The Critical Success Factors of
Great Team Leaders
From Warren Buffett, Harlem Gro Brundtland,
Paul Farmer, Wallis Kendall, Jean Moulin, Mike Mullane,
President Obama and Meg Whitman to Mohammad Yunus,

by Alain Paul Martin
with the Collaboration of Linnea Meyer

Scheduled for publishing in December 2009 in hardbook format, this book is for practicing leaders and aspiring counterparts of all hierarchical levels in medicine, engineering, R&D, finance, marketing, IT and legal professions (among others); in business, governments and NGOs. In addition to the specific knowledge, skills and other factors that are critical to the success of high-achieving leaders, the book features some of the most remarkable great team leaders of our times, women and men, from the USA, Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia. It distils their remarkable thoughts, visions and unique practices, with glimpses on the most valuable elements of their career journeys.

Excerpts from Chapter IV: Leadership Courage

© A. P. Martin, 2009. All rights reserved.

2. Jean Moulin: A Heroic and Unshakeable Courageous Leader

Leading teams in a normal corporate setting is always a challenge. Think for a moment of a covert team leader working over a vast territory occupied by ruthless foreign fanatical foes set to crush dissent and torture and kill its leaders and sympathizers. Add the fact that the territory is plagued by collaborators. Imagine that, in this utterly hostile environment where everyone's life is in constant danger, you are trying, with limited means, to unite conflicting and staunchly independent factional leaders to rapidly form over 100 elite S.W.A.T. teams underground to defeat a powerful occupier. That was the challenge facing Jean Moulin, an inspiring model of unshakable courage for every team leader, a French republican, a democrat and a hero of the French Resistance in World War Two.

Jean Moulin is indeed credited with uniting the staunchly independent elements of the French resistance to German occupation. In 1940, Jean Moulin was the youngest regional administrator (prefect) in France. Arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, as a suspected communist, he tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat, and was hospitalized. After recovering, he briefly returned to his post from which he was fired for refusing anti-republican Vichy Regime orders to sack left-wing officials.[1]

Click below to view a larger image (150K)

Jean Moulin subsequently went to London, U.K. where he convinced General De Gaulle of the need to dissolve existing scattered resistance cells and build a secret intelligence-centric paramilitary resistance network through which to channel money, arms and communications. [2] His mission was twofold: create a widespread intelligence network and unite the various and sometimes factional resistance groups throughout France. The ultimate purpose of the network was: (1) disrupt the occupation forces by orchestrating simultaneous sabotage action destroying bridges, railways, power lines and other infrastructural assets; (2) collect vital field intelligence to prepare the landing of the allies in France; and (3) prepare a post-war strategy.

In London, Moulin set up several teams including a jurist commission to draft the blueprint for a smooth post-war transition (administration, justice, reconstruction), a parachuting and maritime operations, wireless communications and media taskforces to serve the resistance and disseminate information to American and British media. He applied Jay-Lorsch's differentiation-integration concept before its time, separating military and political action to maximize effectiveness and mitigate risk, and integrating at the top to maintain unity of purpose. After more than two years of daunting effort and risk to his life, Jean Moulin succeeded in unifying and consolidating the resistance movement that reached out to encompass moderate forces including trade unions. "Moulin had every justification to exult on the night of May 27, 1943. He had brought about a kind of miracle, uniting men of very different political views, of highly competitive ambitions and egos, working and fighting under constant stress with their lives on the line in every meeting and every decision, and as such vocal in their opinion on France's future. He had done so against opposition that at times seemed insurmountable." [3] In 1943, Jean Moulin was recaptured and tortured to death by the Gestapo for remaining silent.

In the book titled The Six Faces of Courage, Michael Foot reaffirmed that " [i]t was Jean Moulin who saved France from the civil wars that ravaged Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece; who gave the battered nation back its self-respect. He never blew up a train, or knocked down a bridge, or even carried a pistol; he made sense of the work of those who did." [4]

© A. P. Martin, 2009. All rights reserved.
This document and book excerpts are strictly for personal use. The reader acknowledges that the contents are protected by United States, Canada and international copyright laws. No one is authorized to publish, sell, rent, license, transmit, broadcast, edit, modify, use, copy or display these excerpts on the Internet, in a paper-based document or in a meeting, a conference, an educational or a training session without the written permission of the author.