Applicable Leadership Principles from my tutorial study and comparison of six best generals of World War II

REPLIES TO COMMENTS

Yao Chong: Thanks. All the best to your exam preparations too.

Sumedha: Yes, good point that you made. Thanks for your encouragement.

TODAY'S POST

Last Thursday's solo tutorial turned out well. Thank God! Dr Farrell's called my preparations a "very decent job" meaning to say, well done! Still, I realised that I could not totally answer all his questions! There was no way to fully prepare for all his questions. So often I thought I had prepared well for tutorial only to have Dr Farrell ask me an impromptu question that stumped me in deep silence! There was no way I could have foreseen the kind of questions he would ask me! I must admit that I am still very far away from my professor's knowledge and depth of analysis and thinking!

Anyway I am beginning to realise that military history is NOT just about fighting battles and wars. There are many lessons and general principles that can be applicable to our civilian world as well. The qualities of a good general are also the qualities of a good leader, manager or boss of an organisation or business company. From my comparisons of the leadership of the six best generals of World War II for my tutorial, I shall sum up the qualities a good leader should have, which is quite common knowledge (not in order of importance):

He/she must be professional and competent in what he/she is doing.

He/she must be confident in front of subordinates.

He/she must be decisive but yet flexible in responding to changes.

He/she must lead by example and be able to inspire and motivate subordinates.

He/she can be strict and firm yet fair and consistent.

He/she must care for the welfare of subordinates.

He/she must stay in touch with the "ground" by attempting to see, hear and feel personally, what is the real situation there and what his/her subordinates are going through.

He/she must ensure control of the "big picture" by personally directing subordinates when needed but yet knowing how to delegate the smaller tasks to trusted and capable subordinates instead of trying to micro-manage everything.

He/she must ensure that matters of logistics and administration are well-taken care of.