Robert E. Lee on Leadership : Executive Lessons in Character, Courage, and Vision Prima. 256 pages. $14.95.
See my book review.
~Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Character, Courage and Vision~ is in the words of former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, "A splendid and inspiring book." The author H.W. Crocker III sketches an extraordinary little book profiling the extraordinary character and courage of the South's esteemed General Robert E. Lee. This timely piece chronicles the man Robert E. Lee, his spiritual convictions and extraordinary character forged amidst great hardship. The Lee family may have had aristocratic roots, but Lee embraced the esteem of the family name with humbleness instead of pomp and splendor. The great Confederate general is renowned by southroners, Union sympathizers, and Europeans alike. The esteemed Lord Acton sought dialogue with Lee after the war. President Theodore Roosevelt said affectionately that Lee was "the very greatest of all the great captains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth." British Prime Minister Winston Churchill observed, "His noble presence and gentle, kindly manner were sustained by religious faith and an exalted character."
Lee was an astute student, and excelled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served with honor as scout and engineer in the U.S.-Mexican War making a reputation for himself. He developed a little business acumen trying to manage his plantation at Arlington. Lee was great because he was unassuming and was a gentleman of Christian piety. He learned from his mistakes-and yes he made mistakes. Lee was a brilliant strategist and considering the lowly status of his underdog army, he defied the odds. Lee in humility credited providence for his successes. Lee was also great because he surrounded himself by great men, as Crocker highlights in the chapter entitled Lee's Lieutenants. Both Stonewall Jackson and cavalry leader Jeb Stuart were bold, daring, and ultimately gave their life to the cause they fought alongside General Lee for.
Just as his father General Lighthorse Harry Lee before him, Lee pledged his life and sacred fortune for the cause of his country. As a patriot, Lee simply could not conceptualize a patriotism that didn't put God and Family first. In 1861, as Lee was summoned by the Lincoln administration with a prestigious offer to command a Union Army, his conscience dictated his forthright refusal of such an offer. To trample on home and hearth in the name of an abstraction like the "Union" was beyond Lee's comprehension. He refused to lead an army to invade the southron states. The Union after all was formed for the security of the several States and the people therein, not to wage war on her people. The proposition established in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, which posited "rule by consent of the governed" plainly goes against the idea of tethering the Union back together by force. With the eventual secession of his home state and its accession to the Confederate States, Lee led his sword in defense of his beloved Commonwealth of Virginia. The cost borne by Lee to stand by the courage of his convictions was enormous. Being a northern Virginian he soon lost his much-loved estate straddling the Potomac yet he boldly named his army, the Army of Northern Virginia because that was the ground he defiantly intended to hold. Always daring, Lee would eventually take war to the north in Pennsylvania.
Commendation is to be given to H.W. Crocker Jr. for profiling the late Robert Edward Lee and garnering lessons on leadership from this extraordinary leader. The great value of the text is it's readibility and Crocker possesses a unique dynamism as a storyteller which adds lustre to it. Lee was neither a politician nor a statesman, but he is an admirable exemplar of what true leadership is. In sum, there are a great deal of life lessons to be learned from the wily Grey Fox.
"...a union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my country and for the welfare of mankind. If the union is dissolved and the government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people, and save in defence, will draw my sword on none."
--Robert E. Lee
(we need a rolleyes smilie)
