Ken Burns and Lynn Novick created an epic 18-hour documentary on the Vietnam War that has been airing on PBS. What can be learned anew from our difficult past?
Hubris is fatal.
Marshall Goldsmith and Edgar Schein, giants in the field of coaching and leadership, have both said it – the need to win is the greatest flaw of leadership.
Four Presidents let the Vietnam War continue for no good reason. The need to win blinds you. The need to win – and its terrible first cousin the need to be right – is about ego and self, rather than the welfare and needs of others. The need to win is a drug that bulldozes over all else.
Winning is not leadership. Winning is not good management.
Group think kills.
Self-determination, your own voice, your gut feeling may save your life. The Bus to Abilene is a parable that is shared in military circles to remind service people to think for yourself – don’t blindly follow the group. Even if your leader or general says do this, think for yourself – don’t assume. Read more about the Abilene Paradox here.
The normalization of deviance is a crime.
Terrible thing after terrible thing occurred during the Vietnam War. Atrocities, racism at all levels, mistakes in leadership – and you see the effects of such exposure to the soldiers. Deviance became the new normal. The human mind acclimates, resets a new set point for shock in the ironic hopes of protecting us. What was horrible yesterday may no longer be so bad today.
Leaders, Managers, Future Leaders, Future Managers –
- Notice when your ego is in charge. Are you thinking about me or them?
- Ruthlessly protect your individuality and intelligence in spite of the group.
- Never relax when wrongness of all sizes appears.