Lessons Learned From Napoleon: What Went Wrong? (Part 1 of 2)

  Lessons Learned  

When I wrote the article Project Management According to Napoleon, I attempted to demonstrate--using Napoleon's own words--that his renowned military expertise was applicable to project management of any type.

The feedback I received was positive, and the one question that came up continuously was, "So what went wrong?" As my article demonstrated, Napoleon was a master at the art of project management in general, and military strategy in particular. So what did go wrong? How did a military genius such as Napoleon fall so quickly? What lessons learned can be extracted, so that we may apply them to project management? These are the questions that I will attempt to address in this two-part series, based on further research I've done.

Lessons Learned from The War of 1812
To educate those not familiar with Napoleon or his downfall, I'll offer the simplified version. In 1812, Napoleon led an invasion of Russia because the Russian Czar, Alexander, stopped honoring a prior agreement to maintain an embargo on England. The agreement was part of a peace treaty between France and Russia (Napoleon offered peace in exchange for the embargo). Napoleon knew he was limited militarily against England due to the strong British naval fleet. His only recourse was the embargo. Russia couldn't continue the embargo because it was hurting them economically. Both sides prepared for war. Thus …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.