G. W. Smith, biz book punching bag

"As Smith discovered, being a boss is not the same as being a leader."

"When faced with consequential decisions, most people would prefer to be more like Lee than Smith, but the reality for many can be just the opposite".

"Davis was lucky [at Seven Pines] to have Lee close at hand (Lee was his advisor) but what would have happened if Lee had not been in the role he was in?"

Is this the same Lee that let Smith fight Lee's own Seven Pines battle for him? The Lee who was mysteriously absent after his urgent appointment to command the Army of the Potomac? The Lee who interpreted Davis's take command immediately as "take command sometime in the next 24 hours after you have some quality time off"? Is that the Lee managers should emulate?

People well read in Lee material, help me out here. Is this not the ultimate hands-off manager, the delegator par excellence, the you-handle-this-even-if-it-leads-to-Gettysburg-Malvern Hill-Antietam-the-loss-of-west-Virginia, etc.?

On the other hand, Lee's Lost Order is a masterpiece in micromanagement.

How do we split the difference?

Let us not deny the management students their teachable moments. We can do better than to bash Smith.