alexander

Leadership Process Three: Establishing Identity 95
21: On Transportation
In modern times people obsess about what car they drive. Wise
leaders know that the only obsession is not what others think,
but what we think of ourselves; that is, who we are. Outward
accoutrements leverage what others believe.
Even as a child, Alexander asserted himself memorably. His
father acquired a horse that no one could ride, and he offered
it to Alexander, if the boy could mount it.
Alexander tamed this enormous black horse that even
his father could not calm to mount. When Alexander succeeded,
his father gave him the horse as a gift, and it remained
with him throughout his campaigns, dying in
Central Asia. He named it Bucephala. The horse allowed
Alexander always to ride first into battle, always to be visible,
and always to be first among his Companions, the elite
Greek noble cavalrymen. When Bucephala died, he was
given a substantial funeral and a city was founded on the
spot.
Inferences and Allegations
Alexander succeeded as a very young man, almost a boy,
where others, even adults, had failed. Taming and riding a
great beast helped to forge Alexander’s image and identity
at a young age. What does that mean for us? If we haven’t
succeeded by late childhood, we never will? No, of course
not.