The article below was one that was published four years ago. I had many comments at the time, however the warning involved in the article was never heeded. I have choosen to re-publish it in hopes that people will hear the warning and make a change...

What the Business World needs now are True Leaders

By Dr. Edwin C. Weaver

Unique Leaders

Remember that song in the late sixties, "What the world needs now, is love, sweet love"? The song is still true, but there is another crisis on the rise. We have bigger and bigger companies, but less leadership.

This is amazing considering the fact that Leadership training is the current buzz word. Every company talks about leadership training, there are hundreds of training companies offering these courses, yet for all this we lack leaders, or at least good leaders.

Where are the people like Henry Ford, the Lee Iacocca and the other great business leaders? We see millions being made, but that is not a sign of leadership. That is a sign of greed.

Henry Ford, Lee Iacocca and the other greats not only thought about making money, they also thought about people. People were important. That is a sign of all great leaders.

Go back 3000 years to Cyrus the Great, leader of Medes and Persians. He said he would not rule any group who did not want to be ruled by him. He knew the value of people. He made laws to improve the lives of his people.

Suleiman the Great, a leader in the Ottoman Empire , was another who was concerned about the people. He too made laws to improve the lives of the people in his empire.

Henry Ford paid people what they were worth. He placed small factories in rural Michigan so that the farm community could work and still be close to their farms. He was concerned about the people. Yes, he wanted to make money, but he also was connected to the people.

The same can be said for Lee Iacocca. He was connected to the people. He knew what the people wanted. He knew how to be apart of the people, yet lead them. After he became the head of Chrysler, he lowered his salary to one dollar per year until he could turn Chrysler around. This made him popular with the average worker and everyone. He knew people were important.

In 2003 Business Week did a poll, nearly 80% of those surveyed in the Business Week/Harris poll said that the CEOs of large companies put their own interests ahead of workers and shareholders. The people controlling the large companies and corporations do not care about people. They are not leaders.

The world is facing a leadership crisis. People are no longer important, only making money and growing bigger. The heads of companies change every couple of years, or less, which leads to the people feeling a lack of stability in their work life.

In big business, people have become less than a number, which was a big complaint during the sixties and seventies, they are now completely disposable. Pampers has a better chance of survival than the average worker.

Without true leaders at the helm of these giant companies, the people of the world will suffer. There will be no hope of job security. There will be no hope of a future. Yes, people lost their jobs under Henry Ford and Lee Iacocca, but there was hope, there was some semblance of stability.

It is a time to become serious about producing true leaders in business. Otherwise, there will be no hope left, no stability. What kind of world will we have when hope is dead?

During the past 25 years, Dr. Weaver has worked with people in more than 20 countries. He has helped people open their own companies, turn around troubled companies and prepare for the next generation of leaders.

For more articles on Succession Planning, Management and Leadership go to UNIQUE LEADERS www.uniqueleaders.org