We live in a time where becoming successful seems to be a bit easier than remaining successful. For example, consider the following examples.
Companies that make it to the S&P 500 do not remain there for as long as they used to. Think of Circuit City.
During the start of the 2017-2018 football season, the name of Carson Wentz, quarterback for the Eagles, was everywhere in Philadelphia. But his name became irrelevant rather quickly after he was injured and replaced by Nick Foles who led the team to a Super Bowl win.
Macaulay Culkin, the young actor from the Home Alone movies, was once very well-known but is now rather invisible.
But then there are others whose names live far beyond the time when they became most well-known, what I call legacy names. Think of C.S. Lewis, Warren Buffet, or, specifically, Winston Churchill. Known as the Prime Minister of England and a leader who refused to cower to Hitler during World War II, Winston Churchill’s name still carries credibility even though he has been gone for 60 years. People are still telling his story through best-selling books, highly viewed movies like Darkest Hour, and the recent docuseries on Netflix called Churchill at War. When I see a legacy name, I usually find that there is a lot to learn about them and from them. Here are six leadership lessons from the legacy of Winston Churchill.
1. Every leader is an S-curve leader, not a J-curve leader.
A J-curve leader experiences continuous success, with no failures or setbacks. But we all know from real life experience that leadership doesn’t work like that. We are S-curve leaders with ups and downs, not a straight line of success. This includes legacy leaders like Winston Churchill. Some of his decisions were successful, others were not. He had plenty of bumps, stressors, enemies, and obstacles to work through. And he made statements and decisions that some may question 60 years later. Most of us as leaders will be forgotten more quickly than we realize. But every one of us, even the most successful, will also have blemishes, mistakes, and other imperfections. Churchill was demanding, moody, known to drink a bit too much, and let’s just say, quirky. But God used him to lead Europe through one of the darkest times in modern history.
2. A leader seldom has unanimous support.
While Churchill had strong support from most people during his leadership through WWII, not everyone was a fan. He had his critics, and some of them were vocal. And even with his popularity and success from leading England through WWII, he was voted out soon after the war ended. We often think of such leaders as only having raving fans, but most leaders, especially those leading through times of crisis and change, seldom have unanimous support. To think you should have unanimous support is to set yourself up for great disappointment. Feeling the sting of not having unanimous support is human, but we should not allow that to shape our decisions and behaviors. Even Churchill was not right about everything.
3. Legacy leaders are often surrounded by at least a few exceptional people, even though they are seldom well-known.
If you were to ask someone to name the most well-known people from the Bible, Moses would likely be on the list. Yes, he led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. But he had valuable help from people like Aaron (his brother) and Hur and received wise guidance from people like his father-in-law. Similarly, Winston Churchill picked a team of aides that helped him succeed as a leader. He had Brendon Bracken, who helped get him elected and remained one of his closest confidants, and Max Beaverbrook, a wealthy and successful businessman whom Churchill put over aircraft production. (Interesting note – Max Beaverbrook had no experience in such role yet doubled production in a few months!) Churchill said, “One always measures friendships by how they show up in bad weather.” A leader needs a few wise friends and advisors in every season but especially during the storms.
4. Some leaders are exceptional but only for a particular season.
You have likely heard the phrase, “For such a time as this.” Although Winston Churchill lived for 90 years, he really is known almost exclusively for the six years he served as Prime Minister (1940-1945). For his courage against Hitler. For his inspiration to the people of England during horrific bombings. And for his political savviness in dealing with The U.S. and other countries. While he served in Parliament and the British military and was even PM one more time in the early 1950s, it was the six years of leading England through WWII that made him a legacy leader. Every successful leader and career has a life cycle. Some last for decades, and others for a shorter window of time. This does not mean we cannot still have influence and impact later on, but our impact may not be as visible or high profile as it was at the peak of our success.
5. Leaders need to have resiliency and tough skin.
Talk with a leader from any organization – a business, social service agency, church, or school – and you will hear stories of not only excitement, vision, and joy but also of being verbally attacked, critiqued, and second-guessed. Churchill was nick-named the British Bulldog for a few reasons, and it wasn’t because he owned one. (He had a Poodle named Rufus!) First, it was because his looks resembled a bulldog, and second, because of the force of his personality and fortitude. Additionally, Lord Halifax, a peer politician of Churchill, referred to him as a “rogue elephant!”! Churchill felt things deeply including disloyalty and personal attacks. But to lead a country through bombings and continued threats of invasion, he also needed to have skin as thick as an elephant and not allow himself to be ruled solely by his emotions of the moment.
6. Leaders experience hardship in their personal lives just like everyone else.
Leaders are broken people, just like the rest of us. They may have marital troubles, kids who are not doing well emotionally or physically, financial pressure, or private temptations that could be embarrassing. For example, Churchill lost a daughter at a very young age, and his son, Randolph, cheated on his wife, had serious struggles with alcohol and gambling, could not control his temper and his tongue, and was frequently in debt. We often forget that behind the public life of most leaders are some hardships and sufferings that are being shouldered. Life often has a few very hard seasons. Good leaders feel it but do not acquiesce to it. They keep going.
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Jay Desko is the President & CEO of The Center Consulting Group and brings experience in the areas of organizational assessment, leadership coaching, decision-making, and strategic questioning. Jay’s degrees include an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Design from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute.
