leadership

James Madison And Abraham Lincoln: Contrasts In Wartime Leadership

Quintus Curtius History , , ,

It will be useful to compare the leadership styles of two wartime American presidents of the nineteenth century.  James Madison was president during the War of 1812, while Abraham Lincoln occupied the office of chief executive during the American Civil War.  The first of these must be counted a failure as a wartime commander-in-chief, while the second was able to prosecute his nation’s most terrible conflict to a successful conclusion.  What qualities enabled one to emerge triumphant, and the other to suffer the indignity of failure, we will now examine.

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The White Towel

Quintus Curtius Thought , ,

The Soviet defector and writer Victor Suvorov published a book in 1987 called Spetsnaz:  The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces.  Suvorov, whose real name is Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun, was himself a Spetsnaz veteran and a Soviet intelligence officer.  I enjoyed his book Inside the Soviet Army as well; and he has written other volumes which I have not yet had the opportunity to examine. 

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The Leadership Of Captain Thrupp

Quintus Curtius History , , , ,

Tales of superlative leadership abound in naval history. Through the study of historical examples, we are instructed in the qualities and characteristics of proper command. In early 1871 the British Admiralty sent a detachment of soldiers and marines to Australia aboard the iron screw frigate Megaera.  The ship carried 42 officers, 44 marines, 180 seamen, and 67 boys, for a total of 333.  After stopping briefly at the Cape of Good Hope, the Megaera embarked on the long journey across the Indian Ocean to Sydney.  It was anticipated that the vessel would reach its destination by July 5. 

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Lack Of Compliance With The Small Things Spells Trouble With The Big Things (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , , ,

If you are in a job where you have to deal with clients or the general public, be alert to the small clues or “tells” that reveal a person’s state of mind and attitude. If a prospective client fails to show a willingness to comply with reasonable, basic rules, it almost always means the person is going to be a problem client. Do not ignore these subtle clues.

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The Leadership Principles Of Iphicrates

Quintus Curtius History, Thought , , ,

History distinguishes the Athenian general Iphicrates for the superlative quality of his leadership, the extent of his martial innovations, and his understanding of the psychological dimension of war.  He lived from about 418 B.C. to 353 B.C.  We will discuss some of the leadership principles that may be distilled from the writings of two ancient historians, Cornelius Nepos and Polyaenus.

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The Terrible Loss Of The “Rothsay Castle”

Quintus Curtius History , , ,

Today only historians of the sea have heard of the horrific loss of the steam packet Rothsay Castle in 1831.  Yet in its day, the tragedy aroused considerable public indignation and mourning in England; and it remains one of the most unsettling of the nineteenth century’s long list of maritime calamities.  We will retell the tale. 

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You Declare Yourself (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , , ,

Some guys think that they need to wait for some magical confluence of circumstances to exist before they can pursue their goals. The world doesn’t work like this. Sometimes you have to announce yourself, declare your purpose openly, and let your will shape the environment to your own purposes. You have to declare yourself. You’re never going to receive anyone’s permission to succeed. We use the example of Gen. Charles De Gaulle in 1940.

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