Great leaders listen.
That's one of the most important pieces of leadership advice I've ever received. And it came from one of the leaders I admire most: retired U.S. Army Gen. H. Hugh Shelton.
General Shelton was chairman of Red Hat’s board of directors for seven years and, before that, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997‒2001. During his time at Red Hat, General Shelton helped guide both me and our organization through some truly great times. When he announced his retirement from Red Hat’s board last year, I jumped at the chance to sit down with him one more time and do what he taught me: listen.
I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about how post-industrial, open organizations are changing the nature of leadership. And while much of General Shelton’s leadership experience stems from his time in the military—which is notoriously hierarchical and much more bureaucratic than, say, an open organization—I’ve learned from him that great leadership lessons transcend time and space, and can be applicable anywhere. The General is full of those lessons and I want to do my part to share them.
When we sat down to talk, I began by asking him to define leadership. He told me simply that leadership “is one’s ability to influence others.”
Great leaders, he continued, are the kinds of people who genuinely care about others, who help people find and use their voices in an organization, who create team cultures that inspire excellence, who reinforce the founding principles that make an organization a community, and who empower people to do their best work. No matter the industry and no matter the era, those characteristics can make someone an effective leader—or, as General Shelton put it, "an individual I'd follow to Hades."
We’ve collected more of General Shelton’s wisdom in our Leadership Lessons video series. I hope leaders of all stripes find it valuable. Enjoy!
Jim Whitehurst is president and chief executive officer at Red Hat.
About the author
Browse by channel
Automation
The latest on IT automation for tech, teams, and environments
Artificial intelligence
Updates on the platforms that free customers to run AI workloads anywhere
Open hybrid cloud
Explore how we build a more flexible future with hybrid cloud
Security
The latest on how we reduce risks across environments and technologies
Edge computing
Updates on the platforms that simplify operations at the edge
Infrastructure
The latest on the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform
Applications
Inside our solutions to the toughest application challenges
Original shows
Entertaining stories from the makers and leaders in enterprise tech
Products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- Red Hat OpenShift
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
- Cloud services
- See all products
Tools
- Training and certification
- My account
- Customer support
- Developer resources
- Find a partner
- Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog
- Red Hat value calculator
- Documentation
Try, buy, & sell
Communicate
About Red Hat
We’re the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source solutions—including Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes. We deliver hardened solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments, from the core datacenter to the network edge.
Select a language
Red Hat legal and privacy links
- About Red Hat
- Jobs
- Events
- Locations
- Contact Red Hat
- Red Hat Blog
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Cool Stuff Store
- Red Hat Summit