“Genghis Khan: Leadership and Management Strategies”
By John Man

INPUMA , in collaboration with The Star and the Asian Centre for Media Studies hosted a talk on the 13 th of September 2006 by renowned British historian John Man. The topic of the discussion being the universally applicable leadership and management strategies adopted by the historical figure Genghis Khan. Mr. Man is credited as being the first to explore the hidden valley in which Genghis Khan was supposed to have died.

The talk began with Mr. Man presenting a cinematic opening on how he envisioned the legendary figure’s origins as a great leader. He portrayed Genghis Khan as a nomadic adolescent in Mongolia, an outcast from his tribe with his family living in abject poverty. He than gradually traced Khan’s rise to power, from a humble nomad to arguably the greatest conqueror in human history.

Mr.Man identified vision, direction and ambition as the key leadership traits that Genghis Khan possessed and used to conquer and administrate his vast empire. These traits are universal in that they can be applied to any leader in a modern context. Genghis Khan’s vision was the unification of China, that later evolved into global conquest. However, Mr.Man highlighted that vision and ambition to succeed were of little value without direction to realize the envisioned goal. Genghis Khan had a clear strategic direction in this regard; he employed nomadic military prowess, self-sufficiency as well as timely alliances with warring factions to consolidate power in his region before spreading outward.

In addition to the aforementioned traits, Mr. Man stressed upon the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan in that he sought to share both the “sweet and the bitter” elements of conquest with his fellow men. This endeared the great leader even more to his subjects who in turn displayed greater loyalty and courage towards a cause they felt was “theirs”. An interesting aspect that Mr. Man discussed was that a leader was in fact a vessel for a vision. He punctuated this observation with comparisons to the symbolic leadership of Lenin and Hitler and how their ideologies outlived them.

Genghis Khan, despite coming from a poor nomadic background with little intellectual background, did not resort to arrogance and intolerance. In fact, Mr. Man illustrated that Khan was keen on “surrounding himself with intellectuals” to strengthen his empire, be it military strategy, architecture or policy formation. This laid the foundation for the effective governance of Khan’s vast empire, which at its peak spanned from the Aral Sea (Central Asia) to the Yellow Sea (China).

In Mr.Man’s view, the greatest achievement of Genghis Khan during his reign was the introduction of a literary system. Khan’s lack of literate background makes his initiative to introduce a new language in his empire even more admirable. He sought to use a simpler language than Chinese which he found in Uighurs which is spoken to this day in parts of Mongolia.

Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan’s grandson, expanded on the empire and conquered the whole of China which accounted for 1/5 th of the world. Mr. Man accounted Kublai Khan’s strong advances to his strict adherence of his grandfather’s vision and principles. In fact the eventual collapse of the empire was in great part due, to the impossibility of global domination and Kublai Khan’s alienation from his people in favour of a lavish lifestyle. This was a stark contrast to the humble, determined roots from which his grandfather’s ambition was born.

Mr. Man’s discussion of the Khan legacy led to some fruitful lessons that can be used to shape modern leadership and decision making. Vision, ambition, direction, the ability to spot and recruit talent, tolerance of varying ideas and maintaining close relationships with employees or subordinates are the main lessons to be learnt from Genghis Khan’s legacy. Despite the bloodshed associated with the era, Mr. Man stressed that there is more utility to be gained from the analysis of the strategic positives.

Genghis Khan and his grandson created the largest empire on earth, despite falling short of complete global conquest, the current geographical shape and structure of modern China is largely due to their visionary exploits.