Quantity with Quality
Have You Ever Been Unexpectedly Asked to Lead?
What you can do to assure you are prepared to step up
This is my next story in a series of articles responding to Dr Mehmet Yildiz’s challenge to produce a short quality article with three take home points each day for thirty days.
I have chosen to use Wikipedia’s main page as inspiration, choosing one topic from their “Did You Know” section as topical encouragement.
During the First English Civil War, Royalist Baron Thomas Arundell of Wardour conscripted a cavalry regiment and left Wardour Castle to fight for the King. Baron Arundell left his wife, Lady Blanch Arundell to keep the castle at all costs.
With the Baron taking most of his fighting men on campaign, Castle Wardour housed 55 people, only 25 of whom were capable of fighting. Lady Arundell, age 60, her daughter-in-law and three young grandchildren were supported by 50 people including the 25 guards and various servants.
On May 2, 1643, Sir Edward Hungerford a Parliamentarian commander besieged the castle with upwards of 1,300 soldiers. Ostensibly Sir Hungerford claimed that the castle was harboring “cavaliers and malignants” (Royalists), although the castle also represented a significant geographical resource.
Lady Arundell and her guards held off the attackers for seven days despite staggeringly desperate odds. Only after explosives were used on the castle foundations did she relent. Lady Arundell successfully negotiated a surrender of the castle that guaranteed release and safe passage for all the women and children and assurances that the guards would be garrisoned as prisoners and not harmed.
What We Can Learn from the Siege on Wardour Castle and Lady Blanche Arundell
Certainly, the siege on Wardour Castle was unanticipated, or Baron Arundell would have likely left more men to guard the keep.
And, while Lady Arundell was left to “guard” the castle, it is unlikely that she or the Baron expected that she would be pressed into a leadership role in battle. We can imagine that Lady Arundell’s life experience, relationship with her servants and guards, as well as the family’s preparation against disaster all contributed significantly to her warding off the attack for so long.
Take home points:
- You never know when you might experience an unexpected life change that places you in a new and possibly more complex role.
- Preparing for the unexpected is one of the best ways to set the stage for success in the face of surprising events. The wording here is intentional. Unexpected can be managed into simply being surprising, but not overwhelming.
- It pays to have strong relationships with your community; especially in unforeseen circumstances.
Are you ready to step up and lead at a moment’s notice?
If not, what are some of the tools and knowledge you need in order to do so? Make a list of ways you can prepare to lead during adversity.
How strong are your community relationships? Who can you rely on in unexpected times of need? Who can rely on you?
We should all endeavor to be as stalwart as Lady Blanche Arundell.
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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.
