The Leaders

History books are the best management books and the lives of great kings and conquerors are the best leadership stories. Those personalities in the history may be bad guys in one perspective or the other, but the history books will have only empty pages if we go on removing their names based on our perception of good or bad.

Here is a man often referred by modern management gurus. He is Hernando Cortes, a Spanish conquistador of 16th century who brought Mexico under Spanish control and began the Spanish colonization in the Americas. When he reached the American shores, he had a limited number of soldiers with him and already rebelled his superiors who did not match his aggressiveness. He understood that it was going to be a uphill task as they had to fight not only the Aztec tribes but also the challenges posed by the dense forests. He also realized that the soldiers could lose confidence at any time and withdraw from the battle. And Hernando did not wish to compromise with anything other than victory. Guess what he did. Once all the soldiers alighted from the boats, he ordered immediately, "Burn the boats"!

No wonder that Sun Tsu's "Art of War" is the best management book ever written!