We always seem to be reinventing the wheel when we teach people the concept of leadership. In recent years I’ve been trying to integrate history into our analysis of leaders. When I think of historical examples of leaders I obviously think of Joseph Ellis’ study of Washington, or McCullough’s look at Truman, or the wonderful outline of Lyndon B. Johnson by Caro.

Recently I was asked by a company to conduct a workshop on leadership in Jerusalem. So I’ve…been spending some time trying to figure out how to integrate historical examples of Jerusalem’s history into the teachings of contemporary leadership. Some place between King Solomon, Cyrus the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent (pictured), and Godfrey of Bouillon I’ve found, along with a historian and a tour guide, a number of key points that can illuminate some problems leaders face today.

The history of Jerusalem may seem far removed and, in today’s context, a bit over powering. So it will be interesting to see what happens. I’m off to the airport now. I’ll let you know about the experience next week.