February in World War II: The Words and the Lessons Left Behind

Quick answer: What can leaders learn from the words spoken in February during World War II?

John contrasts leaders who used words to steady people with those who used them to deceive. Churchill's February 1941 broadcast asked America for the tools to finish the job. Two years later, after Stalingrad, Goebbels used his Sportpalast speech to demand total war.

February in World War II was a month of reckoning, and John tells it through what leaders said. On February 9, 1941, with British cities still smoking from the Blitz, Winston Churchill broadcast a direct appeal to the United States: "Give us the tools, and we will finish the job." A year later, on February 23, 1942, Franklin Roosevelt gave a fireside chat as the war in the Pacific went badly, telling Americans plainly that they had suffered losses and would suffer more before the tide turned. By February 1943 the Soviet Union had destroyed the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Roughly ninety thousand men marched into captivity, and only a few thousand ever came home. On February 18, 1943, Joseph Goebbels stood in Berlin's Sportpalast and asked a hand-picked crowd, "Do you want total war?" John's contrast is between leaders who used words to tell people the truth and give them a task, and those who used them to manipulate or to cover their own fear.

Why it matters for leaders: People can tell when a leader is levelling with them, and a hard truth with a clear task holds a team together longer than reassurance does.

Q: What did Churchill ask for in February 1941?

Q: What was Goebbels' total war speech?

A: A February 18, 1943 speech at Berlin's Sportpalast, after the defeat at Stalingrad, calling Germans to total mobilization.

Read the full article on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/february-world-war-ii-words-lessons-left-behind-john-fenzel-kjooe

By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation