Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun

In the final four chapters, the author covers those virtues and traits that Attila gained and exhibited in his later years, when his strength began to leave him and he had the opportunity to reflect upon his youth. In the infamous meeting with Pope Leo, Attila was dissuaded from sacking Rome and advancing upon the city. There is evidence to support the theory that Attila gave orders to retreat because he realized that he didn’t have the requisite forces to capture the city, so that he used the meeting with the pope as a convenient excuse to change his strategy under the guise of diplomacy. The emperor was convinced that Attila was capable of victory, however, and completely ignored the advice of Aetius, Attila’s longtime rival, that Attila was too weak to achieve his goal.

Ignoring Aetius’s arguments, Valentinian III sent for the pope and begged him to repel the invading Huns. Regardless of the precise nature of the meeting, which is shrouded in mystery, the author uses the event to speak about the good of advantageous negotiations and being willing to compromise or even back down when the circumstances call for such a decision. Keeping the content of negotiations private is yet another tactic that is necessary to ensure their success. At minimum, this code of mutual confidentiality prevents the other party—whether at war or in a business deal—from becoming angered by a breach of privacy and ensures that third parties—or other “enemies,” in the words of Attila’s persona—are do not gain access to private information about one’s abilities and weaknesses.

The chapter following this discussion of the ethics of negotiation focuses on protecting the ability to survive to fight another day. These two points are linked in their focus on prudent decision-making by leaders. Just as determining whether compromise is the best path forward in a negotiation requires discretion and good judgment, the difficult decision to retreat and admit defeat in order to live to fight again depends on a leader’s having cultivated judgment and the ability to honestly assess a situation. One of the greatest skills that a leader can have is that of being able to suffer a defeat without collapsing or allowing that defeat to initiate a cycle of negativity. Becoming mired in despair and anger over a defeat harms both the leader and the organization, while the most effective thing to do is to accept one’s fate and move forward with a new strategy and a lesson learned. This leads immediately to the Chapter 15 discussion of learning from one’s previous failures and misfortunes. While Attila rarely suffers defeat, he gains maturity and wisdom from the one time that he is unable to best an opponent. He continues to grow and develop as a leader because he does not achieve a perfect success rate in his campaigns.

In early campaigns, Attila employed certain tactics to great effect and gained many victories due to his brilliance as a strategist. Over time, however, his strategies became more widely known, and eventually he suffered defeat at the hands of Aetius, the enemy who had the advantage of both internal and external perspectives on the Huns. In reflecting on that defeat, Attila realizes that his inflexibility and his unwillingness to adapt his tactics to new times, new circumstances, and new weapons were part of the reason why he lost the battle. The lesson is simple: Relying on the same old thing time after time will eventually prove to be unsuccessful. Change is inevitable, and one must adapt or die. This doesn’t imply wholesale rejection of the past or the death of tradition, but it means being willing to be open to new ideas and incorporating new knowledge into one’s general philosophy to accommodate the changes that are occurring in the surrounding world.

Finally, the last chapter covers Attila’s death and the necessity for a leader to prepare those he leads to succeed without him. Just as a parent truly succeeds when a child goes out into the world as an independent agent, capable of life apart from the family unit, a leader’s greatest success is allowing the nation or organization they lead to survive their own death and flourish for generations, thanks in part, of course, to the work and dedication implicit in that leadership. The strong bond that occurs between a leader and those led is an indicator of the devotion the leader displays, but this devotion cannot be such that it causes the successor to be slighted or looked at with suspicion. As the transition in leadership occurs, the common good is best served when the entity survives the death of the leader and continues toward greater overarching goals.