Henry V Driving the Leadership

Henry V Driving the Leadership Engine -- William Shakespeare's ideal, motivational king and the management philosophy of Noel M. Tichy

The great, rallying speech William Shakespeare's Henry V makes to his English troops before the decisive battle of Agincourt contains some of Shakespeare's greatest heroic poetry. However, the St. Crispin's Day made by Henry speech can be boiled down to one, essential theme: "We're all in this together." The great king Henry V in the play and later in the movie, based upon Shakespeare's play becomes one of the common soldiers, and also, in his rhetoric elevates the common soldiers to the level of a king.

In Kenneth Branagh's film, Henry V's face is smeared with dirt, and he is no longer the young, attractive, and careless leader of the beginning of the film. That king lead his nation heedlessly into a foolish war, to regain the French territories lost to Henry's predecessors. Despite the fact that the English troops were lesser in number, they proved greater in valor, and against all odds, they triumphed. But because Henry's war is based on a fairly tenuous claim, when the English army realized they were outnumbered, the men were angry and resentful. They had suffered on the long campaign, and they had forgotten what they were fighting for in the first place. Without a sense of mission, most of the men would rather go home. Shakespeare's Henry knew he needed to motivate the English soldiers, restore his legitimacy as a king and leader in their eyes, and give them a common purpose, even if the purpose is only tenuously based in rhetoric. Essentially, in the speech he rolls up his sleeves and acts like a common soldier and appeals to English grit and sense of honor. They have come so far, how can they turn back now, he asks?

The purpose of fighting is glory and proving one's manhood, urges Henry. "The fewer men, the greater share of honour." In other words, if people are not 100% committed, they can leave, because half-hearted soldiers are not wanted and do not deserve a stake in the great accomplishments that will take place. Those soldiers who are truly committed will simply have to work harder. An autocratic king might threaten a soldier who refused to fight with the law and pain of death. However, Henry stresses that money is not the primary objective of the cause and offers generosity towards those who will not fight: He is a truly transactional, transpersonal, and inspiring leader, rather than a leader who uses his status as a goad to performance. "Let him depart; his passport shall be made/and crowns for convoy put into his purse:/We would not die in that man's company/That fears his fellowship to die with us" (4.2).

The cause is glorious, he stresses, and it is an honor, not a danger to fight and take risks. By making the fight a personal challenge, rather than focusing on some of the more dubious parts of the mission, the men feel as if they are being unmanly if they do not stand with the king on the feast of Crispin. Henry says that the battle will go down throughout the ages, and those who do live will remember it, and be remembered forever. When Henry says: "Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,/but he'll remember with advantages" what he did, he stresses that few people have great moments in their lives when they are tested, but this is one of them -- and he adds a little humorous, clever jab about memory, showing his wit and intelligence as a leader, noting how people tend to remember their performance 'with advantages,' or better than they actually were (4.2). These jokes do not lessen the seriousness of Henry's message but rather they show he is 'one of the boys.' The men feel like they are fighting for one of their own, not by someone of greater status who pulls rank to justify his command.

Henry is great at personalizing his speech. He actually goes into a roll call of those who stand with him. In the film, the camera flashes to the faces of these men, showing the personal, eye-to-eye and face-to-face connection Henry makes with all of them. During the speech, he claps the men's shoulders, and makes human, tactile contact with the soldiers. Even though he is a king, everyone is part of the family of soldiers, and through nobility they can lift themselves to high birth: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;/for he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,/This day shall gentle his condition" (4.2).

Henry says that winning honor gains a soldier inner aristocracy, a radical idea at the time when the divine right of kings was a given, and also a way to propel his men forward into action. In fact, even the dispirited men who do not really believe in the need to secure the French land, because of Henry's words about their class and status may fall in line with what he says, in deference of respect for Henry. They place faith and trust in his leadership, come to believe in his motivational phrases, and have gained a sense of common mission. They also believe he has an investment in their futures on the battlefield, as well as his own. This is bigger than Henry, bigger than gold -- this is about glory.

This form of motivation by teaching leadership, and showing a personal interest in others is not only applicable to a medieval scene of battle, but also to today's organizations, according to the Leadership Engine by Noel M. Tichy. In his book, Tichy uses a series of case studies and anecdotes about successful CEOs who turned their organizations around, like Jack Welch. These men are not just great leaders, he believes, but they also have the ability to foster motivation and drive, and to teach their leadership philosophy and skills to others, making people part of their happy few, and band of brothers -- at General Electric rather than Agincourt.

Tichy's writings are especially applicable to "Henry V" because Tichy suggests that more so than a specific cause, fostering leadership and confidence in leadership is important. Henry V doubts himself and his cause internally at times, but by showing leadership and teaching his philosophy of holding fast to a common aim and goal to others, he creates a united army and wins. Companies that do not try hard to teach and do not value leadership and are only looking at the bottom line and setting quantitative goals do not succeed, according to Tichy.