Leadership

Abstract

THE Lees Knowles Lectures on “Generals and Generalship” delivered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1939, by General Sir Archibald Wavell and recently published in The Times, have now been reprinted and published as a pamphlet, with a foreword by General Sir John Dill (Times Publishing Co., Ltd., Printing House Square, London, E.C.4. 6d.). Dealing essentially with the principles of leadership and the relations of man to man, they have an interest that extends far beyond military circles. Sir Archibald Wavell takes a quotation from Socrates as giving the best definition of the essential qualities of a commander, and agrees with him in placing administration first, while tactics or the handling of troops in battle comes last. Character, or knowing what he wants, with the courage and determination to get it, and a genuine interest in, and knowledge of, humanity come first in the moral qualities of a leader, while in the mental qualities, commonsense, or the knowledge of what is and what is not possible is the most important. The bearing of this analysis on problems of technical administration generally will be readily perceived, and Sir Archibald's remarks on the commander and his troops are equally suggestive and stimulating. There are many in industry who might well apply Sir Archibald's simple rules that a general should never try to do his own staff work, and that he should never let his staff get between him and his troops. Tradition and discipline, he holds, are the root of the matter in relations between the general and his men.