The Seven Ages of Leader

October 22, 2007

My initial plunge into leadership came during World War II. I was a lieutenant in the infantry, 19 years old, and scared out of my wits. My orders were to assume command of a platoon on the front lines in Belgium. I arrived in the middle of the night, when most of the men were asleep. The platoon had taken up residence in a bombedout shell of a house. I was led into the kitchen by the platoon’s runner, and he offered me a bench to sleep on. Instead, I put my sleeping bag on the floor, next to the rest of the men. Not that I slept. I lay awake all night, listening to the ombs explode. I was as green as can be and knew little about command – or the world, for that matter. When the others in the house began to stir, I heard one sergeant ask another,“Who’s that?”“That’s our new platoon leader,”the man answered. And the sergeant said, “Good.We can use him.”

Without realizing it,without having any idea what was the right thing to do, I had made a good first move. My entry had been low-key. I hadn’t come in with my new commission blazing. In fact, I pretended to go to sleep on the floor.As a result,without drawing attention to myself, I learned something important about the men I would be leading. I learned that they needed me–or, at least, they needed the person they would subsequently teach me to be. And teach me they did. Over the next few weeks in Belgium, my men, who had already seen combat, kept me alive. They also taught me how to lead, often by example. The sergeant who had greeted my arrival with approval became my lifeline, quite literally, teaching me such essential skills as how to ride through a war zone without getting blown up.

While few business leaders need worry about being blown up,my experience in Belgium was in many ways typical of first leadership experiences anywhere. I was coming into an existing organization where emotions ran high, relationships had been established, and the members of the organization harbored expectations of me that I was not yet fully aware of. My new followers were watching me, to see if and how I would measure up. Every new leader faces the misgivings, misperceptions, and the personal needs and agendas of those who are to be led. To underestimate the importance of your first moves is to invite disaster. The critical entry is one of a number of passages – each of which has an element of personal crisis – that every leader must go through at some point in the course of a career. Business school doesn’t prepare you for these crises, and they can be utterly wrenching. But they offer powerful lessons as well.

Shakespeare, who seems to have learned more every time I read him, spoke of the seven ages of man. A leader’s life has seven ages as well, and, in many ways, they parallel those Shakespeare describes in As You Like It. To paraphrase, these stages can be described as infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, general, statesman, and sage.One way to learn about leadership is to look at each of these developmental stages and consider the issues and crises that are typical of each.

I can’t offer advice on how to avoid these crises because many are inevitable. Nor would I necessarily recommend that you avoid them, since dealing with the challenges of each stage prepares you for the next. But knowing what to expect can help the leader survive and, with luck, come through stronger and more confident. And so first to the leader on the verge – Shakespeare’s infant,“mewling…in the nurse’s arms.”

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