Leadership: Churchill and Stoic Virtues

When you try to look up for the greatest leaders of our time, most likely Churchill’s name will come up. I thought it would be fun to take a look at what made Churchill such an iconic leader, and make a parallel between his leadership strategies and the 4 core virtues of stoic philosophy. Here’s what I came up with: Churchill has failed more times than you and I ever will. In the battle of Gallipoli in 1914, as a leader of the British navy, his bad decisions resulted in a turning point victory for the enemy (the Ottomans), and caused over 250 thousand deaths. Churchill was often rude, loud, and from time to time quite unpleasant. He was once removed from office, got re-elected, and got un-elected. Although he did win more elections than anyone in British history, he also lost more elections that anyone in Great Britain’s history. He was not only famous for his leadership speeches, but for his insults in parliament. When accused by Lady Astor, the first female Member of Parliament, of being disgustingly drunk on the job, he responded: “My dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.” <a href="https://raphaelreiter.medium.com/leadership-churchill-and-stoic-virtues-fb254bb240cc">Learn More</a>