From Nicholson, Nigel. "The I of Leadership: Strategies for Seeing, Being and Doing" (Kindle Location 368 - 383). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
"George S. Patton was an extraordinary man – a US general of vision, great force of personality, tactical brilliance, immense personal courage and an esoteric erudition in the classics of ancient Greece and Rome. He first revealed his military brilliance in skirmishes in WWI, languished uncomfortably through the inter-war years and then came into his own in WWII as a peerless attack machine – disciplining and inspiring his armies to victories across Africa and in the Battle of the Bulge that effectively terminated the war in Europe.
So many leadership moments, but, tragically, one of the most defining – memorably captured by George C. Scott in the eponymous movie – took place in a field hospital where he slapped the head of a shell-shocked soldier hospitalized from battle fatigue, calling him a coward. The disgrace of the incident removed Patton from the front line of war for the best part of a year and cost him the chance of becoming the Commander-in-Chief of the entire Allied armies in the European theater of war. This also possibly prolonged the conflict by as long, for Patton was an attack dog – a force of nature greatly feared by the Axis powers.
It has been said that all of the most important of life’s battles are fought within the Self. This was Patton’s problem. He was larger than life; his Self was a neurotic and tortured organ, bound into his story of himself – his “destiny” as a hero. His personal vision was a source of magnetic power but was rendered useless when found shorn of the rudimentary forms of self-control that enable etiquette, protocol and correct behavior to be carried off without error. Poor Patton – his affronted beliefs triggered him straight into a monumental anti-leadership moment."
Professor Nicholson's book is a wonderful read for those that study leadership. Can't recommend it highly enough.
