Leadership Lessons From Legendary Alpha Males

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Standard psychological definitions fail to do justice to the alpha male. He dominates history; his brilliance and charisma lay the foundations for every city and every civilization. He is self-made, self-serving, self-glorifying, and — often — self-destructive. You’re either with him or against him, he doesn’t compromise on the issues at hand, and if you turn out to be on the opposing team, he will break you before even considering your surrender.

A short list of those traits associated with him make for a vicious, combustible brew: High intelligence, unwavering confidence, arrogance, amazing leadership capacities, a results-driven mindset, a instinct for self-promotion, extreme charisma, and above all, fearlessness in a fight. His odds, his opposition? Unimportant.

Legendary alpha males offer plenty of lessons for the rest of us, ones we can reasonably apply to our professional lives without needing to conquer countries in the process. Here are but a few of the lessons we can learn from some recent yet legendary alpha males.



Gordon Ramsay

Native Scot Gordon Ramsay is one of the world’s most celebrated chefs. His restaurants have been awarded three stars by the culinary industry’s most influential ratings guide, Michelin, 10 times. Yet his success has nothing to do with wanting to be liked; he has no interest in winning a popularity contest. Watch him onand you’ll see why: He’s a monster of a taskmaster, indifferent to feelings and focused strictly on results. His attitude is that you do not have to like him, but as a chef, you must respect him. To that end, Ramsay’s restaurant staff is remarkably loyal. The chef himself claims to have an 85% retention rate since 1993. These are people that can go if they like. Why don’t they?

Lesson: In team-building, do not tolerate mediocrity

Simply put: Ramsay’s employees don’t leave because they know they’re working for the best. They know that whatever his defects, in the end, the man wants to be the best at what he does. Others who want the same thing realize that the abuse he shells out is insignificant compared to the greater achievements. Ramsay’s refusal to accept mediocrity on his team is an apt lesson to apply to your professional life. Doing so weeds out the weakest links, and it strengthens the team by erasing any doubts in anyone’s mind about any other member. In the end, it creates a tremendous amount of confidence.



Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was a master of self-promotion and surely ranks as not only one of the greatest boxers of all time, but also the smartest trash-talker in sports history. Ali was supremely confident in himself, loaded with charisma and never feared a fight. He openly declared himself the greatest and often predicted the round in which he would knock out his opponent.

In the early days of Ali’s career, opponents read his brag-and-boast routine as nervous bravado, but few knew how prepared he was, how hard he trained and just how much he wanted to win. By the time Ali got to the ring, he had every reason to believe he was invincible because he had pushed himself beyond his limits, beyond what he believed any other man could endure.

Lesson: Always come prepared

Whatever impression they might give off, alpha males never enter an important situation unprepared or deluded with the belief they’re already good enough to handle it. To them, this is a careless attitude for someone intent on winning at everything they do.

We’ve all seen one rather minor example of the unprepared man; he gave the toast at the last wedding you attended. He thought he could glide through the toast because he knew his buddy so well and because he’s a competent public speaker. But not two sentences in, he’s fumbled and maybe said something dumb or inappropriate. By preparing for all their challenges with intensity, alpha males leave nothing to chance.

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