Attila the Hun was once the leader of one of the great empires in the 400’s. In battle, he practiced a scorched earth policy which means to reduced everything in his path to rubble – take all provisions and treasures; burn down the buildings, kill the males and take females as slaves. It leaves much to be desired but has the effect – the next time around in two or three years – people will pay for the army to bypass the town or city. There are many stories about Attila’s his well deserved reputation. There is another side to his successes. In the book Attila the Hun – Barbarian Terror and the Fall of the Roman Empire by Christopher Kelly published by McArthur & Co, Toronto, 2008; Mr. Kelly adds to the Attila’s feat.

For 700 years, the Roman Empire had ruled the world and the Emperors were the most powerful people around the Mediterranean Sea. All lands around the sea were controlled by the Roman Empire with Rome the center of the Western Empire and Constantinople (now called Istanbul ) was the center of the Eastern Empire. Looking at a map of the Sea and try to think what communications would be like between the capitals, if you guessed it was slow you are correct. One of the biggest problems of a large empire is distance. It took time to get information and to send information. This meant the emperor had to rely on the trust of others and if they put in the wrong people (as it happens) the other side would make inroads. For a wealthy empire, one of the ways the Romans kept the peace was to pay tribute to other empires to leave them alone. The Empire had important boundaries and as long as the other empires stayed away from the boundaries  – all was in balance. In that fray you can see – balance, many different balls to juggle and dependence on good people who have ambition of their own and you have to credit the empire for lasting so long.

Enter Attila the Hun, for much of his life he was content to stay outside the boundaries of the Roman empire and attack the non Roman armies, for Attila had been in Rome to live and study Rome’s methods. He learned siege warfare well; he learned Roman diplomacy and he was ambitious and believe it was foretold he would be a world leader. Attila also understood the Empire was slow in responding and often the empire could not defend all of its borders at once. Generals picked their battles and some battles in far off lands were worth less effort. Attila exploited the Romans and if you read his story it terms of military strategies rather than focusing on his scorched earth military policies, you can learn how to tackle large companies. The empire did not fall because of Attila, but without people like Attila and his successes inside the traditional Roman empire lands which showed the rest of the world Rome was not as powerful as everyone thought it was. Attila’s actions  hastened the fall of the Roman empire.

Linking to dividend paying companies, in the above example Attila is a start up company which rises against the monopoly company (Rome). It succeeds as long as Attila is alive, although after Attila dies his empire breaks down with its internal infighting or succession problems. Leadership can come from all walks of life, how long and sustaining they will be are a different questions. Large institutions have lines in the sand or traditionally strong areas of revenue generation; normally if attacked they will tear down the opposition; if that does not happen it is time to look to alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.