A Review of The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts
A Guest Post by CSM (R) Clay Usie
The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun are a timeless rendition of leadership best practices spread across the full range of military leadership. These best practices are relevant in both ancient and contemporary times. I have read this book numerous times and each time one common theme comes to mind, “Leadership at the core is based on the foundation of common-sense solutions to complex situations.” The secrets of Attila the Hun’s leadership lend credence to the fact that ancient leadership problems remain prevalent in contemporary leadership roles.
We, as leaders, tend to consider leadership challenges as complicated versus complex, yet The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hunarms readers (leaders) with a playbook for negotiating the complexities associated with navigating through the treacherous and restricted terrain we refer to as the “Human Domain.”Often enough, contemporary leaders look for answers to leadership challenges in “sophisticated spaces” when the answers reside in the most “common spaces.”The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun are still as relevant today as they were 1600 years ago. This ancient smart book for leaders should find a home in every Warriors’ cargo pocket (smart device) or top desk drawer (computer desktop) as a staple reference for what right looks like across all warfighting functions.
This book had a tremendous influence on me and contains a litany of useful and relevant ideas that have enabled me to be effective while serving in tactical, operational, and strategic leadership roles throughout my military career. However, the three overarching principles of the book that I constantly revisit are: The Essentials of Decisiveness, The Art of Delegation, and Lessons Learned.
In the Essentials of Decisiveness, Attila posited, “Wise is the chieftain who never makes a decision when he does not understand the issue. In decision making, valor is guided by prudence.” I have observed leaders who suffered from information overload that disrupted a true understanding of the problem they were charged to negotiate. For leaders to truly make a well informed and timely decision, it is paramount that they first understand the problem before making a hasty decision.
I have mentored many subordinates on understanding the difference between hasty and decisive and found that many leaders confuse an immediate response with decisiveness. Often, decisions are made in haste because these leaders did not truly understand the problem, which is actually a form of indecision. Albert Einstein is often credited with saying, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes understanding the problem and one minute resolving it.” This is a lesson we should all consider while mentoring subordinates, peers, and seniors alike on being truly decisive versus simply hasty (indecisive).
I also find contemporary relevance in the Art of Delegation when Attila states, “Wise chieftains grant both authority and responsibility to those they have delegated assignments.” As a leader, when you commit to delegating a task, you must commit to delegating the requisite authority to enable your subordinate to own the task in its entirety. In my experience, such delegation promotes an environment of empowerment that breeds a positive organizational climate, culture, and bolsters morale. This type of environment defines “winning.”
Lastly, the relevance of “Lessons Learned” is timeless. Attila once stated, “The dreaded enemy led by Aetius used tactics unfamiliar to our noble warriors on the Catalaunian Plains. Many of our brave Huns were lost in a battle for which I simply had not prepared them to fight.” Leaders are charged with the responsibility of never learning the same hard lesson twice and they are expected to incorporate mechanisms for improving teams through lessons learned. Atilla used an ancient variation of after-action reports (AARs) and hot wash forums to ensure his Army never had to learn the same hard lesson twice.
When leaders communicate “Lessons Learned,” they make the unknown, a known and in the words of Carl Jung, “until you make the unconscious, conscious, it will control your life and you will call it fate.” I have shared similar thoughts on learning from experience and compiled a list of advice culled during a few decades of experience. I have named this compilation“Usie’s Top Ten Leader Tips” and the last tip reads, “communicate, communicate, communicate.” I, like Attila the Hun, believe that leaders must communicate effectively to ensure the whole force learns from the experience of others. Only then can we effectively avoid the problems of yesteryear.
I hope you consider The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hunas you continue on your journey of self-development. This book has been formative throughout my years of service and I know the lessons will also benefit me during my post-Army career.
Command Sergeant Major Clay Usie is currently transitioning into the civilian sector after 23-plus years of service in the United States Army. He recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Texas-El Paso with a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies. Clay is a seasoned special operations veteran with multiple deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism and culminated his career as the Senior Enlisted Leader of the Joint Communications Unit (JCU) at the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
After the better part of a decade researching in the field of adult learning with a focus on military self-development, I have read dozens of definitions of the concept of self-development. I have studied in detail the historical Army definitions and foundational civilian concepts such as self-directed learning or autonomous learning. I could tell you all the contradictions in the current definitions of Army self-development between the FM 6-22 and the DA Pam 350-58. I even spent more than three years on a DoD-supported research study attempting to create a definition that reconciles the gap between the civilian theory of self-directed learning and Army self-development. For all my research, the shortest definition I stumbled upon during my study might be one of the best.
