word or deed’. From my perspective that all sounds a little too pompous! We can have gravitas without being grave.
Historically we have identified leaders with gravitas through their ability to conquer and defy others.
Think Might is Right. Think Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. 2000 years later and both are deemed two of the most influential people to have lived. This legacy of ‘might is right’ has stayed with us: Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler, and even Kim Jong Un. Tony Abbott’s threat of ‘shirt-fronting Putin’ is a hangover of this concept of gravitas. And it falls short of creating a real contribution.
Once we move past the hairy-chested thumping and puffing, we move to a new meme of gravitas: