Interview with Robert Faulkner on The case for greatness: Honorable ambition and its critics, by Robert Faulkner

Abstract

The Case for Greatness is a spirited look at political ambition, good and bad, with particular attention to honorable ambition. Robert Faulkner contends that too many modern accounts of leadership slight such things as determination to excel, good judgment, justice, and a sense of honor - the very qualities that distinguish the truly great. And here he offers an attempt to recover 'a reasonable understanding of excellence,' that which distinguishes a Franklin D. Roosevelt and a Lincoln from lesser leaders.