Why Leadership is Hard

Leadership Thoughts #318

When I had my first office with a door that closed I was a junior officer in a signals squadron, and I put a couple of quotes up on the wall. The first described how Lord Wenlocke was taken for a traitor or coward after failing to support another’s attack:

“The Duke of Somerset, seeing no succour come from the Lord Wenlocke, and perceiving his men sore oppressed, returned again into the field in great fury, smote the Lord Wenlocke on the helmet, and with his axe struck his brains out.”¹

The line subsequently collapsed, Somerset’s (and Wenlocke’s) men were slaughtered in retreat, or drowned trying to escape across the river. Somerset was captured and beheaded a few days later.

The other quote I couldn’t find again, but it went something like this:

He had warned them beforehand, almost lightly, not to mistake him for the enemy. He knew what they thought of him; he even agreed with them. When the attack succeeded and the position was taken, he turned back toward his men, smiling with relief, already rehearsing the words he would use to congratulate them. That’s when the last shot rang out, and he fell.²

The two stories highlight an edge most leaders need to walk. There has to be both “loyalty up, and loyalty down”. Different people accept leadership positions for many different reasons. But the persons whom we are responsible to, and those who we are responsible for, both deserve our loyalty, consideration, care, and best effort.

If we can’t support those ‘above’ us, then why are there? And if we can’t engage the trust and enthusiasm of those we lead, then how will we accomplish what’s asked?

1. Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke (1548) ↩︎
2. In hindsight, these might not have been the most inspiring quotes for those visiting my office, but I was still young and earnest, and regret nothing. ↩︎