If Attila the Hun had a resume it would read, Emperor, King, Chief, and Prince. The resume would probably not describe how after his father’s death, in 418, Attila was sent by his uncle to be a servant in the Roman Court of Emperor Flavius Honorius. That, however, is the back story, as told by Wess Roberts In Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun. (At Strand Books, here) Roberts describes Attila as a visionary, an ambitious, and charismatic leader and a strategic thinker who united the Hunnish tribes into a nation then transformed that nation into an empire. He brought Astrogoths, Alans, and others together with the Huns to try to realize his vision: to conquer Rome. And he came close.

Attila was born in 406. As noted above, at 12 he was sent to Rome by his uncle, King Rugila, to be a servant to Honorius. In exchange Honorius sent Aetius, a Roman boy, to Rugila’s Court. This was an exchange of a spy for a “Manchurian Candidate.” Aetius was to learn how the Huns lived and fought so they could be conquered, Attila was to be indoctrinated in the ways of Rome and return to his people to facilitate their absorption into the Roman Empire. However, while Attila studied Roman strategies and tactics, he rejected the notion of Roman cultural superiority and returned home loyal to his people.

Aetius learned his lessons well; Attila suffered his only defeat at his hands in 451, on the Catalaunian Plains. Attila also learned his lessons. He retreated, studied his mistakes, reorganized his army, retooled their weapons and armor, and then, a year later, attacked. Aetius had beaten a barbarian horde but now the Romans were faced with a well-equipped and disciplined army. Rather than sending Aetius, Emperor Valentinian I, knowing that Attila, the “Scourge of God,” had acceded to the request of Bishop Lupus and spared the city of Troyes, sent Pope Leo I to negotiate. Attila spared Rome, returned to his city on the Danube.

Attila was found dead a year later, in 453, days after executing a rebel chieftain and the morning after marrying the rebel’s daughter. While all his would-be successors were ruthless, without one of similar vision, ambition, and charisma, the Empire of the Huns collapsed.

Attila could execute rivals. Project managers can, at best, request people be moved off their teams. Attila led an army of hundreds of thousands. Project Managers lead small teams of professionals to develop new systems, structures, or services. Still …

Roberts defines Leadership as, “the privilege to have the responsibility to direct the actions of others in carrying out the purposes of the organization at varying levels of authority and with accountability for both successful and failed endeavors.”

Project Managers are responsible for the success of their projects and are accountable for the failures. Along with other skills, Project Managers must be effective leaders. And as Roberts describes, Attila’s observations on leadership are relevant to modern project management.

PMI‘s PMBOK describes model Project Managers as “Servant Leaders.” PMs in Agile environments serve to facilitate work by their teams. In Functional environments we tend to have little or no formal authority. Whether in an Agile or a Functional environment we are guides who lead their teams by example, not generals who lead their troops by command. We are not kings or chieftains leading warriors or armies into battle to take over the world. While it may be a stretch to describe Attila the Hun as a “Servant Leader,” Attila’s overarching goal was to serve something larger than himself. He was primarily concerned first with organizing the Hunnish tribes into a nation, then organizing that nation into an empire.

Servant leaders are described as being facilitators. Project managers, in order to complete projects on time, on budget, and on specification, have to be decisive, have to bring out the best in their teams, and have to be able to persuade people – over whom they generally have no formal authority – to work overtime. They must be trusted, their judgement must also be trusted, and they must be right.

PMs tend to have referent authority, empowered by the project sponsor in the charter. They are held accountable for the success and failure of their projects. PMs need expert authority, expertise in the field, so they can understand the deliverables, and plan and effectively direct their resources to meet their goals.

Roberts’ chapters on leadership, customs, morale and discipline, respect, and deference, treatment of subordinates, negotiation, delegation, reward, failure, and lessons learned are relevant to PMs and operations managers.

His final chapter, “Attilisms: selected thoughts” is a 10-page guide to leadership.

“Written reports have purpose only if read by the king.”

“A king with chieftains who always agree with him reaps the counsel of mediocrity.”

“A wise chieftain never kills the Hun bearing bad news. Rather, the wise chieftain kills the Hun who fails to deliver bad news.”

“Wise chieftains never place their Huns in situations where their weaknesses will prevail overt their strengths.”

“A wise chieftain always gives tough assignments to Huns who can rise to the occasion.”

“Strong chieftains always have strong weaknesses. A king’s duty is to make a chieftain’s strengths prevail.”

“Huns learn less from success than they do from failure.”

“Superficial goals lead to superficial results.”

“The consequence for not adequately training your Huns is their failure to accomplish that which is expected of them.”

“You can tell a Chief by his Huns. Strong Chiefs have strong Huns. Weak Chiefs have weak Huns.”

We don’t know if Attila actually made any of these statements. But Roberts’ goal – and I think he succeeds – is to write a concise book on management and leadership that is relevant to the modern world and valuable to executives and others who lead people and teams, who think about strategy, and who are relied upon to develop and implement a vision for the future.

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This was originally published in the December, 2020 issue of Pulse, the newsletter of PMI NJ.