More often than not, an effective leader determines the success or failure of an organisation. An organisation with a weak and ineffectual leader is doomed to fail; one with a clear-sighted and courageous leader can overcome virtually any adversity.
Winston Churchill is hailed as one of the twentieth century’s greatest leaders. However the fact that Churchill was also an astonishingly effective executive was lesser known. He possessed a shrewd business sense and ran his country like a great corporation, mastering with ease the day-to-day challenges that face every business leader. Difficult times require leaders of uncommon excellence. Churchill was such a leader. He persevered through professional challenges that would have destroyed lesser men. Instead, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, he triumphed magnificently.
‘Churchill on Leadership – Executive Success in the Face of Adversity’ is perhaps the finest book on practical leadership ever written. The book in no way is a biography on the life of Churchill as might be perceived. It traces what it takes to thrive in the face of adversity in the political scenario as shown by Churchill and tries to link those lessons to the context of business. Written in 1997 by historian Steven F Hayward, this book examines, for the first time, Churchill’s executive side. Most people have little knowledge of Churchill beyond the fact that he had stood up to Hitler and had given stirring speeches. In the book, Churchill is portrayed not as a mythic historical figure but rather as a role model for today’s executives and managers.
Hayward offers details about how Churchill approached certain kinds of problems, about his perceptions of organisation behaviour, about how he managed the various government departments. He tries to show how Churchill’s story offers valuable lessons for executives and entrepreneurs. Hayward links Churchill’s methods to secrets for business success – like assembling and inspiring a first-rate team to preparing a wise budget, communicating a vision, structuring effective meetings, acting decisively, rebounding from failure.
What I liked about the book
Sly Humour
The book is not a humorous book even remotely. But what it offers is the kind of sly humour that brings a small smile to your face, which makes reading interesting. If I were to compare the wit in this book with any other book, I will say it offers the similar wit that Stephen Hawking offered in ‘A Brief History of Time’.
For example, while giving the inspiration for writing the book, Hayward mentions in the Preface that ‘at first blush it seemed to him that the last thing the world needed was another book on Churchill’. Or while explaining Churchill’s candor and plain speaking, Hayward mentions some of Churchill’s remarks about others which are definitely smile-provoking : “If you wanted nothing done, he is the best man for you” (about Arthur Balfour), “Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing has happened” (about Stanley Baldwin).
Deep insight
Only those character traits of Churchill that affect business leadership is analysed; but they are done in depth. There are separate chapters to deal with Churchill’s executive skills – with a brief summary of his career in public office, his administrative skills – how he matched responsibility with authority, his personnel skills – how he managed people and managed himself, his communication skills and other characteristics like decisiveness, personal traits, innovation, confronting failures and learning from mistakes, etc. For people who don’t know enough about Churchill, the Appendix covers the outlines of Churchill’s career in enough detail to place the rest of the book in context.
Chapter Conclusions
Hayward concludes each chapter with a brief summary on the chapter of the lessons to be learned. It is point-wise, bulleted and filled with quotations from Churchill on each point, which makes a good revision of the Chapter read.
Quotable Quotes
The book offers some wonderful quotations by Churchill like:
“I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet”
“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look farther than you can see”
“Laugh a little; if you can’t laugh, smile; if you can’t smile, grin; if you can’t grin, keep out of the way till you can”
It also offers at certain places quotations from others like:
“What makes a good manager?”
“I prefer the term business leader” – Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
Personal Lessons
It offers a lot of lessons for a corporate executive. There’s a war out there for every executive. Every day the competition grows stronger, smarter and fiercer; every day the market gets tougher. Churchill succeeded in the face of the toughest of adversity. Guided by his example, so can you and me. The book explains how Churchill used the present day business fundas of strategy, crisis management, killing competition, core competence, forward offensive, flanking maneuver, etc.
What I did not like about the book
Hayward tried to make meaning out of every action of Churchill and portray him as some ‘out-of-this-world’ person. He tries to bend facts and instances to make Churchill look a hero and a genius and all others around him as mediocre beings with little intelligence. The author, according to me, failed to discount the fact that the political world is disorderly, inefficient, undisciplined and at times even irresponsible. Most politicians are masters of equivocation who are models of neither leadership or of basic managerial skills. Amongst these people, it does not take much effort to become a ‘great leader’ (of course, with due credit to the fact that Churchill was indeed a great leader). According to me, it is more like the one-eyed becoming the king in the land of blind.
It is difficult to draw parallels between politics and business fully. Business is always drawn by the Turnover and Net Profit figures appearing in the Profit and Loss Account (called as the Top line and Bottom line) and the Net Worth figures appearing in the Balance Sheet. However, in politics the Balance Sheet is opaque (at best), while the Profit and Loss Account is nonexistent. Also, in politics there is diffusion of responsibility and accountability. However, in business the entrepreneur or the CEO bears full responsibility and accountability. Hence, Hayward attempts to link both looks far-fetched at times.
This book passes over several of great political controversies involving Churchill. One is left wondering as to its intention; with the obvious one being the fact that it would nuetralise the author’s efforts to portray Churchill as a genius and ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ leader.
Overall it is a good book on leadership and a must read for working executives. I will recommend it as a ‘to-be-read-once’, though it is by no means an exceptional work of a classic stature.
