History may hold the secrets of statecraft – but not the secrets of business leadership

‘How can one person lead one hundred?’ That was one of the questions in my Cambridge entrance exams back in 1981, and although I can’t now recall whether I tried to answer it in the three hours we were given, it has fascinated me ever since. So when I was given the splendid opportunity of delivering nine Lehrman Institute lectures on military history at the New-York Historical Society three years ago, I used them to try to answer it, at least in terms of war leadership.

What became apparent was what a total waste of time and effort most of the modern ‘leadership skills’ industry is whenever it tries to apply the lessons of war leadership to anything else, and especially business. You know the kind of thing: ‘Attila the Hun’s Top Ten Business Leadership Tips’, ‘What Operation Overlord Can Teach You About Running Your Company’, and so on. The leadership books, motivational speeches circuit, business videos and online courses are a multi-billion-pound industry, but they tend to impart next to nothing of genuine value when they use war leadership as a template.

The ability to speak well in public, for example, is constantly promoted as important to leadership, although neither Napoleon nor Stalin were good orators. The leadership industry promotes the idea that it is important to be of upstanding moral character to motivate employees — witness the recent sacking of the CEO of McDonald’s for dating a junior in the organisation — whereas a glance at history shows that to be ludicrous. ‘Animal courage was Lord Nelson’s sole merit,’ said Lord Howe of his greatest lieutenant. ‘His private character was most disgraceful.’ Napoleon meanwhile had 27 mistresses, and David Lloyd George, when asked whether he was taking Mrs Lloyd George to the Paris Peace Conference, replied: ‘Would you take sandwiches to a banquet?’