I would rather allow a commander to come to his own conclusion than give an outright order that draws my same conclusion.
This thought sums up Dwight Eisenhower’s leadership style as commanding general of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II. As we mark the 70th anniversary of the end of that terrible conflict, Eisenhower’s management style echoes through the years and holds relevance today.
The Eisenhower portrayed throughout journalist and historian Rick Atkinson’s masterful Liberation Trilogy of the United States Army in Europe is one who begins in 1942 with a considerable amount of self-doubt, and with good reason. He had never commanded anything of any size and was not a combat veteran. His career was as an aide and planner, but as Atkinson points out repeatedly it was Eisenhower’s ability to get along with peers and superiors that marked him as a man worthy of command. Never was this more true than in 1944 Europe, where he was commander of such outsized egos as George Patton and Bernard Montgomery.
Eisenhower’s approach to command, as Atkinson demonstrates in Guns at Last Light (Volume 3), was to let his subordinates make decisions. In doing so they developed plans that were at Ike’s subtle suggestion so much so the commanders thought the ideas were their own. He was as humble a general as you would find and that’s why everyone got along with him. Furthermore, Ike knew his limitations and while he had a monumental temper he learned through the years to keep it in check.
Ike’s soft touch resonates for today’s senior leaders, especially those working with savvy and seasoned managers in fast changing, globally dependent environments. Such managers do well when they have the autonomy to run their own operations. Good CEOs give them, as one executive I know says, “enough rope to hang themselves.” It is the top leader who lets out the rope and at times tightens it but seldom allows it to snap dangerously.
There was a downside to Eisenhower’s soft leadership; at times he was not as explicit as he should have been, preferring as he did to let his commanders make their own calls. This approach, which we might call waffling, stemmed from Ike’s preference for deference to those he trusted. As a result the attack to free Antwerp in autumn 1944 was forestalled longer than it should in part to allow Montgomery to proceed with Operation Market Garden, an ill-fated attack behind German lines in Holland that was costly in Allied soldiers lives and did nothing to shorten the War.
That said, Ike was not one who shirk from giving orders. Once when Montgomery, ever the prima donna, was complaining in a memo about the weakness of command (a direct shot at Ike), Eisenhower waited a few days and then responded in no uncertain terms that if Monty was not happy he should take up his complaints with Churchill or Roosevelt. Monty got the point that should supreme command be his or Ike’s, he would be the loser. So Monty quit his bellyaching, at least momentarily.
Ike was also the general who pulled the trigger on the greatest decision of the Second World War the invasion of Normandy. So uncertain was Ike of the timing of that decision – as well as its probability of success -- that he drafted a note accepting total blame if the invasion were to fail. Fortunately for history that note is but a footnote, but nonetheless an insight into the true character of Eisenhower.
Decisiveness was an Eisenhower virtue but it was tempered by his willingness to work collaboratively with others in ways that enabled them to develop, plan and execute their missions with a sense of ownership and pride that comes with command. At the same time Ike knew that success only comes when people pull other. “Humility," as he told an audience in London's Guildhall in June 1945, "must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.”
Fortunately it worked well, and for that reason Eisenhower’s method of leadership is worthy of remembrance for its valor… as well as its application and practice for today.
