alexander

98 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
trymen, were essential to governing a foreign land whose
citizens expected such displays. He used a simple symbolic
act to create an identity—though it ran counter to the battlefield
identity known to his own soldiers.
Leading Lessons
Consider protocol carefully. It can have an important purpose,
but too little or too much can be harmful. In modern
organizations, there exist so many forms, symbols, artifacts,
and expressions of obeisance that leaders need to think
quite carefully about adopting any equivalents of proskynesis.
Some executives have a corporate helicopter, or an
aircraft fleet, or an array of apartments, limousines, butlers,
and suites. You could only conclude they are significant
kings. They use these appurtenances of office because they
can, without ever thinking about whether they should,
given the symbolic expressions of their use. Perhaps the example
of one of my mentors will suffice. Upon taking over
as CEO, he eliminated all chauffeur-driven cars, all box
seats at sporting events, all memberships at golf and eating
clubs, and by executive fiat, dropped millions of dollars to
the bottom line of a multibillion-dollar concern. It cost a
small diminishment to the egos of leaders who should have
known better in a regulated industry under siege.