Captain’s List — Napoleon Bonaparte #1785

Corsair’s Profiles in Leadership Series

The captains of fiction and history have much to teach us. They are leaders who often serve in times of great challenge and turmoil. Articles in this series focus on an individual captain and utilizes their quotes, their writings, and their actions to inspire core leadership elements in all of us.

Capitaine Napoleon Bonaparte

Long before “the Little Corporal” became an Emperor, he started as a Capitaine in the French Army. Napoleon’s time as an artillery captain would set the stage for his storied rise to power. The lessons and learning of this young officer make a great profile in leadership.

Napoleon was born in Corsica. He was the son of Genoese royalty. At the age of fifteen, he attended the Ecole Militaire in Paris. He graduated after only one year and became an officer with the French Artillery. This would set the stage for his early success.

Changing Perspective

Many great military leaders owe some part of their success to their ability to embrace a new technology or style of warfare. One of our last articles examined Erwin Rommel, who embraced the speed of tank warfare. Rommel also found some novel use for artillery, but it was Napoleon who built an empire upon it.

There are many parallels in the stories of these two leaders and it is likely that Napoleon’s well documented strategies had some influence on Rommel. Artillery was not a new thing in the time of Napoleon, any more than the tank in World War II. But they both had become lighter, faster, more mobile, more accurate, and there was just a lot more of them. These new weapons quickly led to full divisions dedicated to their usage and each leader quickly recognized the value of concentrating his forces (a view not shared by many a forgotten advisory or colleague).

Napoleon would also capitalize on some more custom features of his artillery. With its increase mobility and presence, artillery became a major consideration in choosing the battlefield and Napoleon would use this to change his perspective. From the vantage point of his elevated artillery position, he would manage and entire battlefield.

As a leadership tactic, this has numerous benefits. It makes it easier to see the battlefield, more effective to direct large groups (and the new National armies of Napoleon’s day were quite large), and allows the leader to view the battle from a different perspective than his front line leaders. Napoleon’s vantage point was unique and powerful.

Exploit Perception

Napoleon also exploited another new feature of the ‘modern’ warfare of his day — the conscripted soldier. In his book, The Face of Battle, war historian John Keegan notes that an army of conscripts relies on a small minority of soldiers actually doing most of the fighting. Capitaine Napoleon had witnessed this mob-mentality early in the French Revolution and exploited it at every opportunity.

Armies in Napoleon’s day relied on drilled and harsh discipline to keep their troops in formation and under control. If the ranks were broken, the army would quickly be routed. This lead to chaos, panicked retreats, and desertion. Bonaparte knew that to win the field, he only needed to change the perception of a relatively small number of troops.

His tactics were straight forward. Using intelligence and his own gut feel for enemy morale and discipline, the Little Corporal would have his batteries target specific weak points in the enemy lines. If these units could be broken, the ensuing chaos was often enough to win the day for his forces.

Business leaders exploit perception all the time. Reddit created dummy accounts to convince users it was more popular. PayPal used spiders and employees to purchase products on eBay, convincing sellers its payment product was in higher demand. Dozens of successful dotcoms and online platforms owe their success to exploiting perception.

Napoleon changed his perspective and his opponents perception. These critical tools propelled the young Corsican to military acclaim and eventually made him the Emperor of France. They are tools that can also serve today’s leaders and enable great success. Just be sure to avoid classic blunders.

For more on Napoleon and his battlefield strategy, consider: