Generalship - Its Diseases and Their Cure

Just started reading this book by J.F.C. Fuller. Though a little dated, its offers brillant insights on leadership which are still relevant today.

Some interesting portions:

Courage is [the] driving force; for, if human history can be consulted, it will immediately be discovered that in the past all things worth while began their lives by some one man, or woman, daring to do what others feared to do. Fear has always ended in failure, and fear is not a personal emotion only, but also the product of a man's surroundings, the outcome of a system quite as much as a reaction to danger.

Many Generals in the day of battle busy themselves in regulating the marching for their troops, in hurrying aides-de-camp to and fro, in galloping about incessantly. They wish to do everything and as a result do nothing.

Should the General consistently live outside the realm of danger, then, though he may show high moral courage in making decisions, by his never being called upon to breathe the atmosphere of danger his men are breathing, this lens will become blurred, and he will seldom experience the moral influences his men are experiencing. But it is the influence of his courage upon the hearts of his men in which the main deficit will exist. Its is his personality which will suffer - his prestige.

During the fighting on May 6th, 1864, the Federal line was driven back and a panic resulted, in which an excited officer rushed up to where General Grant was sitting and shouted: "General, wouldn't it be prudent to move headquarters to the other side of the Germanna road [further from the battle field] ?" To which came the answer: "It strikes me it would be better to order up some artillery and defend the present position."

Halfway through ....