Creative Execution: What Great Leaders Do to Unleash Bold Thinking and Innovation

Final Tally

Alexander returned to Babylon in the winter of 324 BC, seven years after his victory at Gaugamela. These years were marred by brutal clashes in Afghanistan and India, where his army finally told Alexander that they would go no further. He made a number of unpopular decisions, marrying the ex-wife of a Persian commander, adopting Eastern fashion, and attempting to blend Persian troops into his own. As James Romm writes, Alexander’s integration of Persians into his Macedonian army “offended both the pride and the prejudices of his countrymen.” While the Macedonians had “accepted, grudgingly, his use of Persians as high officials, his adoptions of Persian dress and court rituals, even the marriages of the king and his top staff to Asian ...