Seventy-Four Notebooks
Quick answer: What leadership lessons does Gettysburg teach young professionals?
On Little Round Top, Joshua Chamberlain, a rhetoric professor who taught himself tactics for two years, had about a minute to decide. The minute made him famous; the two years made the minute. Gettysburg was largely decided by captains and sergeants in their twenties who understood their commander's intent and acted on it.
For the second summer, McKinsey & Company brought its Summer Associates to Gettysburg, seventy-four of them this year with firm leaders, and John walked the field with them alongside LTG Ben Freakley (USA, Ret.). Everyone is moved by that ground. What they watch for is when the questions change, from what happened, to what decisions led here, to what can I apply to my own life. With this group, it happened early. On the Union's southern flank they stood where Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a Bowdoin rhetoric professor with no military training, held the line. He'd spent two years teaching himself tactics by lamplight. On July 2, 1863, out of ammunition, he had about a minute to decide. The minute made him famous; the two years made the minute. A mile north, Lee sent Longstreet's men across open ground anyway. John notes that McKinsey invests in leadership at the associate level, before titles harden habits. Gettysburg was decided by young people acting on intent in the gap between instructions.
Why it matters for leaders: Develop leaders early, because the defining moment never sends a calendar invite and the studying must already be done.
Q: Who attended the Gettysburg Applied Leadership Experience?
A: Seventy-four McKinsey & Company Summer Associates and firm leaders, with John and LTG Ben Freakley (USA, Ret.), for the second straight summer.
Q: What did participants take home?
A: A memento marked with the Heroes' Path covenant: Learn. Serve. Lead. Remember.
Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/seventy-four-notebooks
By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation