After Pearl Harbor, Marshall called Ike to his office and told him to draft a plan to save the Philippines. Ike took a few hours, then reported that it was not possible but suggested alternatives. Marshall said, “Eisenhower, the department is filled with able men who analyze their problems well but feel compelled always to bring them to me for final solution. I must have assistants who will solve their own problems and tell me later what they have done.”^[34] To General Marshall, leadership was not about pleasing the boss or saying the right words; leadership was doing the right thing. This was the creed by which he lived.

“Greatest Living American”

Anyone who came into contact with George Marshall respected him. His sense of virtue was palpable. Throughout his long years in the military, often doing jobs he did not particularly want, he did his duty. His greatest disappointment was failing to obtain divisional command. He was a lifelong staff officer, who served the army and the nation well, and he was worthy of Harry Truman’s appellation: “the greatest living American.”

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

The remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole. . . . It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is not directed against any country or any doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.^[29]

Direct and to the point, Marshall made the case for providing political stability by ensuring economic viability. This speech introduced the European Recovery Act, soon known as the Marshall Plan. This plan fostered cooperation among nations, staved off communist expansionism, and laid the foundation for a more united Europe. Years later, after he had retired, Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in part for his efforts at helping to rebuild Europe. Acknowledging the irony, even modest dissent, of giving a soldier an award for peace, Marshall said in his Nobel address:

The cost of war is constantly spread before me, written neatly in many ledgers whose columns are gravestones. I am greatly moved to find some means or method of avoiding another calamity of war.^[30]

Compassionate Aloofness

Very few people called him George; he was always the General. He had an aloofness to him that terrified junior officers, but to Marshall it was a way of getting to the point: A commander’s time is limited, and he must maximize his effectiveness.^[31] Yet Marshall, like all good commanders, viewed his soldiers as people; the genesis of the USO show was Marshall’s requesting entertainment for his troops stateside before the war. During the prewar mobilization, Marshall directed his staff to prepare a summary of messages that newly enlisted men were sending home; many of these messages were complaints.

Forrest Pogue, Marshall’s biographer, estimates that Marshall spent “twenty minutes a day” reviewing these summaries and personally answering some of the complaints himself. Marshall also visited with the troops as well as keeping in frequent contact with those he had promoted and developed. He understood that he was mobilizing an army of civilians; the military would mold them into soldiers, but they were nonetheless civilians and wanted nothing more than to return home and resume their lives. Their sacrifice and their service were “the essence of democracy” and “what the fighting was all about.”^[32]

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

Marshall drew a distinct line between the military and politics. Throughout the war, by virtue of his position, he was required to testify before Congress. Even though the process was time-consuming and took him away from his military duties, he prepared himself and underwent the rigor of testifying. He also ordered full cooperation with the Truman committee’s investigation of military purchasing, rather than stonewalling. The result was twofold: First, Truman’s committee uncovered waste and sometimes fraud and in the process ended up saving the nation billions of dollars, and second, he and Truman had the opportunity to assess each other; this paved the way for greater understanding when Truman was thrust into the presidency after Roosevelt’s death.^[24]

Military versus Political

Marshall also recused himself from the summits among heads of state that took place periodically throughout the war. He did not think it was wise for a military man to influence political outcomes. At the same time, Marshall was not a political neophyte. Although there were suggestions that he run for office, even for the presidency, he always declined. He knew how Washington worked, and he prided himself on his reputation for being honest and without guile.^[25] Periodically, he had to undergo what must have been humiliating examinations-for example, in late 1945 during the investigation of the lack of preparedness at Pearl Harbor, and in the early 1950s when he was wrongly accused by the red-baiting McCarthyites of undermining America’s resistance to communist forces, particularly in Asia.^[26] With this latter charge, scurrilous though it was, Marshall took the high road, refusing to dignify McCarthy’s charges with a rebuttal. His reply: “If I have to explain at this point that I am not a traitor to the United States, I hardly think it’s worth it.”^[27]

The decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was one that Marshall did not want to make. He fully endorsed the development of the bomb and in fact was the chief overseer of the project: General Lesley Groves reported to him. Marshall understood that the decision to drop it was one that would have profound moral consequences, and for that reason he deemed its use not a military decision, but one for the government to make. However, Marshall endorsed the use of the atomic bomb as a means of shortening the war and ultimately saving the lives of both the American soldiers and the Japanese civilians and soldiers who would be killed if Japan were invaded.^[28]

^{Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders}

The challenges that Marshall faced were enormous. While President Franklin Roosevelt was a supporter of intervention, the American people for the most part were not. Fortunately, Marshall had the organizational skills necessary for the task. The army grew from a force of less than 500,000 at the outbreak of war to 12.9 million at the end. Marshall mobilized American men, women, and material. It was he who made certain that troops were equipped for battle and that generals had the troops, supplies, and armaments that they needed in order to wage war.^[20]

Leader-Teacher

It is said that the modern army took shape under Marshall’s guidance. He served as an instructor at the War College for several years, and he also served as chief instructional officer at Fort Benning, Georgia. Dispensing with textbook planning, Marshall pushed for more realistic exercises, in which commanders would need to make decisions with only partial information, just as on a real battlefield. In doing so, he reinvented the way the military educates its officers.^[21]

One of Marshall’s chief assets was his ability to pick the right person for the right job. At Fort Benning, Marshall identified future leaders and did what he could to promote them. He created the American general corps of the Second World War. His choice of military commanders was meticulous: Generals Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Mark Clark, and George Patton were but four of many standouts-all of whom earned a place in his little black book.^[22]

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

As Roosevelt conjectured, the contribution of General Marshall has faded from memory. True, World War II was won by the blood, sweat, and sacrifice of millions of citizen soldiers who were fighting for the freedom of others against the evils of totalitarianism. Yet although Marshall did not fight in the trenches, his story is equally heroic, for it was through his efforts and will that America and its soldiers received the men, material, and leadership they needed in order to wage war. While Marshall himself never took fire in this war, he sacrificed his lifelong ambition to lead troops so that he could better serve his nation and the army. In Marshall we have an example of a leader as manager for a heroic purpose; his skillful use of communications was essential to his aims and those of our nation.

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

Deeply Human

For all the talk of Mother Teresa’s saintliness, she also was very human. In excerpts from her diaries published after her death, we see a woman who is more like us-plagued by doubts. “In my soul, I feel just the terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.” Those words were from a journal she kept between 1959 and 1960, when she was urged by her confessor to keep a record of her thoughts.^[12] Thirty years later, she seems much more at ease. “I have begun to love my darkness, for I believe now that is a part, a very small part, of Jesus’ darkness and pain on earth.”^[13]

Mother Teresa writes eloquently of love as a healing force and how it is necessary to love others in order to heal their physical afflictions. She also writes of the joy of giving, doing it for love, not for duty. “God loves a joyful giver. . . . A joyful heart is a normal result of a heart burning with love. Joy is strength.”^[14]

And as befits someone who is in tune with herself and with others, Mother Teresa had a good sense of humor. She writes: “Someone once asked me, ‘Are you married?’ And I said, ‘Yes, and I find it sometimes very difficult to smile at Jesus because He can be very demanding.’”^[15] Likewise she joked in her Nobel speech, “If I don’t go to heaven for anything else I will be going for all the publicity [which has] made me really ready to go to heaven.” ^[16]

Work Continues

The greatest legacy of a leader is the continuation of his or her work after he or she has passed from the scene. In the year following Mother Teresa’s death, the Missionaries of Charity added some 20 new centers. Her successor, Sister Nirmala, accounted for the growth this way: “It’s God’s work. If it was Mother’s work, maybe in the course of time it would [have ceased], but since it’s God’s work, it is the same.”^[17]

Whether God has anything to do with it is an eternal question. What there can be no question about is this: It is the example of Mother Teresa that continues to bring the poor to her missions and to draw people who are committed to serving them as she herself did.

Leadership Communications Lessons

• Understand the power of words. Mother Teresa wrote a number of mediations and reflections. These help readers gain a perspective on life and the world.
• Take a stand. Mother Teresa vowed to work among the “poorest of the poor” and did so, overcoming many obstacles in her journey.
• Enlist the support of others. Mother Teresa was forever inviting people who came to visit to help her cause. Some stayed and worked as she did; others provided support in other ways.
• Use the media. At first Mother Teresa sought no publicity, but soon she realized that if she were to achieve her aims, people throughout the world would have to hear her message.
• Live your message. Mother Teresa is the embodiment of living the message. The sanctity of her life resulted from her commitment to others and her selfless desire to help the least fortunate.

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

Although Mother Teresa was strictly Catholic in faith, she was liberal in reaching out to others, seeking to help all regardless of their faith as well as receiving aid from anyone of any faith. She also saw her ministry as taking care of the poor and sick, not as proselytizing: “Love has no other message but its own. . . . If we do any preaching, it is done with deeds, not with words. That is our witness to the gospel.”^[10]

A considerable body of literature is growing up around Mother Teresa. Some of her writings have been collected as inspirational texts. Another book is a collection of reflections from the famous (e.g., Senator Ted Kennedy), from religious leaders, and from ordinary people who met her only once. All of these are testaments to the power of her example, and these communications serve to extend her message further.

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

Also depicted in the film is her visit to Beirut in 1982 at the height of the fighting between Muslims and Christians. Mother Teresa wishes to retrieve a group of spastic children who were isolated in an abandoned hospital. A priest says it’s a good idea, but it’s impractical because the hospital is in a free-fire zone. To which Mother Teresa responds, “It’s not an idea. It’s our duty.” At her insistence, a cease-fire was arranged and the children were rescued.^[7]

^{Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders}

Macedonia to India

The facts of her life are straightforward. Born in Skopje in what is now Macedonia, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was Albanian by heritage. She was inspired to go to India after learning about it from missionaries who spoke at her school. She joined an Irish order, the Sisters of Loreto, moved to India, and became a school principal. Wanting to do more, she founded her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, based on Franciscan principles of service to those most in need. She founded her order with some fellow nuns in 1948 with no funds to speak of. Upon her death nearly 40 years later, her order had grown to include 4000 nuns and 120,000 lay workers treating the disenfranchised who were suffering from leprosy or AIDS as well as hunger and malnutrition in some 450 missions around the world. She also became a citizen of India, demonstrating her solidarity with the people she served first.^[4]

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

• Brief the facilitator beforehand. Let the facilitator know the issues and the topics to be discussed.
• Ask the facilitator to develop a list of questions to ask the leader.
• Invite the facilitator to provide periodic summaries of the discussion so that everyone in the group stays together.
• Require the facilitator to keep the meeting on time and on task. The facilitator should focus discussion on the issues, not go into extraneous topics. (There may be times, however, when there will be a deliberate veer in the dialogue in order to cover hot issues or deal with unexpected surprises.)
• Ask the facilitator to summarize, but then invite the leader to close the dialogue.

The bottom line is that leadership communications is about content and meaning. A facilitated dialogue can be a wonderful way to explore new ideas as well as to affirm organizational values and create deeper levels of trust.

Communications Planner: Connecting with the Audience

Getting the audience’s attention and maintaining it is the presenter’s chief challenge. Beyond words and visuals, presenters can use their imagination to grab the audience’s eyes and speak directly to their souls.

1. Develop a “get to know me” pitch for the start of every presentation. This should let the audience know who you are and what you will do in your presentation.
2. Consider learning a magic trick or a simple juggling maneuver. Practice it until you can do it in your sleep, or in front of your friends. Look for opportunities to introduce it into a presentation. It may be an opener; it may be a closer. Think about how and where you can use it.
3. Practice different ways to demonstrate your product. If it is something tangible, let the audience touch and feel it. If it is a service, invite the audience to experience it. Consider reversing the order of presentation. Maybe you will lead with the benefits and close with the features, or perhaps you will lead with the features and close with the benefits.
4. Talk to corporate trainers. Find out what games they use to engage the audience’s attention. An easy way to find some titles is to do a search in a virtual bookstore. Choose the words games for trainers.
5. Window-shop. Look at how the merchandisers have dressed the store windows to attract your attention. See how the lighting and staging present the merchandise in the most appealing fashion. Ask yourself if there is a way you can present yourself more theatrically. Perhaps you could wear a new suit, a funny tie, or a clown nose.
6. Have a conversation with an elementary school teacher about how he or she maintains attention when presenting a lesson. You will be surprised at the variety of tools that teachers of the very young use: pictures, songs, musical instruments, and toys. One or two may be appropriate for your next presentation.
7. Visit the theater. Watch how actors add body movement to the words as a means of bringing their characters alive.

Taken From : Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders