General Robert E. Lee

One of the greatest examples of ethical leadership is Robert E. Lee.  Here is why.  On July 3, 1863, Lee ordered General Pickett to charge the Union line on Cemetery Hill.  12,500 men made the charge, which failed.  50% of the men in the charge were killed or wounded.  Here is what Lee did.  He got on his horse and rode out onto the battlefield to meet the defeated remnants of the charge, which he ordered.  As the men limped back to safety around him, Lee sat hatless on his horse and said to them, “This is my fault.  This is all my fault.”  Those defeated soldiers could have shot Lee dead on his horse, easily, but they did not.  Here is why.  They knew that over the years he always made decisions based on the best interests of the army, their interest, not his own, his career, his profits, his political future, his ego.  He worked for, served them, and if he made a mistake, as awful as this one was, it was an honest mistake.  Lee’s soldiers knew he was not a fake, phoney, fraud.  He was a “servant leader,” as we put it today.  Yesterday at a thrift store, my wife found a small, beautiful miniature of Lee holding a Confederate flag on a battlefield.  It sits on my desk as I type this.  It reminds me of what we sadly are missing in our country today.  I have stood twice on the spot where this charge happened.  I feel badly that men killed each other.  Yet, Lee’s example remains.  If you want to see a portrayal of this example of Lee’s ethics watch Ted Turner’s classic movie Gettysburg.