Secrets of the World's Largest Leader Genghis Khan

Those who know history know that Genghis Khan, the leader of the Mongolian empire 800 years ago, ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. His Mongolian Empire was 4 times the size of Alexander and twice the size of Roman Empire.  It comprises the entire East Asia except Japan, Central Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Today the USA called itself a superpower, yet it cannot even handle one country called Iraq.  People wondered how did the Mongolians, without a superior culture and technology, and with so little population (200,000) managed to do it?

What did Genghis did?  What do his achievements reveal about the nature of his leadership and management?  What traits made him so effective?  Most importantly, can we learn something from him and apply to our modern management?

Of course given the unique nature of Genghis's time his circumstances and personality, it would be ridiculous for us to follow exactly what he did.  But according to historian John Man, we can safely reduce Genghis's leadership and management to 6 simple points:

1. Define your Vision and Articulate clearly where you want to go with no ambiguity
2. Get the Right People and Get Rid of the Wrong People FAST, then
3. Delegate, delegate, and delegate some more
4. Be Consistent on the Main Points, but Flexible on Details
5. Reward Success
6. Deal Ruthlessly with Failure, and Learn from Failure FAST.  Never repeat failure

One more thing: Genghis is able to defy the Peter Principle: people get promoted for competence, and stop being promoted when they prove incompetent; therefore given time, all organizations tend towards incompetence.  On the contrary, at every level of his rise: from tribe leader to leader of the new nation Mongolia in 1208 and later leader of an empire, Genghis acquired new competence.  It was this supreme skill, learning, re-learning, and moving upwards - that makes him a Great Leader and Manager. 

If you too want to get ahead in your management and leadership, now is the time. Enrol in our How to be an Effective Manager on 24 September 2014 Wednesday or come for our 4-session How to Be a Better Manager starting 7 October 2014 Monday.  A list of our courses are found at www.asiatrainers.com/SeminarsList.php  Related articles:

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