Which are these virtues, and what other components constitute the leadership needed to promote this universal ethic? The first and most significant will be the development of a personal concern for the interest of other human beings. This concern will be even more profound than the concern that everyone has to return to their fellowmen who had shown concern for them.
Such a concern is both necessary and natural in the conduct of any leader because they must require the commitment and hard work of those they are trying to lead. However, most of us in the past had been stirred by the absence of any such behavior on the part of people with whom we already had a well-established relationship.
Given the complex interconnections of the world, the increasing economic interrelationships between various countries and their governments and enterprises, and the increasing dependence of numerous countries on foreign aid and investment, which they are unable to provide for themselves, many commentators and scholars have called for a new type of leadership to guide and promote a universal development ethic of conduct in the international area.
This new leadership, they say, must possess virtues different from those required of the ideal leader within international moral corporations serving the needs of nation-states. Since neither nation-states nor other international superior authorities such as the United Nations have a political will strong enough to promote a global common good, it is claimed that leadership based on different virtues than those demonstrated by domestic leaders of economically successful countries will be required to guide other countries such as the third world countries and the nations in the concrete realization of this ethic.