Winston Churchill: Leadership
The high school curriculum focuses on Churchill as one of history’s greatest leaders. The
political history of the 20th century can be written as the biographies
of six men: Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao Zedong, Franklin Roosevelt and
Winston Churchill. The first four were totalitarians who made or used
revolutions to create monstrous dictatorships. Roosevelt and
Churchill differed from them in being democrats. And Churchill differed
from Roosevelt — while both were war leaders, Churchill was
uniquely stirred by the challenge of war and found his fulfillment in
leading the democracies to victory. (Time Magazine, April 13, 1998)
Who is this person named one of the most important leaders of the 20th century and what can we learn from him about leadership today? As a boy, Churchill lacked "cleverness, knowledge and any capacity for settled work. . . has a great talent for show-off, exaggeration and make-believe," according to his own father. At the age of twenty-four, he took part in the last great cavalry charge, was captured by the Boers, escaped and had a price put on his head, wrote his first book. He entered Parliament at the age of twenty-five and then served six monarchs, fought in the trenches of World War I, was twice prime minister, wrote forty-four books and received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He painted more than one hundred pictures and was made an Honorary Royal academician, became a Knight of the Garter and an Honorary Citizen of the United States of America, and was honored, decorated and revered by so many. (Adapted from a 1994 speech by Churchill’s granddaughter, Celia Sandys)
There is much for students to learn from his leadership. Students will analyze 39 statements that exemplify his leadership, including ten from Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball and keynote speaker at the 60th anniversary of Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in Fulton. These lessons can be used whether the students are on a baseball team or in the school band or looking forward to the future as a business person or a member of their community, they will have the opportunity, in one form or another, to be a leader. Their task is to take examples provided from Churchill’s life, from his speeches, his books, his actions and match them to the current concepts of leadership. From these ideas, the students will develop a “classroom museum” called Leading like Churchill in the 21st Century.
Who is this person named one of the most important leaders of the 20th century and what can we learn from him about leadership today? As a boy, Churchill lacked "cleverness, knowledge and any capacity for settled work. . . has a great talent for show-off, exaggeration and make-believe," according to his own father. At the age of twenty-four, he took part in the last great cavalry charge, was captured by the Boers, escaped and had a price put on his head, wrote his first book. He entered Parliament at the age of twenty-five and then served six monarchs, fought in the trenches of World War I, was twice prime minister, wrote forty-four books and received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He painted more than one hundred pictures and was made an Honorary Royal academician, became a Knight of the Garter and an Honorary Citizen of the United States of America, and was honored, decorated and revered by so many. (Adapted from a 1994 speech by Churchill’s granddaughter, Celia Sandys)
There is much for students to learn from his leadership. Students will analyze 39 statements that exemplify his leadership, including ten from Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball and keynote speaker at the 60th anniversary of Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in Fulton. These lessons can be used whether the students are on a baseball team or in the school band or looking forward to the future as a business person or a member of their community, they will have the opportunity, in one form or another, to be a leader. Their task is to take examples provided from Churchill’s life, from his speeches, his books, his actions and match them to the current concepts of leadership. From these ideas, the students will develop a “classroom museum” called Leading like Churchill in the 21st Century.