"You can't lead from behind..."

I am reading a book right now about the famous Civil War Battle of Gettysburg called (oddly enough), The Battle of Gettysburg.: A Comprehensive Narrative.  It is an older book, written and published in 1913 by a former Union officer who served there named Jesse Bowman Young.  One of the book's strengths is the fact that it is more or less a firsthand account of the events that occurred by someone who was actually there during those fateful three days in July of 1863.  The battle itself is famous for the fact that it was by far the deadliest battle of the entire Civil War (and if you consider that Americans died on both sides of the battle, it was by far the deadliest three days in any war in our nation's history) and for being the turning point of the Civil War.  Young's book's other major strength is that it provides several lengthy lists of key statistics and detailed biographical sketches of the officers who served in the battle.  It is a great book, and I am really enjoying the read.


I was particularly struck by the number of field officers who died or were seriously injured during the battle.  I once read a statistic that Civil War generals were 50 percent more likely to be killed in combat than privates (the lowest rank).  Brigadier generals, who either led divisions (on rare occasions), or most commonly, brigades (note that a brigade in the Civil War comprised approximately 2,600 soldiers and a division most commonly consisted of 3 brigades). 


Related to this point, there is an exchange between General Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant General James Longstreet in another one of my favorite books, Michael Shaara's novel, The Killer Angels (the movie, Gettysburg was based upon this novel) that I believe is rather poignant.  Lee starts, "General, in the fight that's coming, I want you to stay back from the main line.  You are my only veteran commander."  After talking some more, Lee continues, "You have a very bad habit, General, of going too far forward."  Longstreet replies, "You cannot lead from behind."


Here is an important lesson for us all.  The fact that generals had a much higher chance of being killed during the Civil War than privates was simply due to the fact that during that particular war, generals usually led the battle from the actual battlefield.  In many cases, the generals led the battle by being out in front of their men, where they would be most likely to be shot at from the opposing side.  However, there was no other good way at that time in our history to motivate and direct the troops and place them in a position to win the battle.  There was no better position than out front to observe the events of the battle as they unfolded. 


There are certainly lessons for us here today.  First, leaders should lead by example.  Leaders set the tone for the whole organization - in reality, leaders (or at least how the leaders "lead") determine the overall culture in an organization.  Leaders "practice what they preach" - so many times, I hear from good leaders the phrase, "If I am not willing to do this myself, then I cannot expect my team to do it either."  Second, leaders should be out and about - it is hard, if not impossible, to lead (by example or otherwise) from an office desk.  Good leaders should subscribe to the practice of "management by walking around."  Leaders should get to know all of the members of their team - but the really great leaders also get to know people outside of their teams, all over the organization.  Leaders provide real-time feedback, which is very difficult to do if the leader is not out of his or her office and observing team members where they are doing their jobs.  Finally, and perhaps most importantly, having a leadership presence on the organization's front line is not enough.  At least one study has shown that leaders also have to help their teams with problem-solving and elimination of barriers.  One of the best ways that leaders can do this is to be great teachers, mentors, and role models.  Good leaders don't simply solve the problems on their own.  Rather, the most effective leaders enable their teams and front line employees to solve problems  on their own.  Just as General Longstreet claimed, "You cannot lead from behind."