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Obey the Laws of Leadership |
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There are six situations that cause an army to fail. They are: flight, insubordination, fall, collapse, disorganization, and rout. None of these disasters can be attributed to natural and geographical causes, but to the fault of the general. |
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Terrain conditions being equal, if a force attacks one ten times its size, the result is flight. |
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When the soldiers are strong and officers weak, the army is insubordinate. |
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When the officers are valiant and the soldiers ineffective, the army will fall. |
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When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on encountering the enemy rush to battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment and the commander-in-chief is ignorant of their abilities, the result is collapse. |
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When the general is incompetent and has little authority, when his troops are mismanaged, when the relationship between the officers and men is strained, and when the troop formations are slovenly, the result is disorganization. |
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When a general unable to estimate the enemy's strength uses a small force to engage a larger one or weak troops to strike the strong, or fails to select shock troops for the van, the result is riot. |
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When any of these six situations exists, the army is on the road to defeat. It is the highest responsibility of the general that he examine them carefully. |
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If a general regards his men as infants, then they will march with him into the deepest valleys. He treats them as his own beloved sons and they will stand by him unto death. If, however, a general is indulgent towards his men but cannot employ them, cherishes them but cannot command them or inflict punishment on them when they violate the regulations, then they may be compared to spoiled children, and are useless for any practical purpose. |
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