Does Leadership End Well?

Perception.

This question triggered me to think about perceptions. How close are you to your perceptions? Leadership ending well versus not ending well depends on what you perceive to be leadership and what it means to end well. Steve Jobs passed away from a chronic illness, however that didn't define his leadership ending badly. Steve may have created a very competitive organizational culture that fostered competitiveness, cut throat practices, unrealistic deadlines for project completion, or promotions that may not have made sense to someone else however, that didn't mean he wasn't a great leader with tremendous end results. Leadership, for some, can be measured quantitatively. That would include shareholder value, revenue, salaries, market share, stock prices, etc. Leadership for others is measure qualitatively by impact and meaning.

How do you measure leadership? Does it ever really end well?