Winston Churchills War Leadership - Essay Example

Do you agree that Churchill's strengths as an intelligence consumer far outweighed his weaknesses? Introduction Military war intelligence is a regulation that uses information and examines different strategies to guide, and direct military commanders who support the decision made by their leaders (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). This intelligence is achieved by examining information from different sources within the government. The information is then directed to the chief commanders’ requests or questions (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). Churchill opted for a comprehensive role in intelligence during his regime. He was even described as an ideal intelligent consumer during this time. Therefore, this essay argues that Churchill’s strengths as an intelligence consumer far outweighed his weaknesses. Having worked as the first leader in Britain, Churchill took part in the development of British intelligent system between 1918 and 1921. Churchill admired intelligence at an early age because at the age of twenty, he appreciated the intelligence he used when the guerrillas from Cuba fought the Spanish. He also worked for the British imperial army at the in the forces in South Africa and Sudan. As an intelligent consumer, Churchill was enthusiastic, had individual confidence, assertive, had a lot of emotional firmness, he was friendly and very honest (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). Therefore, it is the information from intelligent reports that guided his victory. It is important to note that Larders who use consumer intelligences are in a position to understand and control their emotions, and for individuals who work with them. There are traits that can be used to describe effective leaders like Churchill. He can be said to have enthusiasm, individual confidence, assertiveness, sociability, sense of wit, emotional firmness, friendliness, high acceptance to obstruction and honesty (Dubrin et al, 2006, p.67). Therefore using these traits he was in a position to work with different professional advisors. He was responsible for several posts during his career, and he was the consummate of all public servants (Best, 2005, p. 45). He took part in the civil war at Cuba, Egypt, India, and Sudan, which was the major influence of the First World War (Best, 2005, p. 45). His experience of survival behind enemy lines added to his repertoire of expertise this motivated his passion of intelligence and how he believed the use of intelligences was military operations. However, Churchill also made several mistakes despite having intelligence (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). He was also able to learn from his own mistakes this gave him an experience that no any other leader ever had (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). Therefore, as an intelligent consumer he also made mistakes but was ready to learn from his own mistakes. Military intelligences turned Churchill into a thriller seeker, which he obtained from several secrets that others did not have (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). He was an individual with the ability to inspire individuals. He was an effective leader and political leader because of his marvelous ability to encourage individuals. He was also of exclusive strategic awareness and had been of great desire, as well as had calm personality (Gilbert, 2004, p. 67). He was always in a position to inspire people despite had circumstances they experienced. However, he kept on changing his strategies, and this affected those professional advices who worked with him (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). Therefore, he had his own ways of determining thrills to motivate his tropes. Churchill paid a lot of attention to intelligence as an intelligent consumer and appreciated its importance in order to win any war (Longstaffe, 2005, p. 80-3). He also kept on attempting to improve his intelligences to make his soldiers win the war (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). It is reported that when he was made the Prime minister he kept requesting for intelligence reports (Bass and Riggio, 2006, p. 33). He was much interested in raw untouched information. For instance, all the information sent to him became too much, and he requested that all important information be sent to Menzies asking for most important information for storage (Bass and Riggio, 2006, p. 33).The information was only to be opened by the prime minister. He assumed this was the best way he could counter the enemy (Bass and Riggio, 2006, p. 33). This was challenging because matters of enemies cannot be handled but one individual. He needed help from other members of military when planning for wars. Churchill’s consumer intelligence was a result of continuously demonstrated interest, purpose, and confidence (Best, 2005, p. 77). His influence was felt directly in Whitehall administration departments, which was controlled by the Neville Chamberlain persisted to function at the same rate as in reconciliation awoke to the realism of war (Gilbert, 2004, p. 67). Competence inspiration especially on his subjects during the Second World War did not permit a pessimistic attitude, or he did not allow conversation with Hitler who influenced the expansion of Second World War (Longstaffe, 2005, p. 80-3). He was even categorized as a man of the British people through his inspiring speeches that motivated his citizens. He used this ability to make people not give up specially during the time of crisis (Gilbert, 2004, p. 78). Therefore, Churchill’s individual antagonism motivated his war influence and motivated his leadership in the war. As an intelligent consumer, he was in a position to provide several mediums of wars to the British citizens (Longstaffe, 2005, p. 80-3). This strengthened their resolution through passionate inspiration and honor to citizens (Best, 2005, p. 67). However, his excitement and eagerness proved him to be slightly over obsessed affecting him and becoming a weakness in his role as an intelligent leader (Lewin 2008, p. 183). At times, he was over suspicious and at times he was an alarmist in case the enemy appeared. He had spies all over England which was not a role of an intelligent consumer, but the work of an intelligent advisor. At this point, he had overstepped his role as an intelligent consumer (Lewin 2008, p. 183). Therefore, a good intelligence consumer should observe the boundaries between consumer and advisor and leave the most qualified advices do their jobs. Asking for all the messages from ENIGMA was not the responsibility of Prime Minister, and he needed somebody to help him understand the messages (Lewin 2008, p. 183). In this case, Churchill was very wrong because he made very wrong decisions because of power of finding out most interesting information and making use of information to win the wars (Lewin 2008, p. 183). An example of this happened when he got obsessed with intelligence reports that contributed to erroneous information which changed his attitudes to Germany during the 1991 Agadir problems. Therefore, Churchill was so obsessed with intelligent reports that contributed to his poor decision making process. Churchill’s judgment was impaired by his daring trait which has been described as having perilous characteristics for any intelligent consumer (Langworth, 2008, p. 45). This is a weakness in his role as an intelligent consumer. He was very concerned with intelligence and made decisions based on reports he did not understand because of his excitement. His believe in intelligent was his strength in his role as an intelligent consumer (Langworth, 2008, p. 45). Therefore, he used his effective skills to interact with his advisors, just as expected of an intelligent consumer. Churchill’s strength of mind and desire helped link his dream and motivate the people he ruled. Turner (2003, p.115) states that an intelligent consumer understands that he always needed help and to take opinions from others by working and cooperating with them. This is important because he learned to share ideas and not use his own opinions to make decisions, and not considering other advices from other advisors (Lewin 2008, p. 183). Churchill as an intelligent consumer knew that he needed the help of others, so he looked for advisors to assist him in decision-making. He also understood that he needed to take advice from others so as to identify people of methodical judgment (Lewin 2008, p. 183). Therefore, he identified those individuals he listened to and took the advice. Unlike other leaders during that time, Churchill believed that he could not overcome his problems without professionals. He was even ready to increase the amount of assistance he obtained from advisors. Churchill had a calm personality, and this highly influenced people by projecting attraction and intelligence, and instigated people to incline towards his opinions (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). He even described himself as the best person because he gave himself the name “luminosity worm of all other worms” (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). He was in a position to uphold self-assurance in even the greatest stressful periods (Keegan, 2008, p.44). His personality was a mixture of different facts that shaped his humorous appeal. Therefore, Churchill had an independent thought and sometimes he rejected views from his counselors, and he assumed that nobody could interfere with him (Keegan, 2008, p.44). As an intelligent consumer, Churchill demanded a lot from his advisors and he did not avoid arguing with them. For instance, in a cabinet meeting held in 1940 Dowding resisted Churchill’s judgment that not more hurricane fighters should be taken to France was accepted by Churchill (Lewin 2008, p. 183). Despite listening to his advisors, Churchill did not allow them to monopolies him, and he also allowed them to present their views, from time to time (Lewin 2008, p. 183). Churchill took their opinions into account though sometimes he refused to listen to them and refused to use their help (Lewin 2008, p. 183). Therefore, Churchill used his independent mind to make a decision concerning his people. An intelligent consumer knows that he has to listen to his advisors for assistance. Churchill understood that he needed help from his advisors when humankind decisions (Lewin 2008, p. 183). However, Churchill sometimes violated the advice made by professional advisors on issues such as military operations even if the professional advisors were more qualified than him. He was even described by Desmond the head of the department of the committee of impartial defense as a politician who wanted to be a soldier. Therefore, he was missing his activities as a soldier he experienced while in the British army. This actually affected his roles as an intelligent consumer because he wanted to win all activities of intelligence to himself and implement all techniques based on his knowledge. Churchill had different character traits comparable to those of an intelligent consumer. For instance, several citizens displayed their attraction to Churchill especially when a large group of citizens waited for him outside his residents to greet him with a lot of zeal (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). His intelligence was also presented in his famous interaction when working with individuals who tried to bring him down as a leader. Apart from being passionate, he had a passion of humility that made him the best leader during his regime (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). Churchill had the power to motivate and influence his subjects during the time of crisis. His premeditated premonition, his powerful desire, and irresistible character were the main advantages that contributed to his effective leadership style in Britain as a political leader. His subjects considered him as their companion, and this made his work easier through effective interaction. As an intelligent consumer, Churchill instilled a conviction, trust and self-assurance among the British soldiers (Kotlyar and Karakowsky, 2006, p. 44). Indeed this aspect greatly outdoes his weaknesses. Churchill can be characterized as both corporative and uncooperative intelligent consumer for those professional advisors who had the role of advising him (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). He could listen to his professional advisors and make use of these professional opinions to come up with techniques and policies (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). However, he did not listen to these advisors all the time and preferred making his own decisions. The decisions he made had very bad consequences. For example, he told the military that the Rommel had a half number of tanks that Cairo had because he did not understand the information presented in the decrypts (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). The same mistake was also made when he was reading about a small category at the front line with the impression that it was the entire front line (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). Churchill’s ability to communicate was required during the Second World War to motivate and inspire people (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). He used these communication skills to inspire the British citizens to go for war. Furthermore, he appreciated the importance of intelligence during the 2nd World War more than every other leader. He even made a great contribution during The Second World War. Apart from this, he did not attempt to ignore information when it failed to fit his strategy (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). In North Africa, Churchill was misled by German interceptors into believing that Rommel was much weaker than his soldiers (Keegan, 2008, p. 44). However, this weakness was not that bad compared to those of Hitler. He still managed to get several successes from his own ideas and initiatives. For instance, he succeeded when the ministry of economics war produced the estimates of air production this made him know the number of German aircrafts, which made him increase the number of their aircrafts during the war. Churchill argued that adequate preparation for war was very important in preparing for a successful fight (Bass and Riggio, 2006, p. 33). This was the only way the government was going to protect their properties and states (Bass and Riggio, 2006, p. 33). However, this was very challenging because he misguided the military using information he did not understand. He used his own policy to guide his responsibilities as the first leader of almighty and prepared adequately for the war (Best, 2005, p. 55). He also conducted research of the German naval to determine their strength and weakness, which provided him a lot of intelligences as a leader (Bass and Riggio, 2006, p.67). This made him very egger and very daring which a very serious trait of any intelligent consumer. Conclusion In conclusion, Churchill may be referred to as an intelligent consumer leader. Churchill as an intelligent consumer displayed both strengths and weakness in his roles as an intelligent consumer during the time of war. His strengths and weakness influenced his actions either positively or negatively. However, these weaknesses had an impact on his actions, but people still realised the importance of his intelligence in winning the war. Through his experience, he was in a position to acknowledge previous knowledge concerning intelligence that played a significant role is his regime.Therefore; Churchill inspired his soldiers to go for war without fear of losing. Several people recognized Churchill’s consumer intelligence across the world during the Second World War. Above all, Churchill was in a position to maintain a positive relationship with soldiers assuring them of positive victory by instilling confidence among people involved in the war (Kotlyar and Karakowsky, 2006, p. 23). Apart from providing intelligence with enough resources he was in a position to listen to others. Although he was problematic, he always took into account professional advices from his advisors. Therefore, Churchill’s strengths as an intelligence consumer far outweighed his weaknesses. References Best, G., 2005. Churchill and War.  London and New York: Hambledon. Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E., 2006. Transformational Leadership (Second ed.).Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Dubrin, A.J, Dalglish, C. & Miller, P., 2006. Leadership. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Gilbert, M., 2004.Winston Churchill’s War Leadership.  New York: Vintage. Keegan, J., 2008.The Second World War.  New York:  Penguin Books. Kotlyar, I. & Karakowsky, L., 2006. Leading Conflict? Linkages Between Leader Behaviors and Group Conflict. Small Group Research, 37 (4): 377-403. Langworth, R., M. 2008.Churchill by Himself: The Life, Times and Opinions of Winston S. Churchill in his Own Words. New York: Public Affairs. Lewin, R., 2008. Ultra Goes To War: The Secret Story. London: Hutchinson Longstaffe, C., 2005. Winston Churchill, a leader from history or an inspiration for the future? Industrial and Commercial Training, 37 (2/3): 80–83. Turner, R., 2003. The British Economy in Transition: From the Old to the New? London: Routledge. Read More