Genghis Khan – Lessons in Leadership and Management 1

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Management Structure

Genghis Khan had a unique chain of command  . . . . .  every man was an officer who could make a decision. Unlike his enemies who had a centralized command system of ‘do, stop, wait’, his army was broken into hierarchical groups of units who independently could exploit any opportunity that came their way as long as it tied into the overall master plan of ‘defeat and destroy’.

His army was made up of 80 000 fighting men . . .

  • The fighting men were actually 8 independent armies working to a common objective.
  • Each army was actually 80 independent groups of 1000 each working to a common objective.
  • Each group was actually 800 groups of 100 working together.

Therefore it was impossible to neutralize his attack. Down to the last man they had a mandate to do whatever was needed for the good of the whole regardless of the size of their group or whether Genghis Khan was in immediate command or not. This empowered his troops to exploit an opportunity in the environment before his enemies could even recognize it was a potential weakness.

LIVEOUTLOUD concurs with this empowering view of business management and leadership. The ‘do, stop, wait’ model of centralized command is redundant in today’s business environment.

Every person needs to believe in the common vision. Every person is mandated to think on their feet either on their own or within a small group. Every person must value and exploit the advantage that speed and opportunity offers.

At LIVEOUTLOUD we don’t have minions. Every person is a fighting officer.