Study On Churchill The Leader

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

By:

Arend Bockrand

OLS 390 31724

Prof. Dr. Julie Little-Wiles

04/20/2013

In the history of the twentieth century there are possibly only a handful of leaders that could stand out more than Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. Born in 1874 to an aristocratic family, he lived one of the longest most exceptional lives of any person from that era until the time of his death in 1965. As a former British Prime Minister, Churchill is perhaps best known for being such a prominent figure of the allied powers during Second World War. Throughout his life Churchill was able to effectively use the situations he found himself in to inspire and motivate his followers. His copious amounts of energy and charismatic character helped define his own personal style of leadership. This paper will demonstrate some of the philosophies, theories, traits, and leadership styles that Sir Winston Churchill effectively utilized throughout key stages of his lifetime.

In order to acknowledge Churchill as a leader, it is important to understand his upbringing. As a child Churchill had a very distant relationship with his socialite parents, but still genuinely loved and respected them. In place of his parents, Churchill was primarily cared for and raised by his nanny, Mrs. Elizabeth Everest. It was through her nurturing that Churchill was later quoted as saying that she acted as his confidant, nurse, and mother substitute (Hardy, 2011). As a boy Churchill was naturally independent and gained a reputation for being a troublemaker. He consistently received poor marks in school, and expressed nervousness and fear about not living up to his family’s name given his father’s determination and prowess in politics. It is argued that during this time that some of Mrs. Everest’s own personality traits rubbed off and instilled a drive to love and serve others in Churchill’s still impressionable mind.

As a young adult Churchill came to his senses and began to realize that in order to follow in the footsteps of his parents and hold an established place in society, a superior education was needed. He had a growing interest in military strategy and in turn enlisted in the cavalry of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. The academy specialized in training aspiring officers on topics like tactics, fortification, topography, military law, and military administration. The now highly motivated Churchill promptly graduated with honors as the 8th in a class of 150. His impressive showing of the initiative to excel surprised almost everyone around him. After completing his training Churchill was then subsequently commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Hussars where he would begin his impressive career in the military.

During his time as a soldier, Churchill was inspired by the high society lifestyle and began to hone his communication skills by documenting his experiences in various battles throughout several countries. He then began to sell his work to several newspaper companies in London, and it wasn’t long until his accounts of war began to bring in substantially more income and usher in some very influential friendships. Through his writing Churchill demonstrated an enthusiasm for language and by the time he would leave the military would have already published several essays and a book. The ability for him to properly utilize language would later play a significant part in how Churchill directed and inspired others. Overall, Churchill’s time in military service could hardly have been spent any better. He was always volunteering to serve on various fronts and in doing so displayed great physical courage to persevere in several overwhelming circumstances. It is also worth noting that during this time in his life that Churchill met his wife and began a lifelong romance and, in time, fathered five children.

Soon after leaving the military after only 5 years of service, Churchill ran for parliament but lost. Despite his failure he continued to believe in himself and instead became a war correspondent for the second Boer War in South Africa. Approximately two weeks after arriving, Churchill’s train was overrun by the rebels and he was captured. During the incident witnesses observed Churchill use his battle experience and resourcefulness to rally the soldiers and keep them calm and on task during the chaos. His heroic actions allowed the train to escape while he elected to stay behind. After being transported to a nearby prison camp he made headlines around the world by escaping after less than a month of captivity. A short time later Churchill returned to England as a national hero.

Capitalizing on his new fame Churchill stood for parliament once more, this time succeeding. His political career started at the age of 25 by being elected as Conservative Member of Parliament from Oldham in 1900. It was during this term when Churchill first became a supporter of social reform and began to really assert himself as an independent thinker and visionary. His choice of the conservative political party was most likely influenced heavily by his father’s conventional views because within just a few years he began to stand against the key members and chose instead to join the rising liberal party in 1904. In a new position, he demonstrated his incredible work ethic and demanded the same from those around him (Chamberlain 2007). It wasn’t long before Churchill began building a new reputation as a fighter for the people and began influencing major English affairs.

The next decade generally saw Churchill and his fellow liberal party peers dominate England’s government. Churchill himself went on to hold several influencing positions where he demonstrated strong servant and transformational leadership qualities. His commitment to social reform helped initiate acts to bring about unemployment benefits, establish a minimum wage, create labor exchanges for the unemployed, and through a series of controversial events, better working conditions for miners just to name a few (Wikipedia 2013). By focusing on the good of his followers he encouraged people to work hard and excel in their current positions. To further boost morale and confidence Churchill remained very visible to his followers often impressing them by appearing in varied public venues. Here was a man who could seemingly see the big picture of bettering England but could also easily communicate it through the use of common, straightforward, honest, achievable goals.

In 1911 Churchill took up the position of the First Lord of the Admiralty exercising command over the British Navy through to the advent of World War I in 1914. Originally tasked with the development of the tank, Churchill promptly opposed any involvement of the British in the rest of Europe. Despite his best efforts to keep Britain out of the war, the country ultimately committed to defend Belgium in order to prevent a German invasion of the already fighting France. With little support from his political colleagues and Russia insisting assistance in attacking Turkey, Churchill attempted to engineer a plan to help take the pressure off the French battlefields. Unfortunately, his method turned out to be a disastrous failure that impacted Churchill’s political influence greatly and would haunt him the rest of his life.

In the aftermath of Churchill’s worst mistake to date he decided to step down from his position and instead decided to serve his country in a way more suited to his experiences. By choosing to lead the 6th battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers in the battle trenches of France he displayed a strong moral courage to "do the right thing". During his time back in the military Churchill led by example and embraced a very sociable, open, hands-on transactional style of leadership. He focused on seeing the positive of being in a war time situation and it paid off with his men loving and admiring him. After several months in the trenches Churchill ultimately returned home to more effectively lead war time efforts with his first-hand experience.

After the war ended in 1918 Churchill continued to serve on as Secretary of State for War and Air. It wasn’t until the general election 4 years later that he lost his parliament seat due to an illness during the campaign. However, in a surprising twist, Churchill re-established his seat in the 1924 election but this time once again as a member of the conservative party. Widely regarded as his worst period in office, Churchill’s decisions in the next half decade ultimately led to deflation, mass unemployment, and the rise of the labor party (Wikipedia 2013). Discouraged, but still confident in his abilities Churchill left office in 1929 to focus on his writings, travels, and lectures.

As Adolf Hitler rose in power in 1933, Churchill began a campaign to return from exile raising awareness over the dangers of German rearmament and the growing communist threat. By 1938 Churchill had firmly taken a strong stance against the current Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policies of appeasement to the Nazis (2013 Biography.com). During his talks Churchill foresaw a need to address increasing commitments to rebuild the Royal Air Force, create a ministry of defense, and pushed for a renewed role for the League of Nations. His honest, direct, forthcoming, and consistent approach was largely met with much speculation until Germany actually did invade Poland in 1939. Immediately Churchill was appointed back to Lord of the Admiralty and instantly wanted to take action but was held back again by the man he had been warning the entire time, the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

A short time thereafter a panel judged Chamberlain as incapable of leading Britain in a time of crisis, and forced him to step down. Churchill then realized the situation’s potential stepped up to earn his most illustrious title yet, Prime Minister. It was now, after nearly 40 years of service to his country that his ability to inspire and lead a nation really shined. Through his speeches Churchill effectively used body language to encourage not only British leaders but citizens as well. By channeling his determination over the next five years Churchill built a level of trustworthiness with his followers further strengthening the nation’s will to succeed through encouragement and praise. By always being truthful, open, visible, and competent he was able to retain the confidence of his followers. Ultimately Churchill acted as an agent of hope for the English people when his country was in dire need of direction.

As Prime Minister, Churchill also demonstrated amazing awareness of the threats England faced. By listening to his party members, fellow allies, and axis intentions Churchill was empathetic to their opinions and concerns all the while building a level of trust and respect. Utilizing his strong communication skills Churchill furthered his influence on others by making official orders in writing. In the few short years in charge Churchill produced an extravagant amount of memos, reports, and directives including over 1,300 telegrams to the U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Perhaps most importantly of all Churchill fully committed himself early to the concept of a clear goal of "Victory at all costs" helping pave the way for the allies’ victory in 1945.

Despite his overwhelming popularity from the British population during World War II Churchill was defeated in the election of 1945 in favor of someone more capable of post war reform. So, for the next 6 years he served as Leader of the Opposition. During this time he lectured on not only British affairs but on the Iron Curtain and the threat of the looming Cold War. In 1951, with tensions rising, Churchill was again elected Prime Minister and served for 4 more years until he was 80 years old and freely resigned. He spent his last 10 years still writing and sitting in on parliamentary debates until ultimately several medical problems impeded his abilities and he passed away in 1965.

In the end, Churchill proved he was more than just a soldier, writer, politician, and statesman; he was the voice of a nation. His life was a non-stop rollercoaster of constant action, controversy, setback, and achievement. Churchill made himself stand out by demonstrating strong values, determination, cooperation, and exemplary communication skills. His vision established many social and economic reforms, predicted major European power shifts, and helped charge England through two separate World Wars.

Churchill dedicated his life to the growth of the people he influenced, always possessing the desire to improve and seek perfection. Even late in his life he still approached matters with the same urgency, energy, and vigor that he possessed at the very start of his career. Churchill inspired the British population with the confidence and trust that he had their best interests in mind, and to this day Churchill’s legacy can be seen all around us in ideas, words and the media (Chamberlain, 2007).