Table Of ContentMartin Gutmann E ditor
Historians on
Leadership
and Strategy
Case Studies From Antiquity to
Modernity
Historians on Leadership and Strategy
Martin Gutmann
Editor
Historians on Leadership
and Strategy
Case Studies From Antiquity
to Modernity
Editor
MartinGutmann
ETHZurich
Zurich,Switzerland
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Foreword
Someweeksbeforehisdeathin2018,KofiAnnan,formerUnitedNationsSecretary
General, gave a talk in Zurich. He explained that he was once given 6 weeks to
reorganize theUnited Nations. He complained toSergey Lavrov,then Representa-
tiveoftheSovietUnion,thatthiswasamissionimpossibleforayoungleadersuch
ashimself.Lavrovsmiledandexplained,“Well,Godreorganizedthewholeworldin
just6days,”towhichAnnanrememberedtohavereplied,“Mr.Lavrov,don’tforget,
Hewasworkingalone!”
Is there anything that has not been tried to understand, explain, teach, and train
leadershiptograspthisconceptlikeNewtongraspedthemovementoftheplanets?
FromMaxWeber’scharismaticleadertotoday’stransformationalheadofamulti-
nationalcompany,hundredsofconceptshavebeenproposedbybothacademicsand
practitioners with no enduring success. Strong opinions prevail: Peter F. Drucker,
one of the most-read management thinkers said: “Effective leadership doesn’t
depend on charisma. Dwight Eisenhower, George Marshall, and Harry Truman
were singularly effective leaders, yet none possessed any more charisma than a
deadmackerel....”Moreover,ArchieBrownhaswrittenawholebookabout“The
Myth of the Strong Leader”, questioning the overall contribution of leaders to the
successoforganizations.Heisconvincedthat“Somepresidents havebeenattheir
mosteffectivewhentheyletotherstaketheleadinimportantpolicies.”Thereisno
simpleanswertothequestionofhowtolead,noonesizethatfitsall.
Onemajorreasonisthesheerdiversityofdifferentsituations,differentcharacters,
and different followers. “If you want the cooperation of humans around you, you
must make them feel they are important, and you do that by being genuine and
humble.”Thesewords,writtenbyNelsonMandelawhilehewasleadingfromjail,
arenotthesameasMr.Trump’s“Iamaveryinstinctualperson,butmyinstinctturns
outtoberight.”Trumpisright,ourindividualpastexperienceguidesusinsubtlebut
profound ways—a fact which is not always helpful in our managing the future of
biggerorganizations.
So what can we do about leadership, about shaping our future? Training on the
job is still perceived as the most effective process—but it takes time, and personal
experience imparts a very narrow picture of corporate reality. Could science help?
LordRutherfordonceremarkedthatallscienceiseitherphysicsorstampcollecting.
Physics, building general principles to be followed in well-defined situations, has
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vi Foreword
had little success and stamp collecting, categorizing situations, has some limited
applications. However, science is not the only way we humans learn to cope with
complexsituations:Thereareinterestingstoriestoldandretoldaccordingtochang-
ingcontexts.Ifcombinedwithaspecificinterpretation,suchstoriescanenableusto
think and learn about the different aspects of leadership situations. Managers must
become like Archilochus’foxes, not hedgehogs:“The fox knowsmany things,the
hedgehogonebigone.”Maythecollectionof13leadershipstoriesinthisbookhelp
youtogetabroaderunderstandingofleadership!
ETHZurich RomanBoutellier
Zurich,Switzerland
Preface
Lookingbackintimeforexamplesofhowtolead—orhownotto—isnotnew.From
NapoleontoAbrahamLincoln,GenghisKhan(orChinggisKhan,asheisknownto
historians)toJuliusCaesar,pastleadershaveoftenservedasinspirationforcontem-
porary insights, in works by both academic and popular writers. Two things make
thisbookofhistoricalleadershipcasesunique.
First,thisbooklooksbeyondtheclassicleadershipparableofmeninmilitaryor
politicalcrises.Allofthebook’scasesexaminealeadershipchallengewithastrong
strategicdimension—achallengethatrequiredtheinspiringoffollowersbutalsoa
complex plan of action and allocation of resources. Beyond that, the temporal,
regional, and contextual setting of each case and the gender and social rank of the
leaderexamineddiffers.Onecasefollowsanenterprisingschooldirectorwhoruns
afouloftheNazistate.Anotherprofilesapolarexplorerduringthefirstnavigationof
the famed Northwest Passage. Yet another case analyzes the efforts of Chinggis
Khan’sdaughter-in-lawtomaintaininfluenceinthecontextofimperialinfighting.
Second, the cases presented here were authored not by management scholars
taking an intellectual excursion into the past but by historians—or scholars with a
stronghistoryfocus.Theauthorsare,assuch,verymuchathomeintheperiodsthey
arewritingabout—afactthatgivestheirrenderingsofthechallengesarichcontex-
tualnuance.Thenarrative-drivenstructureofthebook’schaptersshouldthusnotbe
mistakenforsimplification.Whilethecasesaredesignedtobeeasytoread,theyare
based on exhaustive research. Rather than serving as a vehicle for advancing a
particular theory of leadership, each case invites the readers to reflect, debate, and
extracttheirowninsights.
TheideaforthisprojectbeganwhenIwasaskedbymydeanseveralyearsagoto
teach a course on leadership. Being a historian, I wondered if this request was
misplaced.Leadershipis,afterall,thedomainofspecializedmanagementscholars,
most of them with a background in psychology. Yet in the process of teaching,
discussingwithcolleagues,andspeakingatcorporateevents,Icametorealizethat
historians have a unique and valuable perspective on the core questions of leader-
ship: how can individuals influence, motivate, and inspire others to work toward a
common goal? What characteristics, behaviors, or skills do good leaders possess?
Whatdefinesgoodleadershipinthefirstplace?Howmuchofasuccessfuloutcome
(orfailure)canbeattributedtoleadershipandhowmuchtocircumstance?Despite
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viii Preface
framing questions in different terms and employing different methodologies,
historianshavelongbeeninterestedinsimilarlinesofinquiry.TheIntroductionof
this book explores these potential contributions (as well as the limitations) of the
historicalperspectiveoncontemporaryleadershipstudies.
Thisbookisintendedtogiveinterestedleaders,scholars,andstudentsaccesstoa
differentsetofstoriesfromwhichtodrawinspirationandinsights.Itismysincerest
hopethatthebookfulfillsthisgoal.
Freiburg-im-Breisgau,Germany MartinGutmann
November2018
Acknowledgments
My primary gratitude is to the book’s contributing authors. They are exceptional
historians,scholars,andwriterswhotookthetimeoutfromtheirexhaustiveresearch
andteachingschedulestocontributetoaprojectoutsideofthenorm.Iwouldliketo
thankAshleyCurtisandMarkSpoereradditionallyfor,ontopofeachcontributinga
case,helpingwiththeconceptualframeworkofthebook.
IamalsogratefultomycolleaguesatETHZurichfortheirsupportandencour-
agement, in particular Michael Ambühl, Philip Grech, Linda Sulzer, Tobias
Langenegger,andStefanoBrusoni.RomanBoutellier,too,deservesspecialmention
forprovidingvaluablefeedbackonthebook’sintroduction.Iamalsogratefultothe
Springer team, in particular Prashanth Mahagaonkar, who guided this project with
careandprofessionalismthroughout.
Finally, my heartfelt thanks are due to my family—Djahane, Espen, Emil, and
Ylva—fortheircontinuedsupportthroughyetanotherbookproject.
MartinGutmann
ix
Contents
Introduction:TheValueoftheHistoricalPerspectiveforLeadership
Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MartinGutmann
PartI ThePostwarPeriod
LeadershipinWarandGenocide:RoméoDallaireinRwanda. . . . . . . . 15
MichaelGeheranandDavidFrey
LostinCulture:C&A’sFailureintheUnitedStates,1946–1964. . . . . . 41
MarkSpoerer
PrisonersasLeadersofPoliticalChange:Cage11andthePeace
ProcessinNorthernIreland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
DieterReinisch
PartII TheSecondWorldWar
WhenComplexityCostsLives:SecondaryGoalsand
CompartmentalizedInformationintheSecondWorldWar’sGreatest
Raid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
RetoMichaelWegmannandJoshuaLorenzoNewett
PaulGeheebandNaziGermany:ProgressiveEducationintheAge
ofFascism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
AshleyCurtis
PartIII TheAgeoftheIndustrialRevolution
MaryvanKleeckandtheInternationalIndustrialRelationsInstitute:
ResolvingConflictsBetweenLaborandCapitalThroughthePower
ofKnowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
HannahMormann
RoaldAmundsenintheAgeofPolarExploration:Entrepreneurship
andInnovationintheQuesttoConquertheNorthwestPassage. . . . . . . 123
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