What would Genghis have done? Lessons in leadership from history’s most successful (and ruthless) conqueror.
Genghis Khan has a very strong claim to be the greatest leader the world has ever seen. As a teenager he was an outcast, fleeing enemies on a mountain in northern Mongolia, an exile, a nobody. Yet it took only twenty years for Genghis to build the largest land empire in history: four times the size of Alexander’s, twice the size of Rome’s. How did he do it? What lessons does his life reveal about the nature of leadership? What is “greatness” in leadership? What traits did Genghis possess exactly? Might they apply in other times and other places — even here and today?
John Man re-examines the life of Genghis Khan to discover the qualities, characteristics and strategies that made him the great leader that he was. The answers are sometimes surprising. Far from being just the tyrant that history records, he was a leader of exceptional vision and modernity. And many of the secrets of his success are as useful in today’s competitive business world as they were in rallying the Mongol hordes.
John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia and China. His other books include, The Gutenberg Revolution on the origins and impact of printing, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Kublai Khan, The Terracotta Army and The Great Wall.
I usually write non-fiction, mainly exploring interests in Asia and the history of written communication. So 'The Lion's Share', available only on Kindle, is something different - a new edition of a thriller written some 25 years ago when I wasn't sure what I wanted to focus on. It's about the 'real' - in quotes, i.e. fictional - fate of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia.
Most of the time, I like to mix history, narrative and personal experience, exploring the places I write about. It brings things to life, and it's a reaction against an enclosed, secure, rural childhood in Kent. I did German and French at Oxford, and two postgraduate courses, History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford and Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (to join an expedition that never happened).
After working in journalism and publishing, I turned to writing, with occasional forays into film, TV and radio. A planned trilogy on three major revolutions in writing has resulted in two books, 'Alpha Beta' (on the alphabet) and 'The Gutenberg Revolution', both republished in 2009. The third, on the origin of writing, is on hold, because it depends on researching in Iraq. (On the fourth revolution, the Internet, many others can write far better than me).
My interest in Mongolia revived in 1996 when I spent a couple of months in the Gobi. 'Gobi: Tracking the Desert' was the first book on the region since the 1920's (those by the American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews). In Mongolia, everything leads back to Genghis. I followed. The result was 'Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection', now appearing in 20 languages. Luckily, there's more to Mongol studies than Genghis. 'Attila the Hun' and 'Kublai Khan' came next.
Another main theme in Asian history is the ancient and modern relationship between Mongolia and China. 'The Terracotta Army', published to in 2007, was followed by 'The Great Wall', which took me from Xinjiang to the Pacific. 'The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan' (combining history, character analysis and modern leadership theory) and 'Xanadu: Marco Polo and Europe's Discovery of the East' pretty much exhausted Inner Asian themes for me.
So recently I have become interested in Japan. For 'Samurai: The Last Warrior', I followed in the footsteps of Saigo Takamori, the real 'Last Samurai', published in February 2011. After that, more fiction, perhaps.
I live in north London, inspired by a strong and beautiful family - wife, children and grand-children.
There is much to be gained from reading the stories of great leaders who brought positive changes to the world, but is there anything to be gained from studying the leadership style of someone who is most remembered for having caused more slaughter, devastation and destruction than anyone before him? John Man would have us believe so, in this book.
The author is a historian rather than a business expert, but he does manage to draw a number of lessons out of his retelling of the story of Genghis Khan, including: control the message; accept criticism; get a vision; keep promises; share hardship; know your limitations; make loyalty the prime virtue and reward it; make firm rules and make them clear; get real; in peace train for war; make your interests the state's interests; choose an heir and allow debate; employ the best; surprise + terror + magnanimity = victory; philosophize (or at least pretend to); cultivate humility; plan for eternity; and know your limits.
One of the striking features of the Genghis Khan described by the author is his strength of character and the way in which his behaviour differed from what might be expected of a despot. He does not appear to have been motivated by a greed for more possessions. He maintained an austere lifestyle. He readily admitted his own inadequacies and failings. And yet he had a fierce drive which led him to what he regarded as great success.
The author's main leadership resources seem to have been Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence by Goleman et al and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Collins, and I found the attempt at assessing Genghis Khan's emotional intelligence a bit far-fetched. It is hard to determine the extent to which Genghis Khan's character traits really can be ascertained from the limited source materials so many centuries after the event, but the book is certainly an interesting one to read, and the leadership lessons drawn are worth pondering.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
