{"id":172466,"date":"2024-10-16T14:26:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T12:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=172466"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:31","slug":"retired-generals-give-practical-management-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/10\/16\/retired-generals-give-practical-management-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired generals give practical management lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

I regularly used to see generals walking across the Plein outside the Binnenhof on their way to <\/span>the small ministry of Defence building. That was during the years I was a member of the <\/span>House of Representatives (until 2021). In their gaudy uniforms, they seemed apparitions from <\/span>the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>, \t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

In parliament, debates were not so much about how to defend our country, but mainly about <\/span>how much we could cut back on defence. Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 <\/span>changed that in a hurry. But what do we still know about war? In the weekly podcast <\/span>Veldheren <\/span>(Generals), retired generals Mart de Kruif and Peter van Uhm discuss the wars in <\/span>Ukraine and the Middle East from a military perspective. In the process, we also learn a <\/span>considerable amount about management.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bookshops have shelves filled with management books, the number of <\/span>courses on offer is impressive, and management is researched and taught <\/span>in all sorts of ways \u2013 not least at Erasmus University. Academic <\/span>discussions about management can be important, but they are rarely a <\/span>matter of life and death, as is the case for war. Retired generals De Kruif <\/span>and Van Uhm have experience of war and share their knowledge with an <\/span>average of some 70,000 listeners to <\/span>Veldheren<\/span> every week. Regular <\/span>listeners proved eager to engage in debate with the generals, leading to a <\/span>tour of theatres around the country. Now there is also a book: <\/span>Veldheren. <\/span>Hoe oorlog werkt <\/span>(Generals: the ways of war) by podcast host Jos de <\/span>Groot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Discussions about wars are often about technology and weaponry, but winning battles is also <\/span>a matter of logistics and planning. Above all, the generals argue in the book, it requires people <\/span>with the right morals: \u201cIf you tell people very clearly about your objectives, and you give <\/span>them space, you would be amazed at how professionally people are able to handle a task. <\/span>There is so much value in giving people freedom of action and encouraging creativity.\u201d This <\/span>is the difference between the Russian army, which imposes plans from above and uses <\/span>soldiers as cannon fodder, and the Ukrainian army, which follows the Western example of <\/span>giving commanders on the battlefield the leeway to make their own decisions in the fog of <\/span>war.<\/span><\/p>\n

The podcast, tour of theatres and book can teach you a lot about how to win battles by <\/span>encouraging people\u2019s creativity. This is because the lessons come from former military <\/span>personnel who have long worked in an environment where management was not an academic <\/span>discussion, but a matter of life and death.<\/span><\/p>\n

The practical experiences of the retired generals show not only why war cannot be waged <\/span>without a plan, but also why the fog of war causes all plans to be abandoned immediately and <\/span>what this means for the fighting forces on the battlefield. They also show what terrible things <\/span>war does to soldiers, why war is a lose-lose situation and why peace is impossible without <\/span>reconciliation between adversaries. Generals who seemed out of date a few years back are <\/span>now giving us lessons for the future.<\/span><\/p>\n\t

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Veldheren. Hoe oorlog werkt<\/span> was written by Jos de Groot, host of the podcast <\/span>Veldheren<\/span>. <\/span>If <\/span>you\u2019d like to have a copy of the book, send an email to <\/span>erasmusmagazine@em.eur.nl<\/span>. <\/span>The first person to send us an email will receive a copy.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
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