What is this? How does it fit into the programs offered by The LeaderMaker Group?

Someone once said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. That's because history teaches us many lessons about leadership and decision-making. If your leaders are not well-versed in history, particularly late-20th century history, they may lack some of the context for making better decisions and avoiding common – and costly – leadership pitfalls.

This seminar fills these holes. Some examples:

• During the Watergate scandal, many leaders - often considered "exemplary" - landed themselves in serious trouble. Some later said they had been "entranced by authority," an all-too-common risk that still rears its ugly head today.
• During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy took careful steps to ensure that his key advisors would speak openly and candidly and would not be intimidated. He even removed himself from the room during some critical discussions.
• During the Vietnam War there was on-going tension between the Pentagon and combat units in the field who were concerned that the management of the war was overly centralized to the detriment of the troops.
• When the State of Israel was created President Truman received advice from many ranking diplomats not to recognize the new nation. Yet Truman moved ahead with recognition, sorting his way through the ambiguity of a delicate foreign policy matter.

History provides numerous opportunities for today's leaders to identify and evaluate the nuances involved in leading people in challenging circumstances. A leader who has learned to appreciate such subtleties and who understands the leadership lessons revealed in history will be more effective because he or she can approach contemporary challenges will greater insight into human behavior, motivational factors, and how to deal with ambiguity.

How can I fill my team's "holes"?

It's easy! Whether your team's members have holes because their history courses stopped before the late twentieth century or because they never thought history would matter to them, we can help. We offer Holes in My History as both a stand-alone seminar product and in conjunction with our other leadership lessons. Either way, your team will benefit by learning what worked – and in some cases, what didn't work – for other leaders. Inquire Today for more information.

Where did this idea come from? Who thought of it?

We got the idea for Holes in My History from a rising executive in a Fortune 500 company who discovered a hole in his knowledge of history. Read on or listen to the story, as told by Senior Partner Jim Pirner:

About ten years ago I found myself traveling frequently in the company of a younger associate as we worked together for most of a year on some important negotiations. We became good friends and often shared information about what we were reading. We often created some "goof around" time in the other cities to explore the big book stores and see what was new.

This man was about 35 at the time and had been recently promoted to a director-level position. He clearly had a good future and, in fact, eventually rose some years later to become a VP in the same firm. I was about 20 years his senior at the time we were traveling together on this project.

One day, riding along in the rental car, he described a problem. He said:
What can I read to learn about the war in Vietnam? Because of my age, I never got to study it. When I was in high school and college my history courses never covered it, because it was still sort of a current event. And now, when I want to learn about it, I don't have any easy place to turn. All I know about Vietnam is that it was very important to America, but I can't tell you why. I feel as if I have a hole in what I know.

So I recommended a couple of books and also gave him my spontaneous "instant history lesson" in what I thought he should know as he read the books.

It occurred to me he was probably not alone. My colleagues and I have often discussed these so-called holes in history because important things get neglected while the history teachers drill down on the Colonial period but struggle to get up to WWII before time runs out in the semester.

I began to be more alert to the issue and, in subsequent years, found the experience repeated with other people asking about such things as the Cuban missile crisis and even the Watergate scandal. Yes, it IS true that many of today's younger people know little or nothing about Watergate beyond some vague idea it was bad and it got Nixon out of the presidency.

The point was brought home to me still another time when, in a discussion with other employees in a meeting about a serious issue, I remarked that the decision needed was going to require the same kind of courage Truman needed when he fired MacArthur. Most of the people in the room had no idea what I was talking about.

So the idea took root of how we might fill these holes in our history. We developed a seminar. Then, in a moment of doubt, I asked, "Couldn't someone just go to an Internet search engine and find the answers?" I was recalling that the Internet as we know it today was not around when my traveling friend asked about Vietnam. I was quickly assured by more than one other person in the teaching and consulting business that the Internet option would not materially change the need I perceived. As one person put it, "People don't want to wade through all those Google links, not knowing what to read or believe. They will appreciate somebody who can put it together professionally."

The lessons are, first of all, capsules of the history itself. Each analyzes the historical events in the context of leadership issues. Watergate, for example, is almost a capstone case of high leadership gone awry, with abundant opportunities to see how leaders of character emerge from that morass.

We expect that we will continue to add topics to this seminar, for history never ends. And schools, we are sure, will continue to create the holes for us. Inquire Today for more information.