DARDENRESTAURANTS Leadership Defined It is said that leadership is the ability to guide or direct  others. We would add to that definition the ability to  inspire, enthuse, motivate and encourage – for starters.  The fact is, at Darden Restaurants leadership manifests  itself in hundreds of ways every day. Indeed, we consider  leadership excellence to be the essential strategic plank  of our business model. So, who better to define leader- ship than some of the many leaders found in our family  of more than 141,000 employees? We wish we could  include them all, but this report contains the stories of  six individuals who we believe personify leadership at  its best. They should give you a good idea of how we  define leadership at Darden, as well as how leadership  creates value for all of our stakeholders – guests, investors, employees, vendors and the community. Darden Restaurants  5