Leaders Hit With Two Strikes

I just enjoyed watching the first round of playoff baseball for the 2010 season. Three games in one day, God is good. In the middle of the third game I heard the announcer say something that I realized I’d heard all day with regard to hitting. He said; “Good hitters can’t be afraid of hitting with two strikes.” It reminded me of Winston Churchill. (I know, it ain’t easy being me.) Winston Churchill was a great two strike hitter.

Stephen Weir published a book in 2008 entitled, “History’s Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them.” It’s a collection of 50 of the worst decisions made by leaders. It weaves its way through history identifying the arrogance and ignorance that fed dreadful decisions. The fallout of those decisions was most often the lives of people. It’s a frightening book to read, especially if you’re a leader.

Most notable on the list of worst decision makers is Winston Churchill. Until this book, I had only known Churchill as the heroic leader of Britain during WW II. As with every leader, there is more to the story. It turns out that in February of 1915 a young Churchill led what the book calls “a vainglorious and pointless attack on an impregnable peninsula,” called Gallipoli (p. 116). The result of this decision was the loss of 400,000 lives. Strike one.

The author identifies pride as the failing of Churchill in this decision. How do you come back from that? I don’t know, but Churchill did. He came back to make another poor decision, the mapping of Iraq (p. 131). Who would have thought that mapping would result in the mess we have in the Middle East today? I’m not sure how many lives one could lay at that decision? Strike two. But Churchill didn’t quit and I’m sure glad he didn’t. Along came WW II and Churchill saved Great Britain, and arguably, was influential in saving the rest of us.

Leaders make decisions. Leaders are human. Humans make mistakes. Leaders must be willing to bear the burden of being human. They must be willing to make mistakes if they are ever going to see the people they lead lift victory’s banner. It comes with the territory, and often it comes with two strikes.