The Fable of Napoleon's Lieutenant
I don't take credit for this one. This is one of the leadership lessons I learned at West Point.
Napoleon routinely picked the dumbest soldier in his army and appointed him lieutenant on his personal staff. Before issuing an order to his army, he would give the order to this lieutenant and then ask the lieutenant to repeat it back. If the lieutenant made a mistake, Napoleon would re-write the order until the lieutenant got it right. Napoleon's reasoning was that if the lieutenant could understand the order, then surely his generals could also understand the order.
The moral of the story is that it is not the manager's responsibility to give instructions that can be understood, but rather, the manager's responsibility is to give instructions that cannot be misunderstood.
More at: http://gordontaras.blogspot.com/2009/01/fable-of-napoleons-lieutenant.html
Clarification added January 30, 2009:
Hi All,
Thanks for your thoughts so far. The implied question was, "what are your thoughts?" Eugene, feel free to deride the clarity of my communications.
The fable does not define how detailed the instructions were. I also agree with the broad brush approach and trusting your people. At some level; however, people need to have assigned responsibilities. I would say the minimum are: the objective, the area for maneuver, and the need to coordinate with your peers. If you don't coordinate with your peers, you may create gaps your competition can exploit. If you drift far afield, you expose the entire organization to risks they were not prepared for or you make it impossible to reach your objective. Objectives give you the means to measure progress. Should this be a topic for a new question?
Michael,
There is also the round-robin exercise: Everyone sits in a circle. The first person provides a thought to the person next to them. The thought gets passed around in order. At the end the first person shares with the group the original thought and the resulting thought.
I like the idea of incorporating this test into an interview. Great idea!
Ramesh,
I love: "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"
I also don't like: "The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man," but remember the punch line from "It's a Wonderful Life:" "To my brother, the richest man in town." You are rich if you posses what you value. It does not have to be cash money.
Good Answers (2)
Mark H.
Changing how people and organizations work together
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Gordon:
You make an interesting point on where leadership and management diverge. If you believe Marcus Buckingham, the role of leadership is to create clarity of purpose. What is the broad mission or vision.
Robert Rumelt from UCLA tell us that a managers job is to minimize ambiguity- to break the activity down into pieces that can be understood and executed by employees.
I am interpreting you to say that each level recognize how much information is appropriate and meaningful and convey that much.
It also says to me that as you "appoint" your staff be sure that their skills fit the role you are asking them to play.
I don't here in your parable that Napolean was dictating the specifics, but rather setting the context. I have found some can understand the concept, but applying it is different.
So the question perhaps - What can we learn from history- testing our communication strategy. When our expectations are not met did we fail in appropriately communicating them?
Ramesh K.
CTO & Human Search Engine
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Nice story.
I think I can use it in appropriate cases!!
While on Napoleon, I like some of his quotes:
A leader is a dealer in hope.
A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
Ability is nothing without opportunity
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake
The ones I dont like are:
Women are nothing but machines for producing children
The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.
refer the following for more on Napoleon's quotes!
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/n/napoleon_bonaparte.html
Ramesh
The Human Search Engine
Clarification added January 30, 2009:
Let me clarify my position, before I am branded as the supporter of dumb guys :-)
I agree to the moral of the story !
"it is not the manager's responsibility to give instructions that can be understood, but rather, the manager's responsibility is to give instructions that cannot be misunderstood"
...not to select a dumb guy as a general !
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David M.
Business consultant
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But what happens if the dumbest soldier proves incapable of understanding the full implications of what the leader wants? Frankly, this kind of myth gives generals a bad name. Let us be very clear. No leader can personally direct every conceivable operation on the field. Even if it was humanly possible to write detailed instructions for everyone, that produces such an inflexible structure, it could not keep pace with dynamic and evolving conditions. The organisation would miss opportunities and fail to react to unforeseen circumstances in a timely fashion. Thus, all instructions to generals are in broad brush strokes, allowing for interpretation and discretion within the framework, making provision for modification and co-ordination to deal with the unforeseen, and demonstrating trust in the generals' judgement. Let us be clear, if the leader does not trust the generals, why should they command any respect from the ranks?
Michael L.
consultant, project manager, inventor, programmer at Lyubomirskiy Consulting, lyubomirskiy@gmail
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a better solution would be to use the traditional high school method - first lecturer explains to the student, then the student regurgitates in his own words back to the lecturer and answers some questions. If he fails, he is a bad student and is punished and/or taught again.
So, applying this concept, Napoleon reads a brief lecture to his generals. Then the generals sit down and write a 500 words essay explaining what they understood. Napoleon and/or some of the brighter generals grade these papers and pay special attention to explaining things to the guys who did not understand. Also, the ones who consistently don't understand should be fired.
You don't even need a war to practice this, you can do it to your heart's content during peacetime maneuvers.
And if you hire people with very high verbal IQ, you would not even have such a problem in the first place. Why not incorporate a similar test into the interview? E.g. yours truly doesn't have much "emotional intelligence" and stuff, but I sure can grasp complex explanations even before the other guy finishes talking. Then people criticize me for interrupting and being rude :)
John C.
Developer of The Company Strength Program
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It opens a perspective that some people may need to see.
I don't think that it should be considered an example to follow.
John Cameron
ROCK SOLID Business Coach
Jim F.
Vice President, Leadership Development, Fresenius Medical Care
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Napoleon obviously take his own advice when he gave orders to inavde the Crimea. Russian winters? Sure, no problem!!
