In the course of human history, you would be hard-pressed to find someone more extraordinary than Julius Caesar. His combination of charisma, energy, vision, and ambition is truly unique. However, the world may not have taken note of his talent if Caesar hadn’t uncovered a truth about leadership that evaded his contemporaries: it is the people that matter.
Caesar’s unique relationship with the common people provided the foundation for his extraordinary career. Along the way, he set the tone for leadership from which we can learn today. Cutting through the fog and folklore of the centuries isn’t easy. But if we look carefully, we can uncover the secrets that Caesar knew. We can adapt the style of one of history’s most brilliant leaders to the modern world. And by doing so, we can take our organizations, and ourselves, to ever-greater heights, just as Caesar did for Rome.
Following the death of Julius Caesar, the Roman world again plunged into bloodshed and civil war. A second triumvirate formed among the dedicated lieutenants of Caesar. They united in avenging the death of their benefactor and then turned on one another. Through periodic warfare lasting more than a decade, Caesar’s chosen successor, Octavius, emerged as the clear and sole victor. After consolidating his own power and securing his position atop the Roman order, he made a grand gesture of revoking all of his offices and returning to the Senate the keys of state. The senators reveled in their traditional prerogative at the center of public life. In 27 BC, to demonstrate their appreciation, they bestowed upon Octavius the honorific Augustus, or “revered one.”
It was a sham. In the power vacuum that was created by the death of Caesar, Augustus spent years slowly winning for himself the power of his adoptive father. Despite his pretense of returning power to the Senate, he was firmly in charge. The Senate was ever after a hollow shell of its former self. The transformation of the Roman system was complete. The Roman Republic was dead. Gone forever. In its place rose the Roman Empire and, in the singular character of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.
The senators’ murder of Caesar sowed the seeds of their own demise and the collapse of the system they thought they were protecting. Even long after he was murdered, Caesar was still proving the triumph of power over force; the leadership genius of Julius Caesar rang loud and true.
Life in ancient Rome was just as complex and dynamic as it is today. Political fortunes rose and fell, values changed. Caesar’s career is the story of adaptability, of the concept that power creates resilience.
Caesar might just have been history’s greatest leader, and he managed change as well as anyone who has ever lived. In the chaotic modern world, when decision cycles are faster, consequences are greater, and the complexity is staggering, learning from the most adaptable leaders is all the more critical. In looking to the life and career of Julius Caesar, we have no example more germane to our world today.
In some versions of history, Caesar is portrayed as an autocrat: a ruthless politician who would step on anyone who got in his way in pursuit of his selfish goals. The reality is quite different. Caesar was a populist, more beloved by and supportive of the common citizen than anyone who had come before.
He was of the people, not above the people. In his life and career, he created a new paradigm of leadership; and along the way, he created the path to success for any leader in a complex organization. He did not use force. He did not compel followers through threats, fear, or intimidation. He understood the source of a leader’s power: the incentive and desire for someone to follow of their own free will.
In Caesar’s brilliant insight into the triumph of power over force, we find the invention of modern leadership. All of the qualities we seek in great leaders today—empathy, generosity, dedication to the people around them, commitment to the organization, and so much more—find their greatest example in Julius Caesar.