Includes bibliographical references (p. [367]-380) and indexes.

Introduction : A cognitive approach to leadership -- Human development and leadership -- The leaders' stories -- Margaret Mead : an observer of diverse cultures educates her own -- J. Robert Oppenheimer : the teaching of physics, the lessons of politics -- Robert Maynard Hutchins : bringing "the higher learning" to America -- Alfred P. Sloane, Jr. : the business of America -- George C. Marshall : the embodiment of the good soldier -- Pope John XXIII : rediscovering the spirit of the church -- Eleanor Roosevelt : ordinariness and extraordinariness -- Martin Luther King, Jr. : leading in a rapidly changing environment -- Margaret Thatcher : a clear sense of identity -- A generation of world leaders -- Jean Monnet and Mahatma Gandhi : leadership beyond national boundaries -- Lessons from the past, implications for the future -- Appendix I : The eleven leaders viewed along the principal dimensions of leadership -- Appendix II : The leaders of the Second World War.

While much has been written on the subject, a crucial component of leadership has been largely ignored: the mind of the leader and the minds of his or her followers. Linking the study of creativity and leadership, Gardner demonstrates the strong tie between traditional creators (artists and scientists) and leaders in the realms of business, politics, and the military.

Gardner claims that the key to leadership is the creation and embodiment of an effective story. He argues that unless they're working with specialists, leaders must deal with the "unschooled mind." They must take into account the fundamental theories about the world that all of us acquire as children and that persist through life - even when those theories are later undermined by what we learn in school. In striking portraits of a wide range of leaders - from J. Robert Oppenheimer to Alfred P. Sloan, from Margaret Mead to Pope John XXIII to Mahatma GandhiGardner recreates the leaders' stories and depicts the struggles among rival stories that occur in the minds of an audience. He explains the overwhelming appeal of simplistic stories and enumerates the key moves needed to counter that appeal. He also describes the ways in which all leaders ultimately confront failure.

In a powerful conclusion, Gardner identifies the six constant features of leadership, six trends that complexify leadership in our time, and the paradoxes that must be resolved for leadership to be effective.