There is a conversation between Field Marshal Montgomery and Professor Lord Taylor, also available online, which provides important insights into leadership, from grassroots to world politics.
Lord Taylor asks Montgomery about his successful life as a man. He replies, “I have always been a rebel.” This gives an aspect of how people function in an organization. The rebel, as Montgomery was, always wanted more for his task and for the whole organization. The well-adjusted, who always bend and always follow orders, never become victors. Sometimes they can even be disastrous. The rebel, who was once the platoon leader and company commander Montgomery, was difficult to manage, and he had superiors who wanted to stop his career.
But he also had managers who understood the potential of a rebel, who wants more for the entire organization and for the men under him. It is those kinds of managers who produce winners.
Lord Taylor asks what guidelines one should have as a leader. Montgomery answers: “One must conquer oneself.” He uses the word conquer, which actually means to conquer. What does he mean by this? To conquer oneself means to take power over one’s selfishness.
If you succeed in that, it is no longer the preferences of your own self that govern. It is not essential what I gain from myself, what benefits my career, what is pleasant for myself. When you have conquered all this within yourself, then you are prepared to lead others. Then it is the task that is at the center, and with the task, the people you are to lead become the great responsibility.
Montgomery says: “The soldiers notice it.” As a leader, you might think that your position protects you from scrutiny. On the contrary, those you are to lead can see through your innermost motives and driving forces with radar vision. Only those who have overcome themselves can gain what is absolutely crucial for leadership, trust. Montgomery says: “Once you have overcome yourself, they will follow you.”
Montgomery became a soldier in the British army that had fought the Boer War, an army that largely consisted of poor men, who sought a way out of misery. The main line was simple, carefully practiced routines. In the fight against the Boers' initiative and indomitable will to freedom, they had repeatedly shown their inferiority. The First World War with this army was victorious but traumatic with enormous losses. The shock still characterizes British reality today. It was in this army that Montgomery made his decisive experiences.
Lord Taylor asks how those experiences were reflected in the encounter with the new army that emerged during World War II. Montgomery replies: “It was completely different. Now we had well-educated men who could think for themselves and ask questions that they wanted answers to.” Here Montgomery shows an important aspect of leadership, understanding the people you are to lead and adapting your leadership to them.
Montgomery says: “You have to have people with you.” It is precisely the people you have in front of you that you should have with you, not the people you would prefer to have. And to get people with you, you have to meet them. There has to be relationships. This is an important aspect of Montgomery’s leadership. He met the soldiers personally, he developed a personal style that made him immediately recognizable even from a distance. He became a symbol for his units, his army.
A manager may indeed have reasons for saying that he does not have the time, does not have the energy or should not even put effort into a personal presence everywhere. But it is a matter of prioritization, it is a question of what has value. Montgomery knew that relationship is the prerequisite for trust and that trust is the key to success. But relationship requires physical presence. You can convey orders, appeals, information, plans through paper, radio, TV, the Internet, but every link that stands between the sender and the recipient is a weakening of the message. This is especially so because the recipient has no opportunity to make himself heard. This also applies to the physical meeting.
Montgomery did not hold monologues in his meetings with the soldiers. His attitude was at once firm and relaxed: "Let's have a look at one another!"
No victor wins on his own. Even the greatest commander is aware of a larger context. Lord Taylor also raises this question with Montgomery. What was his larger context, what were the conditions for his victories? Montgomery's answer was simple: "You have to control the trade routes." It is access to the trade routes that gives the victor the conditions that are indispensable for success.
Glubb Pasha, commander of the Arab Legion, said the same about the Crusaders, when they lost naval supremacy their defeat was inevitable. The same was true in the Nordic countries: Without Sweden and Germany as trading partners, the Winter War could not have been fought by Finland. The Swedish aircraft production in 1939-1945 would have been meaningless without access to the alloying metal molybdenum, which is not found in Sweden.
Montgomery's answer to the question about the conditions for victory shows that every successful leadership is only a small part of a larger context. But it is only when the leader has overcome himself that he sees the contexts and can use them correctly.