Remarkable War Leaders: Secrets of Their Personalities: The Remarkables

By Stewart Forsyth

If you're interested in how leaders achieve remarkable results – in what could be considered the ultimate test – this is the book for you.

Here we explore the approach of five different war leaders to mobilising and motivating their people. This is quite an achievement in war – as evolutionary anthropologist Luke Glowacki points out: 'Warfare requires intensive levels of cooperation while risking death.' What sort of qualities contribute to effectiveness in this high stakes leadership?

There is a theme in this series of books about remarkable people – that there is no one leadership personality to rule them all. Some of the leaders portrayed here are highly openminded, others low on this attribute – more focused. Some highly extrovert, and yes – some inclined to be more independent. Values such as bravery and integrity are themes, but there are different routes to such qualities.

The good news – you can learn from these leaders, but you don't need to follow a formula. Like them, your path to effective leadership can build on your existing strengths.

• Language: English
• Publisher: FX Publishing
• Release date: Nov 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9780473549541

Book preview

Introduction

If you’re interested in how leaders achieve remarkable results – in what could be considered the ultimate test – this is the book for you.

For some of us, our image of the evolution of leadership is based on the prelude to the movie 2001 – where the stroppy male learns that leg bones are not only good for gnawing on but can also be used as a weapon, and as the symbol – raised overhead – of leadership.

War is used by some leaders as a metaphor for their work. Richie McCaw saw similarities between rugby games and the battlefield.¹

Here we explore the approach of five different war leaders to mobilising and motivating their people. This is quite an achievement in war – as evolutionary anthropologist Luke Glowacki points out: ‘Warfare requires intensive levels of cooperation while risking death.’² What sort of qualities contribute to effectiveness in this high stakes leadership?

The leaders here do not necessarily feature in your lists of the 100 best military leaders of all time. That’s because such lists tilt to leaders who make an impact on world geopolitics. The leaders I’ve written up have a Kiwi connection, their impact is more in terms of inspiration than resulting in re-drawing borders or building empires.

There is a theme in this series of books about remarkable people – that there is no one leadership personality to rule them all. Some of the leaders portrayed here are highly openminded, others low on this attribute – more focused. Some highly extrovert, and yes – some inclined to be more independent. Values such as bravery and integrity are themes, but there are different routes to such qualities.

The good news – you can learn from these leaders, but you don’t need to follow a formula. Like them, your path to effective leadership can build on your existing strengths.

We use the ‘Big Five’ personality framework to illustrate the uniqueness of each of these remarkable leaders. The next section provides an introduction to the Big Five.

The World’s Fastest Personality Test

Use the descriptions to position yourself on these five dimensions – put yourself closer to the descriptions that describe you best:

We don’t pay so much attention to your middle of the road ratings – what makes you unique is where you are furthest out

Take the two most far out ratings – they can be low – as in towards the left, or high – leaning right. To get a view of what makes you special – pick out the two that are stretching furthest from the middle. Look at the table on the next page to find where your two strongest personality tendencies locate you.

You have now identified the personality compound that best describes you – of the 40 possible this is likely to provide indications of your thoughts, feelings and behaviour across many parts of your life.

On the same matrix, you can see where the five war leaders land – in terms of their predominant personality traits. You might match one of them, or you might match one of the other remarkable people covered in this series – in which case it will be interesting to see how your approach to life (and leadership) matches theirs

The Personality of Remarkable War Leaders

If you have any questions or comments about personality or these compounds - drop me a note, I love chatting about this stuff.

If you want to sign up to the regular Newsletter – put Remarkable in the subject line.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The World’s Fastest Personality Test

The Personality of Remarkable War Leaders

Winston Churchill

Advocate

Focused-Openminded

Spontaneous-Conscientious

Independent-Extroverted

Competitive-Agreeable

Emotionally steady-Nervous

Suggestions for development

Nancy Wake

Charming

Focused-Openminded

Spontaneous-Conscientious

Independent-Extroverted

Competitive-Agreeable

Emotionally steady-Nervous

Suggestions for development

Howard Kippenberger

Innovator

Focused – Openminded

Spontaneous – Conscientious

Independent – Extroverted

Competitive – Agreeable

Emotionally steady – Nervous

Suggestions for development

Charles Upham

Servant Leader

Focused-Openminded

Spontaneous-Conscientious

Independent-Extroverted

Competitive-Agreeable

Emotionally steady-Nervous

Suggestions for development

Keith Park

Solo Operator

Focused-Openminded

Spontaneous-Conscientious

Independent-Extroverted

Competitive-Agreeable

Emotionally stable-Nervous

Suggestions for development

Thank you for reading this book

Stewart Forsyth

New Zealand Visitors: An excerpt

Winston Churchill

On 15 November 1915 Winston Churchill made his resignation speech to his fellow Members of Parliament. As First Lord of the Admiralty he had promoted the naval attack on the Dardanelle Straits and the 25 April 1915 landing at Gallipoli: "I recommended it [the invasion plan] to the War Council, and to the French Government, not as a certainty, but as a legitimate war gamble, with stakes that we could afford to lose