I've been trying to improve my knowledge and understanding of the Civil War period. As someone not born in the USA, I never learned much about American history in school and I hate feeling ignorant about the background to the country I live in.
In the early and middle stages of the war, nearly everything went the Confederate way. They won most of their battles and the Union side was usually beaten fairly soundly. Then things changed and the Union side began to win, despite the best efforts of their Confederate opponents.
What changed?
The answers, I think, point to a more general truth that could help many of us today.
The Union generals who lost tended to stick to doing things by the book. They weren't very flexible, whereas Robert E. Lee for the South was always ready to adapt to the reality he met on the ground.
Next, Lee was famously audacious. He didn't take risks for the sake of it, but he knew the North outmatched him in men, weapons and supplies, so he used the only advantage he had -- the willingness to go well outside the accepted military ideas of the time and take whatever risks he thought would pay off.
Flexible, audacious, willing to take calculated risks. That characterized the Southern forces under Lee. It wasn't until Ulysses S. Grant came along -- ready to take the same approach for the Union forces -- that the North's huge material advantages began to be used to the full.
But there was another element that helped make the earlier Union generals so prone to defeat. Lack of moral courage. The courage to go ahead and back their judgment, even if things looked bleak for the moment.
After the battle of Chancellorsville, where Lee nearly destroyed his army, Union General Hooker summed it up neatly. "I lost confidence in Joe Hooker," he said.
All around us we see people playing safe, sticking to the accepted wisdom and failing in the moral courage needed to think for themselves and back their own judgment. The results include all kinds of ethical fudges, debatable actions and timidity in the face of life's opportunities.
Audacity, flexibility and moral courage. Shouldn't we demand nothing less of our leaders -- and shouldn't we be content with nothing less from ourselves?
Adrian W. Savage writes for people who want help with the daily dilemmas they face at work. He has contributed more than 25 articles to leading British and American publications and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Chicago Tribune.
Through his web site, http://www.thevirtualmentor.net, Adrian publishes "E-Mentor", a monthly e-zine for people interested in using ethical approaches to make their working lives happier and more effective.
You can find his blog on ethics, diversity and living life to the full at http://www.adriansavage.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
