History’s greatest leaders include women such as Cleopatra (69-30 BC), Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1202), Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Victoria (1819-1901), Golda Meir (1898-1978), Indira Gandhi (1917-1984), and Margaret Thatcher ((1925 – ). However different they may have been in most itger respects, all of them shared this in common:

• A bold and compelling vision
• Singleness of purpose
• A ruthless commitment (if necessary) to achieve her objectives
• Highly developed intelligence (e.g. integrated thinking)
• Decisive, results-driven temperament
• Physical and moral courage

It is also true that all of them were preceded in power by a male, and, all of them inherited political, social, and economic circumstances that at the time seemed hopeless. Nonetheless, each survived and eventually prevailed…demonstrating that severe crisis does not develop greatness in a leader, it reveals it.

Let us all now hope that the same proves true of Christine Lagarde, the new managing directo0r of the International Monetary Fund. She seems to bear much in common with the aforementioned great leaders but it is much too early to claim greatness for her. If she does, everyone within the global human community will be substantial beneficiaries.

Here is a brief excerpt from an article published in The New York Times (Sunday, September 25, 2011), “Mme. Lagarde Goes to Washington,” written by Liz Alderman. To read gthe complete article, please click here.

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Earlier this month a phalanx of limousines and black vans lined up near the Palais du Pharo, an imposing Napoleonic-era chateau here whose chandeliered halls had been temporarily transformed into a bunker.

Chauffeurs had just dropped off precious cargo — the dark-suited finance ministers of Germany, France, the United States and the four other wealthy nations that form the Group of 7. The officials were gathering for a working dinner to talk about the swirling European debt crisis, which, despite their concerted efforts, seems to worsen by the day.

Their eyes soon turned toward Christine Lagarde, the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Not so long ago, she was one of them. But almost as soon as she crossed the Atlantic to take up her post in Washington, she had morphed into someone who now slightly bewildered them.

Ms. Lagarde had gone independent.

In the few short months since becoming the first woman to lead the monetary fund, Ms. Lagarde, 55, had taken her former European colleagues to task for not talking with a single voice to save the euro. In speech after speech, she had warned that the austerity that Europe was pressing on Greece and its debt-weakened neighbors was choking economic growth and needed to be tamed.

Worse, as far as the men seated in the room were concerned, Ms. Lagarde was partly responsible for the collapse of confidence bedeviling the financial markets. She had dared to state what few of them would admit publicly: European banks were not as sheltered from this storm as they might seem.

Was this the International Monetary Fund talking? It was now, under Ms. Lagarde. As the future of the euro hangs in the balance, she is emerging as a European who is willing to speak openly about Europe’s problems.

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Liz Alderman writes about European economics, finance and business from Paris.

Previously, she was an assistant business editor for The New York Times, editing coverage of Wall Street and the financial crisis. She came to The Times following five years as the business editor of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune, The Times‘s global editions, where she directed international economic, policy and business news coverage and was a frequent commentator for media outlets.

Prior to joining the IHT, Ms. Alderman was the Paris bureau chief of the financial news agency BridgeNews, overseeing coverage of the euro-zone and French economies. Before that, she was the Federal Reserve correspondent from 1995 to 1999 in Washington, D.C., covering the American economy and monetary policy. To send an E-Mail to Liz Alderman, please click here.