Page 34 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be
realized; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the
British Empire has stood for . . . and I say, “come then, let us go forward
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together with our united strength.”
With that speech, which is brief by Churchillian standards, he rallied Par-
liament, which had not been favorably disposed toward him. As he closed, he,
along with the House, was in tears. This speech was also the beginning of the
metaphysical union between Churchill and the British people that would
endure throughout the war. As philosopher Isaiah Berlin essayed,
The Prime Minister was able to impose his imagination and his will upon
his countrymen . . . precisely because he appeared to them larger and
nobler than life and lifted them to an abnormal height in a moment of cri-
sis. [In doing so] it did turn a number of inhabitants of the British Isles out
of their normal selves [and capable of heroism]. 8
“FLYING VISITS”
One way in which Churchill maintained unity with his people was by meeting
and mingling with them. From his earliest days, he had had a love of action.
As prime minister, he took it upon himself to make frequent “flying visits” to
the front in North Africa or Europe, to America to press British interests with
the Roosevelt administration, and even to Moscow and Yalta to negotiate
Soviet support during the war and stem Soviet aggression in the postwar era.
Another kind of flying visit was to his own people. He visited the London
Docklands area, which was heavily bombed during the Blitz, and even risked
his own life when he stayed until nightfall and was caught in the middle of a
raid. Never lacking in courage, Churchill believed it was important that he
both see the damage firsthand and be seen as a leader who was one with his
people.

LEADERSHIP QUERY
One of the methods Churchill used to exert a measure of control, which also
helped him to come to grips with issues, was interrogation. Military analyst
Eliot Cohen writes that Churchill did not just ask a question and then forget it;
he followed up with “a relentless querying of their assumptions and arguments,
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not just once but in successive iterations of a debate.” While at times this drove
his generals and aides crazy, it did keep Churchill informed and his direct
reports on their toes. Churchill, unlike other wartime leaders, was both a for-
mer military officer and a historian. So while his questions may have irritated