September 6, 2015

Finest Hour 168, Spring 2015

Page 31

By Col. John C. McKay

“Leadership This Day” illustrates how Winston Churchill’s example guides and motivates today’s leaders.   Contributors come from many fields including business, politics, and the military.

There were very few things in  military administration which a business man of common sense and little imagination could not understand if he turned his attention to the subject.
—Winston Churchill, 1900

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Leadership is both simple and complex. Leadership is particularly difficult to assess in an individual such as Sir Winston Churchill. A multifaceted leader who experienced the outermost of nadirs and apexes in a career of remarkable longevity makes an objective analysis of his leadership challenging at best. Serious studies of Winston Churchill’s leadership style and substance are notable for their paucity. The extolment, almost to the point of exaltation in some quarters, of the historical record, and, of course, his own words, hinders rather than nurtures an understanding of Churchillian leadership. Hero worship is notable for its lack of objectivity.

Thus assessing the applicability of Churchillian leadership in the digital age poses two major tests: identifying relevant points of Churchillian leadership; and, how that leadership pertains in the era of connectivity. Additionally, it is not readily apparent how the weighty issues of war, international statesmanship, and national survival are germane to the business community. But they are. Paradoxically, it is the very absence of superior leadership skills in the political arena that so clearly marks the rare individual possessed of such skills, the very skills of which Churchill was so adroitly the consummate master. The exercise of the traits and principles comprising and defining these skills augurs well for success in today’s increasingly interlinked business world.

Evolving, even revolutionary, technology fascinated Sir Winston Churchill. What set him apart, however, was the leadership he consistently brought to bear on bringing technology to the matter at hand. The World Crisis demonstrates a marked reflection on the many facets of war and technological innovation therein. Churchill was the prime mover in matters as complex as fuel conversion within the Royal Navy—from coal to oil—and the securing of adequate oil reserves for the task, the initiation and establishment of a Naval Air Corps, the capital ship development project, the development and deployment of the tank, all while creating a Naval War Staff where none had ever existed before. As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill’s leadership in effectively adapting new technology within a rapidly changing world environment remains a model. Under his leadership an innovative system of statistical charts kept track of all vital naval activity. As Minister of Munitions in 1917, he designated a statistical adviser, another first. Recognizing the value of statistics and quantitative analysis, during World War II, first at the Admiralty, then as Prime Minister, he established a Statistical Branch, consistently watched and utilized until final victory. He was equally receptive to, and wholeheartedly supportive of, the arcane yet acutely critical workings of cryptologists at Bletchley Park.

Churchill explicitly compared painting to the art of war: “…the principle is the same. It is the same kind of problem as unfolding a long, sustained, interlocked argument. It is a proposition which, whether of few or numberless parts, is commanded by a single unity of conception.” This is most certainly apropos in today’s business environment, as are the observations, “Every set of assumptions which it is necessary to make, draws new veils of varying density in front of the dark curtains of the future,” and “even the most penetrating gaze reaches only conclusions which, however seemingly vindicated at a given moment, are inexorably effaced by time.”

Churchill’s exposure to military campaigning, the in-depth knowledge and understanding of history, his ability to arrive “at the root of the matter,” the ability to shape a broad vision and stick by it in adversity, and his unequalled utilization of the English language are leadership qualities that unequivocally pertain in the age of connectivity.

Colonel McKay is a twice combat-wounded Marine Corps officer who has separately led organizations composed of US and indigenous forces in war and peace. Responsible for approximately 4000 US personnel and over 10,000 Cuban and Haitian refugees, he executed a humanitarian effort recognized as a model for humane migrant operations.