The movie the ‘‘Time Machine” (1960), based on the writings of H.G. Wells (1895), involves an inventor in Victorian England who uses a time machine to travel into the future to see what progress mankind has made in learning to live together in peace. This time travel is made possible by use of a ‘‘fourth dimension” — the first dimension (movement up and down); the second dimension (movement from side-to-side); and the third dimension (movement forward and backward). Well’s book he does not provide a precise definition of the fourth dimension, but the controls on the machine and conversation imply space. Years later, Albert Einstein published his theory of the fourth dimensional continuum of space-time, which eerily supports Well’s story line.

After the miniature time-machine disappears before the characters’ eyes during the time traveler’s demonstration, his friends are driven to distraction by trying to understand the explanation offered about the machine — that it hasn’t moved, that it still occupies the exact space it was in a moment before disappearing, but only now in another dimension and time. In their struggle to see and understand the theory, they are caught in the way things are, when the traveler is seeing the way things ‘‘really are,” or can be, if his friends can expand their minds and senses to allow for all the possibilities.

In ‘‘The Problems of Philosophy,” philosopher Bertrand Russell observes that ‘‘Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions as we could wish, has at least the power of asking questions that increase the interest of the world and showing the strangeness and wonder lying just below the surface, even in the commonest things in daily life.” To take Russell’s statement one step further, I would offer that we could replace ‘‘philosophy” with ‘‘leadership,” and it would hold equally true.

What exactly is leadership? Where do you find it? There are many definitions for this word-and its dimensions and distinguishing characteristics have changed over time. Conscious effort by each of us may better enable us to inspire and influence others as we seek to improve ourselves. Each of us possesses a time machine in our minds that allows us to examine the ‘‘strangeness and wonder” of the past as we strive to make a better future for ourselves and our country.

In the final scene of the movie, the time traveler selects three books from his library and then again travels to the future. His friend is intrigued — what three books did his friend choose to use as guides for building a society?

Bringing this question into the year 2008, and considering your leadership style, what three books would you take with you into the future? Would they be books that you like to read, books that will help others, or books that challenge the way people think? Would they be factional or fictional? Is there any real distinction between the two in the fourth dimension of your mind? Some interesting questions to ponder as we venture into the future.

(Harrison is a civilian education system professor at Fort Belvoir’s Army Management Staff College.)