No Substitute for Victory: Lessons in Strategy and Leadership from General Douglas Macarthur

Chapter 51. Love Peace

Whether they work in business, public, nonprofit, or military realms, all leaders must deal with conflict. The causes of conflict are often outside their control, but they have choices in their responses to it. Great leaders first seek peaceful and cooperative resolutions to conflict.

MacArthur was a professional warrior, but he professed to abhor war. This attitude appears to have first emerged in WWI, during which he witnessed the wholesale slaughter firsthand. In fewer than ten months of combat, the Rainbow Division itself suffered over 14,500 casualties in the war. This was the third highest total in the American Expeditionary Force, and it represented half of the division's full authorized strength of 28,000 men.