Robert E. Lee on Leadership by H.W. Crocker

I had read the first few chapters of Robert E. Lee on Leadership several times, and I finally read all the way through it many years after I bought it.  Better late than never, right?  It is a great book, and perhaps one of my favorites that I've read this year.

In the book, Crocker recounts Lee's life and the principles he lived by.  He points out specific leadership qualities that Lee had and how they helped him succeed, and he relates these leadership skills to those needed in the workplace.  Though leadership regarding family issues is not specifically addressed, I found this book to be one of the best I've read on my role as a wife and mother.

In the chapter on Gettysburg, Crocker argues that one reason it was lost was because General Longstreet did not fulfill his orders to the best of his ability because he did not agree with Lee's strategy.  Perhaps this was a failure on Lee's part at not removing Longstreet, but he was in a tough position with little other experienced leadership to choose from.  In reading this account, something clicked in my head that I've never thought about before regarding my job as a wife.

As a Christian, I am to submit to my husband's leadership.  But just going along with his decisions isn't enough.  I don't want to be like Longstreet, doing the minimum and dragging my feet.  That's how you lose the battle.  I want to be like Stonewall Jackson, who followed orders to the best of his ability and put his heart into the battle, knowing that God was in control. 

For example, let's say my husband wanted me to homeschool our children.  I am not really sold on the idea, but I submit to his leadership.  He chooses the direction of the homeschool and agrees that he will be responsible for the outcome.  I do it with an OK attitude, but not to the best of my ability.  I lack the discipline and motivation needed to homeschool well because I didn't really want to do it in the first place and I don't think I can do it, etc.  Homeschooling fails, and my husband takes responsibility.  But it could have been a success had I shared his vision in more than a superficial, "hey-you-can't-say-I-didn't-submit" kind of way. 

It is easy to read a book and wonder what would have happened if Longstreet had sucked it up and followed Lee's leadership.  But in that moment, he didn't have the convenient view that we have of a history that has judged Lee an incredible leader.  In the same way, as wives, we can't see how history will view our husbands and their works.  But God has made them heads over us, and we must trust their direction and God's provision of them for us.


"The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain." Proverbs 31:11