Leadership

Press, Volume C, Issue 29536, 10 June 1961, Page 3

Leadership

The Path To Leadership. By Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G. Collins. 256 pp. “Monty” is far too well known to need any introduction from the reviewer of this book. Nor is there any need to discuss his competence to write on the subject: he proved himself to be one of the most successful commanders in the Second World War; he obviously knows a great deal about the practice □f leadership; and he has been talking about the building of morale and the qualities of a good leader and soldiers ever since we first heard him speak in the days before Alamein (and that was back in 1942>. The need to describe the contents of his latest book is also limited; not only are the author’s main ideas on this subject well known, but-" The Press” also published in February last a short series of articles made up of excerpts from “The Path to Leadership.” It remains merely to discuss the merits and demerits of the book itself. VXXXXXXXXXXX Although there is much that is sheer padding, chatty stories of no great value and reminiscences which do not make,or illustrate any useful point, and some of his conclusions appear to be simple to the point of naivete, FieldMarshal Montgomery’s main points are soundly made and the product of a unique blend of experience, much thoughl and study, and plenty of good straightforward commonsense. Almost certainly, he has gone too far in his search for a formula to explain leadership and he has been too keen to find the common factors or identical qualities in leaders as different as Nehru, Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Nuffield Abraham Lincoln and Mao Tse-tung. Common factors there may be. but it is obvious that there are also great differences in the leaders discussed.

Furthermore (and here it would seem that the FieldMarshal has not prepared himself for writing this book with the same meticulous care and concern for . all possible contingencies with which he prepared for his campaigns when in command of the Eighth Army) it should surely be allowed that the geographical and historical background of a country and people, not to mention race, religion, culture and dominant philosophy, demand quite different types of leaders tn different parts of the world. Calling on himself to boil down the whole matter of leadership into one sentence. the author produces: “It is ‘captaincy’ which counts, or leadership in the higher sense, together with the power of decision and an understanding of human nature; in fact, a leader must first understand, and then decide, and act And he must be articulate; he must be able to express himself in clear and simple language.' KXXXXXXXXXXS This conclusion, reached at the end of his survey of the careers and qualities of the various military, political and industrial leaders he has discussed. is typical of the author's style and whole approach. But it is because he is so clear and definite himself that the greatest dangers lie in what he says. Thus, his ready acceptance at their face value of what the Chinese Communist leaders told him may be justified, but he then proceeds to accept their basic assumptions. For example, he hclds that there should be only one China and that China should be the one governed by the Communists in Peking Surely, recognition of the facts as they exist today would warrant recognition of two Chinas and would not involve the handing-oyer of Formosa to Mao to the great consternation of non-Com-

munists tn that island and in other parts of Asia. Field Marshal Montgomery appears to base all he has written on Mao and Chou En-lai on his conversations with' them. He does not appear to have read what they have themselves written, especially what thev have written for Communist Party consumption, which is where one can find their most important thoughts. There are two pages of special interest to New Zealanders. On page 127 the author relates how he told Peter Fraser that he should make General Freyberg Governor-General of this Dominion after the war, end. on page 170. he tells the story of Clive Adamson, the Invercargill newspaper boy, with whom he has kept in touch since his visit to New Zealand in 1947. Incidentally, it may well be that it is in its suggestions on the leadership required by modern youth that this book has its greatest value.