The Need for Organisational Resilience Chapter 5
of his own ideas. Success comes most readily to the commander whose ideas have not been
canalised into any one fixed channel, but can develop freely from the conditions around him.
d) The commander must have contact with his men. He must be capable of feeling and thinking
with them. The soldier must have confidence in him. There is one cardinal principle which
must always be remembered: one mist never make a show of false emotions to one’s men.
The ordinary soldier has a surprisingly good nose for what is true and what false. (Liddell Hart
1953, 226)
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The French relied very much on their generalship to direct, and their staff to ‘obediently’
support the decision making. Whereas on the German side, conflict in options were
encouraged and at times fiercely contested, Allied leadership is defined by rank and status.
Hence, administrative capabilities were reinforced, with often little or no mindful intervention
by members of staff.
Commitment. The degree of commitment to confront a life and death situation was
exceptional. As much as ideology plays a role, it was one of leadership on both sides; a
deep-seated feeling to the immediate commander in charge. In case of the battle for Stonne,
the Germans and their French foe knew about the importance of losing this battle, and
attacks followed counterattacks, until the French were simply exhausted in men and
material. In a true Clausewitz’s manner, purposeful boldness was shown that did not require
obedience, but a true loyalty in purpose and immediate leadership.
[Text Box starts] Von Clausewitz: Boldness
The higher the rank the more necessary it is that boldness should be accompanied by a reflective
mind, that it may not be a mere blind outburst of passion to no purpose; for with increase of rank it
becomes always less a matter of self-sacrifice and more a matter of the preservation of others, and
the good of the whole. Where regulations of the service, as a kind of second nature, prescribe for the
masses, reflection must be the guide of the General, and in his case individual boldness in action may
easily become a fault. Still, at the same time, it is a fine failing, and must not be looked at in the same
light as any other. Happy the Army in which an untimely boldness frequently manifests itself; it is a
exuberant growth which shows a rich soil. Even foolhardiness, that is boldness without an object, is
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