Leadership on an English Beach

It was early morning in late summer. The location was somewhere on what we now know as the Dover coast of England. As the sun came over the eastern horizon, it showed the beach and cliffs behind it in soft light and dark shadows. A stiff breeze kept the temperature brisk and the surf crashing along the flat beach.

Somewhat off the beach, caught in the surf are a number of wooden ships, keels aground but caught in the waves and rocking with them. Behind those ships and further out is what appears to be a large fleet of similar ships. Crowding the decks of the ships are closely packed men dressed in armor and carrying shields, more than a few of them retching from sea sickness.

Spread along the beach facing them is a large mass of men yelling and shaking spears at the ships out in the water. They are a motley crew with a few mounted on horses, most of the rest on foot, but no small number of them riding chariots along the flat beach. Virtually naked, their faces and bodies are painted in a brilliant cobalt blue. Their hair, dressed with a thick mixture of sand and grease, stands straight out or up in what we might think as punk styles.

The year is 55 BC and the ships are carrying Julius Caesar and two of his Gallic Legions, the VIIth and the iconic Xth. This is the largest amphibious opposed landing in Europe before the D-Day landings some 2,000 years later. This Roman army is here to begin the conquest of the land they know as Brittania. We have an eyewitness account of this scene written by Caesar himself. And as he freely admits, there is a problem.

The ships that the Romans, freshly built by Caesar, are in do not have flat bottoms so they can come up on the beach. They have keels and have run aground some distance out from the beach in deep water. To get ashore, the legionnaires have to climb down netting into 6-8 feet of water and move through that water and surf to the beach. The men probably average 5 feet in height and are weighted down with around 60 pounds of armor as well as a bulky shield. As soon as they are in the water, they are at risk of being hit by a storm of arrows and spears from the Celtic tribesmen (ancestors of today’s Irish, Scots and Welshmen) on the beach. Already there drift half submerged bodies, smudging the water a bright red, of the first wave of Romans who have tried to move onto the beach.

On board one of the ships stands Julius Caesar, prominent in the bright red cape of a Roman general. His men have stopped going over the side into the water, despite the sticks of their centurions (Lieutenants). The centurions are not trying to get the men moving all that hard, as many of the bodies in the water are fellow centurions. All have watched with dismay, the death of those few who have already gone before. Those left have lost their courage and will not go forward into what seems certain death. All eyes are now on Caesar, who seems to be fresh out of ideas. It is truly a moment of crisis, with fate in the balance.

At that moment a centurion of the Xth Legion looks over to Caesar, makes eye contact with him and then jumps over the side of the ship carrying the eagle of the legion. Nothing happens for a minute as shock grips the men watching. The eagle of the legion, made of silver and life size, was the totem and spiritual heart of the legion. Always put in the safest place on the field of battle possible, to lose the eagle was to lose honor and live in humiliation. After a moment everyone begins going over the side in a surge of men that carries the day and brings the Romans to victory on the beach.

Julius Caesar was in a position that almost every manager can empathize with. You are in a tight situation with no obvious way to get out of it. Not only that, but it is clearly your screw up that put your people in that position, and everybody knows it. To get out of this mess is going to require that some of your people, but not the manager himself, take the pain of fixing the problem, i.e. lots of OT and weekend work, angry confrontations with customers, months on a bitter construction site, etc. What do you do?

The answer that we all hope for is a volunteer that steps forward, looks around at the others and says, “Follow me”. Julius Caesar got the answer he needed on that summer morning. The Roman Senate had given him the command, but he needed his people to go above and beyond the ordinary to make him the victor on that summer morning so long ago.

As managers in today’s world of business and of projects, how do we get our people to rescue us from our mistakes? We are given our position as managers by the Company. But we will be a success because our people follow us with enthusiasm and willingness to do what it takes, including bailing us out when we get them in a tight spot.