This week saw the anniversary of the D Day landings. The invasion of Normandy that changed the course of the Second World War.
Coverage in The Guardian said “Seventy Normandy summers ago, as the ships and planes and gliders disgorged 156,000 on to beaches and into the smoke, flames and barrage of mortar fire, victory was uncertain. So was survival. No-one escaped unscathed.”
This anniversary is said to be the last when survivors could return in large numbers.
It was a moment of real courage and bravery for thousands of soldiers. On a day of immense danger for all, there was still one who stood out. One soldier, the only soldier at D Day, who was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award in the military.
Stan Hollis was a 31-year-old sergeant major with the Green Howards when he took part in the assault on Gold Beach.
As his company moved inland, he captured several gun positions and rescued two colleagues, taking more than two dozen prisoners in the process and clearing a path for his colleagues.
Brigadier John Powell said: “Stan continued along a communication trench, and by that stage the Germans had had enough, probably it was the terrifying sight of seeing Stan charging towards them.
“In all there were about 30 prisoners.
“Now this action was immensely successful, not only did he save the lives of many in his company but by his actions he allowed this route up to the beach to be cleared.
“That was important for the success of D-Day.”
His reputation and feats live on in Normandy. In fact it’s said that he’s more famous in Normandy than in his home town of Middlesborough.
He was by all accounts an unassuming man, as many true heroes are.
He rarely spoke about what he had done. In one interview however he typically downplayed his bravery saying and talked about his team of men: “All these fellows were my mates… I had lived with them. Apart from the fact of being in the Army I had lived with them in civvy street before. We knew, well, everybody knew everybody else, and there wasn’t only me doing these things there were other people who were doing them as well and the things I did. If I hadn’t done them somebody else would have done them. There is no doubt about it. It was just a case of not who would do it, it was just when it was done, and it would have been done by somebody else.”
He summed up the event by saying that though people called him an inspiration he was in fact inspired by his men.
Although nothing in our business compares with Hollis’s actions, this last comment resonates. There is never a training event that I’m involved in when the trainees are not immensely inspiring. The reward for judging a competition at work, whether it’s a mini pitch (our Real World Pitching annual training scheme is one of these) or presentation skills, or role reversals and the rest, is the inspiration you get from the participants.
People sometimes comment or complain about inspirational leaders or the lack. Your team around you are reliably, genuinely and uniquely inspirational.
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on Thursday, June 12th, 2014 at 8:35 am and is filed under MediaComment.
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Inspired by your team
Coverage in The Guardian said “Seventy Normandy summers ago, as the ships and planes and gliders disgorged 156,000 on to beaches and into the smoke, flames and barrage of mortar fire, victory was uncertain. So was survival. No-one escaped unscathed.”
This anniversary is said to be the last when survivors could return in large numbers.
It was a moment of real courage and bravery for thousands of soldiers. On a day of immense danger for all, there was still one who stood out. One soldier, the only soldier at D Day, who was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award in the military.
Stan Hollis was a 31-year-old sergeant major with the Green Howards when he took part in the assault on Gold Beach.
As his company moved inland, he captured several gun positions and rescued two colleagues, taking more than two dozen prisoners in the process and clearing a path for his colleagues.
Brigadier John Powell said: “Stan continued along a communication trench, and by that stage the Germans had had enough, probably it was the terrifying sight of seeing Stan charging towards them.
“In all there were about 30 prisoners.
“Now this action was immensely successful, not only did he save the lives of many in his company but by his actions he allowed this route up to the beach to be cleared.
“That was important for the success of D-Day.”
His reputation and feats live on in Normandy. In fact it’s said that he’s more famous in Normandy than in his home town of Middlesborough.
He was by all accounts an unassuming man, as many true heroes are.
He rarely spoke about what he had done. In one interview however he typically downplayed his bravery saying and talked about his team of men: “All these fellows were my mates… I had lived with them. Apart from the fact of being in the Army I had lived with them in civvy street before. We knew, well, everybody knew everybody else, and there wasn’t only me doing these things there were other people who were doing them as well and the things I did. If I hadn’t done them somebody else would have done them. There is no doubt about it. It was just a case of not who would do it, it was just when it was done, and it would have been done by somebody else.”
He summed up the event by saying that though people called him an inspiration he was in fact inspired by his men.
Although nothing in our business compares with Hollis’s actions, this last comment resonates. There is never a training event that I’m involved in when the trainees are not immensely inspiring. The reward for judging a competition at work, whether it’s a mini pitch (our Real World Pitching annual training scheme is one of these) or presentation skills, or role reversals and the rest, is the inspiration you get from the participants.
People sometimes comment or complain about inspirational leaders or the lack. Your team around you are reliably, genuinely and uniquely inspirational.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2014 at 8:35 am and is filed under MediaComment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.