Do leaders matter?

THE age-old debate over the role of individuals in history continues. Do leaders shape history or is history the product of underlying social and economic structures? Can leaders bring about change in society and determine national outcomes? Proponents of the ‘great man theory’ have argued that history is the biography of great leaders. This has been contested by others who insist economic and social forces are decisive and impose constraints on what individuals can do. But can individuals transcend structures in moments of crisis? A provocative new book joins this debate. In Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings: (When) do Leaders Make a Difference Jared Diamondexamines whether individual leadersalter the course of their societies. The study marks a break from the American author’s earlier books which earned the Pulitzer Prize winner much fame. But his bestselling 1997 book Guns, Germs, and Steel and other works also attracted criticism for geographic determinism and playing down human agency. His latest book reverses the lens. Across politics, business and sports, it examines whether individual leaders play a decisive role in shaping the world around them, and under what conditions if they do. He considers how the interplay between an exceptional individual and historical circumstances determines success or failure. At the book’s outset, Diamond narrates the incident of March 1930 when Adolf Hitler’s car was hit by a huge trailer truck in which he survived. Three years later, Hitler became chancellor of Germany and unleashed the Holocaust and World War II, in which millions of people were killed. He asks whether these horrific events would have happened if Hitler had died in the car crash. Some will argue things would have turned out differently. Others would point to the humiliation inflicted on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, by the hyperinflation it suffered and the fact that antisemitism was deeply embedded in the country well before Hitler’s rise. That