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True Believers,Consensus Builders,and Odd Ducks
IT’S TEMPTING to make your best general the head of the combined forces—and it would be a big mistake. If George Patton had been the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during the Second World War, we wouldn’t have stopped at Berlin. If Montgomery had led the troops, we’d still be in France, trying to decide whether it’s safe to cross the Rhine.
Great field officers don’t make great strategic commanders. And great strategic commanders don’t make great field officers, either. In business, it’s known as the Peter Principle: The better someone is at a particular skill, the more likely it is that person will be promoted beyond his or her skill level.
Churchill and Roosevelt chose Dwight Eisenhower—a ...
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