THE FIRE OF LEADERSHIP by Larry Stout
THE FIRE OF LEADERSHIP by Larry Stout
I celebrated my 55th birthday on October 25th, and my mind always turns to the fact that this day was once known as the Feast Day of St. Crispin. On this day in 1415, Henry V and his underdog British, outmanned at least four to one, fought and won a crushing defeat over Charles VI of France at the Battle of Agincourt. Though this salient fact would certainly carry little notice beyond very serious undergraduate history majors, it does stand out because William Shakespeare chose this particular event to shape his stirring play, Henry V. The eve before the battle, Shakespeare portrays Henry disguising himself and listening to the comments of the troops as they curl up around their campfires. They know they are outnumbered and few expect to be alive the next day. You can almost feel Henry’s blood begin to boil as he hears these men expressing their true hearts.
Shakespeare gives us a more complete portrayal of Henry than any other character in all his plays. Prince Hal as a youth was a playboy who loved to hang around the Boar’s Head Tavern with all the riff raff and especially his comic relief partner, Falstaff. But those days were not wasted, because Hal was also gaining valuable insight into the common man. It was that experience and knowledge that he drew from on the day of St. Crispian, the day of the Battle of Agincourt.
As the British army is gathering, Shakespeare has Henry deliver one of the most stirring speeches in all of literature. Though it is remembered today in sound bits (“we few, we happy few, we band of brothers”), it contains as one author noted, “our most cherished dramatic interpretation of leadership, vision, and sacrifice.” For those who have forgotten how to read, rent the 1989 film version with Kenneth Branagh or give yourself a real treat and check out the 1944 film with Laurence Olivier. Both these fine actors make these words come alive. But what you sense is how these words truly transform the situation. These men who were ready to pack up and head back to England are now not only looking forward to facing the French, as heavily outnumbered as they are, but anxiously looking forward.
I keep looking for this kind of leadership fire. I try to exemplify it in myself when I teach leadership in these far parts of the world. I have spend over a decade and half living in the developing world, and I believe I know what they fear but also what they need. I expect those in business, government and education to be transformed when I teach them. If they do not feel some heat after my sessions with them, I believe it was because I did not have the fire burning in me as it should.
We have so many who talk about networking and participating and facilitating and how building a team is great leadership – and all that is nice – but give me fire! I want to see men and women who, like Hal, understand their follower’s fears and dreams, ambitions and admonitions, and rally them to bold new horizons that they never thought possible.
William Shakespeare’s great plays were almost all about failed leaders – Hamlet, Lear, MacBeth, Richard II – but I am grateful that he chose to feature one great leader, King Henry. He was far from perfect, to be sure, but he had fire. Shakespeare showed us what a man on fire looks like, and the difference it makes.
When I read the Bible, I find that those men and women who God used also had a fire for serving God – a fire in the bones as Jeremiah put it. I weep for the church that has so few leaders because there is so little fire.
I celebrated my 55th birthday on October 25th, and my mind always turns to the fact that this day was once known as the Feast Day of St. Crispin. On this day in 1415, Henry V and his underdog British, outmanned at least four to one, fought and won a crushing defeat over Charles VI of France at the Battle of Agincourt. Though this salient fact would certainly carry little notice beyond very serious undergraduate history majors, it does stand out because William Shakespeare chose this particular event to shape his stirring play, Henry V. The eve before the battle, Shakespeare portrays Henry disguising himself and listening to the comments of the troops as they curl up around their campfires. They know they are outnumbered and few expect to be alive the next day. You can almost feel Henry’s blood begin to boil as he hears these men expressing their true hearts.
Shakespeare gives us a more complete portrayal of Henry than any other character in all his plays. Prince Hal as a youth was a playboy who loved to hang around the Boar’s Head Tavern with all the riff raff and especially his comic relief partner, Falstaff. But those days were not wasted, because Hal was also gaining valuable insight into the common man. It was that experience and knowledge that he drew from on the day of St. Crispian, the day of the Battle of Agincourt.
As the British army is gathering, Shakespeare has Henry deliver one of the most stirring speeches in all of literature. Though it is remembered today in sound bits (“we few, we happy few, we band of brothers”), it contains as one author noted, “our most cherished dramatic interpretation of leadership, vision, and sacrifice.” For those who have forgotten how to read, rent the 1989 film version with Kenneth Branagh or give yourself a real treat and check out the 1944 film with Laurence Olivier. Both these fine actors make these words come alive. But what you sense is how these words truly transform the situation. These men who were ready to pack up and head back to England are now not only looking forward to facing the French, as heavily outnumbered as they are, but anxiously looking forward.
I keep looking for this kind of leadership fire. I try to exemplify it in myself when I teach leadership in these far parts of the world. I have spend over a decade and half living in the developing world, and I believe I know what they fear but also what they need. I expect those in business, government and education to be transformed when I teach them. If they do not feel some heat after my sessions with them, I believe it was because I did not have the fire burning in me as it should.
We have so many who talk about networking and participating and facilitating and how building a team is great leadership – and all that is nice – but give me fire! I want to see men and women who, like Hal, understand their follower’s fears and dreams, ambitions and admonitions, and rally them to bold new horizons that they never thought possible.
William Shakespeare’s great plays were almost all about failed leaders – Hamlet, Lear, MacBeth, Richard II – but I am grateful that he chose to feature one great leader, King Henry. He was far from perfect, to be sure, but he had fire. Shakespeare showed us what a man on fire looks like, and the difference it makes.
When I read the Bible, I find that those men and women who God used also had a fire for serving God – a fire in the bones as Jeremiah put it. I weep for the church that has so few leaders because there is so little fire.
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