Mental illness and leadership

I came across a article the other day whose main theme was how mental illness can actually be an asset where leadership was involved.

While it sounds quite controversial, the article logically spoke about how people with mental illness i.e. people with depression, bipolar disorder (I do not remember the other quoted illnesses) exhibit the following traits:- empathy, creativity, realism and resilience.

Going one by one, where I am penning down my interpretation of the article as I remember it - 

1) Empathy: When you have experienced the feeling of hitting a prolonged rock bottom, plunging the lowest of lows, it definitely is more likely that you understand a person's suffering even if that person or the circumstance he/she is in is miles different from yours. And I think especially if a depressed person has experienced compassion from others during that period, he/she is much more likely to try and help a person in a similar circumstance knowing full well what it feels like to be down in the gutter and more importantly knowing how even  small gesture of kindness is enough to prevent a person from falling over the edge 

2) Creativity: Anyone can look at the best artistes in the world to know that is true. I think the best songs especially on sad themes like heart break is when you her a musician play and you kind of sense that the person is not just strumming an instrument or singing into a mic but just bleeding his/her heart out. These are the kind of performances that can move one to tears. When pain can manifest itself in such powerful self expression, the world is definitely better off and I sincerely hope the artiste is better off as well.

3) Realism: I think this point is best illustrated with examples as mentioned in the article. Winston Churchill was prone to severe bouts of depression to the point that he could not even get out of bed. Further more, a lot of the times, he had suicidal tendencies. So much so, he would avoid balconies or high altitudes. Because of his perspective of not seeing things through rose tinted glasses all the time, he was the only person during the rise of the Nazis could see the kind of threat  it really posed to the Allied powers and the stability of the world. It is said that it was he was the one who insisted on going into the war although his whole cabinet was against the decision. Similarly Abraham Lincoln who suffered depression also oversaw the Civil War with a great sense of reality. The author of the article argues that mental illness is actually an asset during times of crisis for a leader because the leader is able to discern the situation as it is and doesn't have the tendency to look away from inconvenient facts or facts that the leader doesn't like.

4) Resilience: 'I have seen my greatest enemy. And he lies within me' I guess people really tend to underestimate what it feels like when you are in constant war with yourself. I am not sure whether one manages to ever defeat their inner demons but one can manage to live above them. This process of trying to conquer yourself is possibly the most exhausting and difficult thing to do and it is a life long process but I suppose this battle builds up resilience and mental strength

Ultimately, what  I found most interesting was the conclusion of the article where it said that mental illness should not be a disqualifying trait for a hiring a person in a leadership role.