OK, what has history got to do with leadership development?

Five things: Vision, Belief, Perspective, Certainty and Second hand experience.

Vision

Leaders have two kinds of vision:

  • A vision of their reality where they do nothing and,
  • A vision of their reality where they change it.

A study of history makes the first one more accurate and the second one more meaningful.

In physics if you wished to predict the trajectory of an object currently in flight you would wish to know:

  • Where the object came from and how fast it was moving (history).
  • Where the object is now and how fast it is moving (current affairs).

You would then take the two and calculate where the object will be in the future.

Human affairs are far more complex then simple physics but the principle is the same, to see the future you must have an understanding of both the past and the present.

Belief

By studying history you immerse yourself in the events that shaped the world and the people that were the catalysts for it. Great leaders often have an ‘anything is possible’ attitude, one that can be developed and strengthened by seeing beyond the mundane of everyday life. Each story about someone who overcame incredible odds to lead the people around him strengthens your resolve.

Perspective

So many things have happened in the course of human existence. So many lives lived, so much joy, so much sadness, so much glory and so much fear. When you start to get a handle on how others have lived you appreciate your own fortune that much more and are that less likely to lose control at someone because they spilled your coffee.

Certainty

Followers look to their leaders to be rocks during periods of uncertainty. Certainty can be gained from many sources and one of them is in knowing the history of your people and in a greater sense, the history of the human race. It can give you a place to stand, a feeling that ‘I have been put here for a purpose and I will not rest in pursuit of that purpose’.

Second hand experience

Every lesson learned from the mistakes or experience of the people of the past is one more lesson you won’t have to learn the hard and expensive way. Not being paralysed by the fear to fail is vital but knowing how to learn to reduce the chances of failure is just as important.

As your knowledge of our worlds past, and the people that lived in it, increases so you will be able to see the patterns around you everyday that illuminate both problem and opportunity.

One last thing. In my study of great leaders of the past one thing has almost always struck me. The fact that almost every great leader that the average person can name, all of them, were great students of history. They were probably on to a good thing :)

- James