The Law of the Picture

John C. Maxwell

• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781400275724
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Easy Company withstood the German Advance at the Battle of the Bulge and dashed Hitler's last hope for stopping the Allies' advance. They were able to do it because their leaders embaraced the Law of the Picture.

THE LAW OF THE PICTURE

People Do What People See

Several years ago, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks produced a series of television shows on HBO called Band of Brothers, based on the book of the same name by historian Stephen Ambrose. The ten episodes chronicled the story of Easy Company, a group of paratroopers from the 101st Airborne who fought during World War II. The men of Easy Company were as tough as soldiers get, and they fought heroically from the invasion of Normandy to the end of the war.

The story of Easy Company is a great study in leadership, for the various sergeants, lieutenants, and captains who commanded the men displayed many styles of leadership, both good and bad. When the leadership was good, it made the difference, not only in the way the soldiers performed but in the outcome of their battles and, ultimately, of the war.

THE WRONG PICTURE

From the very first episode of the television series, the contrasting Leadership styles were on display. Herbert Sobel, Easy Company’s commanding officer during its training, was shown to be a brutal and autocratic leader with a sadistic streak. He drove the men harder than the commander of any other company. He arbitrarily revoked passes and inflicted punishment. But judging from Ambrose’s research, Sobel was even worse than he was depicted in the series.

Sobel drove the men mercilessly, which was fine, since he was preparing them for combat. But he didn’t push himself the same way, being barely capable of passing the physical test required of paratroopers. Nor did he display the high level of competence he demanded from everyone else. Ambrose writes about an incident during training that was representative of Sobel’s leadership:

On one night exercise he [Sobel] decided to teach his men a lesson. He and Sergeant Evans went sneaking through the company position to steal rifles from sleeping men. The mission was successful; by daylight Sobel and Evans had nearly fifty rifles. With great fanfare, Evans called the company together and Sobel began to tell the men what miserable soldiers they were.¹

What Sobel didn’t realize was that the men he was berating weren’t his own. He had wandered into the wrong camp and stolen the rifles belonging to Fox Company. Sobel didn’t even realize his mistake until the commander of Fox Company came up with forty-five of his men.

The men who served under Sobel mocked him and undermined him. By the time Easy Company began preparations for the invasion of Normandy, many men were taking bets on which of them would shoot Sobel when they finally got into combat. Fortunately, Sobel was removed from his position as company commander and reassigned before they went into combat.

ANOTHER BAD PICTURE

Another officer’s highly incompetent leadership was depicted in an episode called “The Breaking Point.” It recounted the Battle of the Bulge when the soldiers were preparing to take the town of Foy from the Germans. By then, the men of Easy Company were experienced veterans, and they were facing o...