Good leadership is, as the newsletter implies, timeless and timely. Historically we’ve routinely seen good leaders in military settings. These three stories all have a military thread.
1) The Inimitable Nimitz
Recently, the name of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz came back to me. His name is known to anyone who has a passing familiarity with the U.S. Navy; an entire class of ships is named after him.
Nimitz was a fleet admiral for the U.S. Navy and served as the commander of the Pacific fleet during World War II. As a young officer, he once ran his ship aground in the Philippines. This could have been a career-ending mistake, but instead, it became a defining moment.
Nimitz took full responsibility for the incident, demonstrating his integrity and leadership potential. His superiors recognized these qualities and gave him a second chance, which ultimately allowed him to rise through the ranks and become one of the most celebrated naval leaders in U.S. history.
Naval leaders receive their training at the U.S. Naval Academy, which houses the Nimitz Library. Earlier this month, the library removed nearly 400 books to adhere to Executive Order 14190.
Leaders removed books on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism, and even Maya Angelou’s memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Books that remain:
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The Camp of the Saints, a novel that envisions a takeover of the Western world by immigrants from developing countries
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The Bell Curve, which argues that Black men and women are genetically less intelligent than white people. But a critique of the book was pulled.
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Two copies of Mein Kampf.
And just last week, Ryan Holiday, a high-profile speaker on Stoicism and wisdom, had his planned speech at the Naval Academy canceled because he wouldn’t agree to not mention the book ban. He thought it was essential to make the point that “the pursuit of wisdom is impossible without engaging with (and challenging) uncomfortable ideas.”
The leaders at the Naval Academy could have used that lecture. So much for integrity.
2) The Fault Is Mine Alone
Looking back now, we marvel at the accomplishment of D-Day and of the bravery of the men who fought and were wounded or killed there.
But on June 5, it was far from certain. General Dwight Eisenhower prepared a note (which he misprinted as July 5) in the event of a catastrophic loss that day:
