How to influence men : the use of psychology in business / by Edgar James Swift.

  • Swift, Edgar James, 1860-1932.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: How to influence men : the use of psychology in business / by Edgar James Swift. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    principles and peculiarities of the enemy’s commander. But this last factor is only another name for the beliefs and opinions of the man with whom Napoleon was going to transact his business. And this ability to see deeper than current opinions is one of the characteristics of leadership. Now, as an indication of the diversity in the abilities of great leaders, let us turn to Henderson’s estimate of various successful commanders. Speaking first of Grant, he says: “As a strategist he ranks high, but he was no master of stratagem. There was no mystery about his operations. His manoeuvres were strong and straightforward, but he had no skill in deceiving his adversary, and his tactics were not always of a high order. It may be questioned whether on the field of battle his ability was equal to that of Sher- man, or of Sherman’s great antagonist, Johnston. Else- where he was their superior. Both Sherman and Johnston were methodical rather than brilliant. But patient, con- fident, and far-seeing as they were, strictly observant of the established principles of war, they were without a touch of that aggressive genius which characterized Lee, Grant, and Jackson.” ^ And this same aggressive nature which grasps in one view the larger, more fundamental aspects of a situation we have found true of leaders in the indus- trial and commercial world. When one reads military history another fact of tre- mendous importance for leadership stands out conspicu- ously. Every great leader has his crack brigades. “The [men of the ] Thirteenth Division,” Sir Ian Hamilton says in his Gallipoli Diary, “were not reliable at Helles, whereas now, under Godley at Anzac, they have fought like lions.” And our own Washington, on January 9, 1777, wrote to Colonel George Baylor as follows on the choice of oflicers: “Recollect also that no instance has yet happened of good or bad behavior in corps in our service that has not origi- nated with the officers.” * Stonewall Jackson, vol. II, pp. 602-603. (Longmans, Green.)