Portrait of a Leader: Through the Looking-Glass of His Majesty’s Decrees

The 51 royal decrees reproduced in this volume, in Bhutan's national language Dzongkha and in English translation, are from Dasho Karma Ura’s private collection. There are many other decrees, which were issued to individual citizens, giving land grants for instance. Dasho Karma Ura's collection consists of those that were issued on matters of national significance or of public policy. Nearly all the decrees are dated, but they are not presented chronologically. Instead, they are organized according to eight dimensions of leadership, into which the decrees sorted themselves out naturally. The eight leadership dimensions are the following, in the order of the book’s sections: foresight, humility, head-andheart conviction, good management, emotional intelligence, sensing the closure, empowering the people, and the perfect departure. Each section is self-contained, so that the readers may begin anywhere, and choose to peruse only those sections that interest them. It goes without saying that my own narrative is kept as brief as possible, since it is His Majesty’s decrees themselves that speak volumes