How Easy to Do Nothing... How Hard to Achieve Anything

Failure. Catastrophe. Disaster. Dismissal. Imagine these words heaped on you describing the final consequence of a decision largely yours, how could any notion of a future be anything but cruel?

Suppose you conceived a military plan which played out as described - in fact, one which became a scourge and "synonomous with fiasco and recklessness" because of the wanton loss of life and defeat. The result was disgrace and dismissal. Would your thoughts be any different than this character's - "I am finished." What if others echoed for years and years following, "He is finished." Could you forsee good coming from it - could you learn valuable lessons even in the face of ridicule? Could you determine to persevere in private and learn from it?

The early Mel Gibson film, Gallipoli, captures the futility and emptiness of the Dardanelles campaign of 1915. It is perhaps most hauntingly expressed by Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda".

How easy to do nothing if your resume read like this. How easy to throw in the towel, give up all hope, and stop using your God-given abilities.

Instead, Winston Churchill, who served then as First Lord of the Admiralty, used this experience as the schoolhouse to hone his understanding of leadership, determination, and, particularly, how to wage military campaigns effectively. "My one fatal mistake was trying to achieve a great enterprise without having the plenary authority which so easily could have carried it to success." When the call came for him to step forward and lead - more than 20 years later - he was ready. He took the reigns of the defense of the nation so he could press for decision when fear and indecision would typically gum the works of another form of leadership. "Every war decision must be forced to a clear-cut issue...the soldiers ordered to their deaths have a right to a plan as well as a cause."   Further, remarking upon the syle of leadership during the war, "Whatever course was decided upon, it was essential that we should now act decisively."  

This was the man, uniquely forged in the fire of experience, failure, examination, and perseverance, who could stand before the fearful and wavering little island nation, and urge, "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up."   He faced the mighty war machine of Adolph Hitler when all was stacked against him, and, by decisive leadership and resolute conviction, stared him down.

"We must learn from misfortune the means of future strength." 

For fun: "I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess I have always found it a wholesome diet."   

(Quotes from: Churchill on Leadership - Executive Success in the Face of Adversity; Stephen Hayward; FORUM; 1997)