Jared Diamond on Leaders, Luck, and Irreplaceability

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Is leadership overrated? That's one simple reading of what Jared Diamond argues in his new book . Asked by Tyler to name the least replaceable leader in human history, Jared declines to name one — not Christ, the Roman Empire having had prophets to spare — and observes that even Genghis Khan happened to be born at an auspicious moment for a conqueror of the steppes. Conditions ripen; somebody turns up. So which leaders do make a difference? Tyler and Jared debate that question , including conditions what a religious founder needs to succeed , whether destructive leaders matter more than constructive ones, why individual leaders have mattered so little in Papua New Guinea, whether we…