Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Charge the bridge first
Convince yourself first
A founder has to convince themselves first. Picture concentric circles with a dot in the middle that is just the founder, the sovereign individual who believes they will lead the movement. If the founder isn't willing to dedicate their life to the idea, nobody else has a reason to.
Caesar and Napoleon
If Napoleon's general isn't going to die for it, why would the soldiers? If he isn't going to charge the bridge, nobody wants to be the one running across it. At the battle against Vercingetorix, Julius Caesar came out as the easiest target on the field because of the way he was dressed. His soldiers saw him and rallied back up: he was going to fight, so they had to fight.
Leading by doing
Seeing a leader do the thing makes everyone else feel ashamed not to be doing it. The person in the middle has to be the most convicted, the most passionate, and have the clearest idea of the promised land.
Why did Caesar's cloak rally his soldiers?
At Alesia in 52 BC, Caesar's army besieged Vercingetorix's Gauls inside a hilltop town while also facing a huge relief army from outside. Caesar's own account says that when he arrived at the weakest point of the line, his soldiers recognized him by his scarlet general's cloak. Fighting then intensified and the Gauls were driven back. Vercingetorix surrendered, and Caesar later displayed him in a triumph in Rome in 46 BC.
Which bridge did Napoleon charge across?
At the Battle of Arcole in November 1796, French attacks along a narrow causeway and bridge were repeatedly thrown back by Austrian fire. Napoleon, then a general of 27, took a flag and advanced onto the bridge himself to rally his men. Antoine-Jean Gros's painting Bonaparte on the Bridge at Arcole made the moment famous.
How did Roman officers lead in battle?
Centurions commanded units of about eighty men and were expected to lead from the front. Their casualty rates were high as a result. At Gergovia in 52 BC, Caesar reports that he lost 46 centurions in a single failed assault.
More from David Senra
