Leadership: Vision

[MorGrendel]

A leader must have his sights set for the future. Visions of the future come in many forms, whether it be administrative, financial, or diplomatic. However, for this example, I wish to curtail the theme to the battlefield only.

On the battlefield, your troops will look for answers and direction. They will wish for you to predict what the enemy will do. Often leaders state that they do not know, and to be ready for anything. This is unacceptable.

One must imagine the future, or else the timeline of the battle terminates before it even begins. Without a future, the now becomes pointless; why fight if there is no chance of success. Worse, a leader who does not dictate the future creates an environment of hopelessness and one without wanting. A fighter should always want to excel, else he becomes a weak link. His weakness is that he is unable to contemplate the results of his actions. Either he becomes the zealot, running off without a plan, leaving his compatriots to fend for themselves, or he becomes a coward afraid to act, incapable of taking chances, and paralyzed into inaction.

On this thought, a leader should not be afraid. Speak as though you know, you are the leader. You know what your troops can do, and they should trust in you even if you are wrong, for there is no way to know the future for sure, until it is the past.

Like anything else, vision on the battlefield also takes practice. One must remove his personal attachment from the battle, and envision it in almost a top-down view. Troop movements on both sides of the field are much like predicting the paths of water drops on a windshield. They will follow regular patterns, as if controlled by some force. Some travel straight down, while others may follow the same path, only to tear off into another direction. However, even the most chaotic a water drop is rarely a surprise. The battlefield should become as predictable.

A battlefield is nothing more than a predetermined number of scenarios that can possibly play out. Let us assume we name each of these scenarios a color, so your opponent in the way the line up to face you, could appear very red or very blue or somewhere very puplely in-between. An opposing force with any knowledge of battle, should know line itself up to appear as some thing else. So our enemy is a chameleon, able to appear yellow one minute, but set to morph to green at moment’s notice. Hence, our eyes deceive us. As a leader you must look beyond the spectrum, to learn to include colors that do not even exist. For they are there, I assure you. The key to discerning which are the only real possibilities lies not in trusting what you see with your eyes, but what you see with your mind.

Experience will guide you, but only trust the plan you can see with your eyes closed and your mind awake.

[Finn]

Moregrendel,

I read your words with awe and respect. Your battlefield prowess is difficult to match. A task I have taken on - one that only succeeds with knowledge of your skill.

Leadership in battle requires a seeing of what will come. An understanding of how fighters move - where they tend to go. With experience, this knowledge grows. Patterns, like those you describe of drops on a windshield, become evident. More then knowing, a leader begins to feel the flow of the battle - to think of what might happen takes far too long. Once a leader thinks of what might happen, he is already trampled below the feet the opponent. As such, a leader senses what will come next - as if he could feel the future.

A leaders ability to lead comes only in part from this ability to sense what will come. Many fighters, given time, can sense where a battle will turn. A great leader - leading fighters who can sense the flow of a battle will lead as a god! The fighters will perceive what will be commanded and will act as the command is given. A unit of such fighters will destroy all in their path. Galatia has achieved such greatness.

However, the leader is still needed, even in the midst of such knowing fighters. These fighters still look to the leader for direction. This leader not only knows the direction of the battle, but more importantly, this leader is able to communicate and speak what is needed to be done. This leader is able to speak what those magnificent fighters are able to perceive. This action gives them courage - this action gives them resolve.

It is important to understand that a leader will not always be correct. His action will, at times, falter. A good leader will learn from these times. A good leader will accept when the flow of the fight did not go as expected. A good leader will take responsibility for these actions and incorporate these actions into his realm of experience. This experience will lead to a new way of besting his foe. A new way of communicating his battle sense to his fighters.

This sensing, this communication, requires a confidence. An awareness not only of sight but also of limitations. A great leader will sense the future, communicate this to his troops, and accept when his senses are not advantageous. Given time, even this last stage, knowing when a battle is not turning as expected, can be recognized. This leader can begin to evolve and communicate as a battle progresses.

Yours in Service,
Finn O'Donovan

[ahrimen]

again you flatter us Finn. my thanks to you for it, however in all serious honesty and humility storvik (atleast your core of fighters) has become in my opinion our equals in melee. though your style is different than ours, your grasp of our techniques have given you an advantage. this however was our goal as it will now force us to adapt. and to highlight on your essay, its better for the whole unit to do the wrong thing together, than for 1/2 to do the right thing alone.

[MorGrendel]

Thank you Finn. As Ahrimen says, I think it takes one to know one.