Many leadership lessons can be learnt from a study of Shakespeare’s Henry V, according to Richard Olivier in his book Inspirational Leadership: Henry V and the Muse of Fire. The author, who is the son of the famous actor Sir Laurence Olivier, is director of Olivier Mythodrama Associates, a leadership consulting business which provides experiential learning involving “acting in” desired leadership behaviours and attributes.
According to the book, Shakespeare’s Henry V can be analysed as a story of Henry’s leadership journey, involving the steps of assessing the past, visioning the future, allocating resources, dealing with traitors, first steps, first blocks, the dark night of the soul, inspiring the troops, achieving the vision, and turning the battlefield into a garden. On the subject of traitors, for example, the author says that in any major project, a leader needs to identify the forces ranged for and against, then deal decisively with traitors, including any old friends who now have a negative influence.
On the subject of the “dark night of the soul”, leaders need to face their innermost fears, doubts and uncertainties, especially in a crisis and especially before making decisions that affect the lives of others. On the subject of turning the battlefield into a garden, a leader’s ability to fight and win is not enough; battle and goals are means, not ends. The book is not amongst the most important leadership books I have read, but it does provide an interestingly different perspective.