Wednesday, July 23, 2008

George Washington on Leadership... and latrines

[from a National Review article reviewing George Washington on Leadership, by Richard Brookhiser]

Washington established himself as a leader of men in ways large and small. Most people know of Washington's bravery in battle, his quelling of mutinous officers at Newburgh, and other leaderly masterstrokes. In this book, Brookhiser dwells on many less monumental but equally valuable examples of his superior management of men and events.

To wit: latrines. His first General Orders, upon taking command of the colonial army, addressed vitally important, if mundane, details. In addition to the normal requests for an accounting of all supplies and rules for keeping order in camp, Washington paid particular attention to the issue of latrines. An experienced military man, he understood that not only the health but the morale of soldiers in the field depended on a few very simple things. So it is not remarkable that the supreme commander of colonial forces would mention latrines once. What is remarkable is that Washington--responsible though he was for creating and executing grand strategy for a disunited and rebellious confederacy of states with 1,200 miles of coastline--never dropped the subject or left it wholly to the attention of lower officers. In 1779, Washington was still harping on latrines: "The Commander-in-Chief, as the hot season approaches, expects ... vaults to be properly dug ... and sentries placed to see that the men make use of them only." Brookhiser draws an important leadership lesson from this: No issue is too trivial or too quotidian to command the attention of the man in charge.



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