Blenheim Partners Anthology April 2018

John F. KennedyBlenheim Partners’ Anthology

HATSHEPSUT: ONE OF THE FIRST GREAT WOMAN LEADERS IN HISTORYHatshepsut was the second female pharaoh of Egypt and the fifth pharaoh of the 18thdynasty during the New Kingdom era (1570-1069 BC). She came to the throne of Egypt in1478 BC and governed for more than 20 years, delivering a period of relative peace andprosperity. During her reign she led a number of ambitious building projects, the greatest ofwhich was her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari. Hatshepsut is regarded as one of the mostsuccessful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an Egyptian dynasty.BackgroundHatshepsut was the daughter and only child of Thutmose I and his wife, Ahmose. At the ageof 12, her father decided she would marry her half-brother, Thutmose II to fortify the royallineage. Hatshepsut was elevated to the position of God's wife of Amun, the highest honor awoman could attain in Egypt after the position of queen. Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had adaughter named Neferure. After having their daughter, Hatshepsut could not birth any morechildren. Unable to have a son, Thutmose II then fathered Thutmose III with Isis, a secondarywife.Soon after Thutmose II coronation he fell ill and died. Hatshepsut,15-20 years old at the timebecame a widow with a stepson, Thutmose III, who became pharaoh by default. However,her stepson was too young to be pharaoh, and Hatshepsut became Queen regent, handlingthe affairs of the state until the young pharaoh came of age.During her husband’s reign, Hatshepsut had been a model consort. Images of her at thetime show her in her rightful place behind her husband. She was given the title of ‘GreatRoyal Wife’.Hatshepsut then slowly took on the regalia (ornaments) and symbols of the pharaoh. Sheunderwent a radical image change, where she began to be depicted in male form, wearing a

traditional kilt, head cloth, and even a false beard. Being a woman, only a handful hadattained the status of pharaoh.After seven years, Queen Hatshepsut proclaimed herself as King of Egypt. Thutmose III wasnamed her co-regent, but effectively she was the chief ruler in Egypt. Her daughter Neferuretook on the role of consort, performing the same duties that her mother had done duringher husband’s reign.Hatshepsut then took control of the government and army. She surrounded herself with agroup of loyal officials who held key positions in her government. Hatshepsut alsoestablished the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation andinitiated a lucrative trade deal in Punt (modern day Somalia). She emphasised commercialexpansion and traded Egyptian merchandise for gold, spices, tusks and ebony.As trade increased, wealth increased, and Hatshepsut began building projects throughoutEgypt which were of significant scale and creativity in comparison to her predecessors. Shealso rebuilt what had been destroyed in the past and expanded her father’s building workand initiated her own. Instead of employing traditional architectural styles, she created newstyles of building.Although principally a peaceful leader, she led military campaigns into countries thatbordered the vast Egyptian empire. She ruled for almost 22 years changing the mental andphysical landscape of Egypt and phenomenally increased the wealth of the country. She diedaround 1458 BC of an infection from an abscess in the tooth.What can we learn from Hatshepsut’s life and achievements? 1. AmbitionDuring her husband’s reign, Hatshepsut had been a model spouse. However after his death,Hatshepsut most likely felt she had as much right to rule Egypt as any man, and herdepiction in statues stressed this. Her statues showed her in all her royal grandeur in theforefront, with Thutmose III rendered on a smaller scale behind or below her to indicate hislower status. 2. ControversialIn the seventh year of Hatshepsut’s regency, she changed the rules and had herself crownedpharaoh of Egypt. She took on all the royal titles and names which she had inscribed usingthe feminine grammatical form but had herself depicted as a male pharaoh. This contrastedto earlier statues and relief sculptures where she had been represented as a woman. Herbreasts did not show, and she stood in a traditional man's posture, rather than a woman's.Some reliefs were even re-carved to adjust her representation to appear more like a man.In addition to this, there have been many theories over the years as to why Thutmose IIItried to blot Hatshepsut's name from history; the most likely reason was that Hatshepsut’sreign had been unconventional. He may have feared that other woman might look to

Hatshepsut for inspiration and try to follow her example, thereby departing from a traditionwhich maintained that men should rule Egypt and women should be only consorts. 3. She established her legacyHatshepsut commissioned hundreds of statues of herself and left accounts in stone of herreign, including her thoughts and hopes. She wrote “those who shall see my monuments infuture years and shall speak of what I have done beware of saying it did not happen nor sayit was a boast but rather how like her this is and how worthy of her father”. 4. VisionaryHatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, commissioning hundredsof construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Her buildings weregrander and more abundant than those of any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors (2050-1710 BC). It is said that later pharaohs attempted to claim some of her projects as theirs.Hatshepsut's greatest efforts went into these building projects, which not only elevated hername and honoured the Gods, but employed the people. The scope and size of Hatshepsut'sconstructions, as well as their elegant beauty, attest to a very prosperous period for Egypt. 5. Commercially savvyHatshepsut established trading relationships that had been lost during the occupation bythe Hyksos that brought great wealth to Egypt. She oversaw the preparations and fundingfor a mission to the land of Punt. It set out in her name, with five ships, accommodating 210men that included sailors and rowers. Many trade goods were bought in Punt, notablyfrankincense and myrrh. The delegation returned from Punt bearing 31 live myrrh trees.This was the first known successful transplant of trees from one nation to another in history.As well, Hatshepsut would grind the charred frankincense into kohl eyeliner. This is the firstrecorded use of the resin. 6. Strategic mindsetHatshepsut began her reign by marrying her daughter to Thutmose III and bestowing onNeferura the position of God's Wife of Amun in order to secure her position. Even ifHatshepsut was forced to relinquish power to Thutmose III, she would still be in a strongposition as his step-mother and mother-in-law and, further, she had her daughter in one ofthe most prestigious and highest ranking priestess in the land of Egypt. To furtherstrengthen her position and defend against detractors who would claim a woman was unfitto rule, she legitimised her reign by presenting herself not merely as Amun's wife in ritual,but as his daughter. She claimed that Amun had appeared to her mother in the form ofThutmose I and conceived her, thus making her a demi-goddess.

SummaryIn comparison with other female pharaohs, Hatshepsut's reign was much longer and moreprosperous. She was successful in warfare early in her reign but generally is considered to bea pharaoh who inaugurated a long peaceful era. She re-established international tradingrelationships lost during a foreign occupation and brought great wealth to Egypt. Suchwealth enabled Hatshepsut to initiate building projects that raised the calibre of AncientEgyptian architecture to a standard comparable to classical architecture that would not berivalled by any other culture for a thousand years.

SIR NEVILLE HOWSE AN ANZAC HERO Sir Neville HowseThe first Australian to be awarded a Victoria Cross was a surgeon. Sir Neville Reginald Howseserved as a soldier-surgeon in the Boer War with the New South Wales Army Medical Corps.Captain Neville Howse displayed great courage at Vredefort, South Africa, on 24th July 1900,when he ventured onto the battlefield, under intense enemy fire, to rescue a woundedsoldier. Even though his horse was shot out from under him, Captain Howse continued onfoot, to treat the soldier’s wounds and bring him to safety. His Victoria Cross was gazettedon 4th June 1901, and he remains the only Australian from the medical corps to havereceived such an honour. Alongside his heroism on the battlefield, Neville Howse dedicatedhis life to the improvement of trauma treatment and the advancement of prehospital carewithin the military environment. To Howse, the medical service was no mere humanamenity for soldiers but a fundamental of fighting efficiency. Although an Englishman bybirth, Neville Howes’s dedication and bravery to the Anzac’s cause makes him a trueAustralian hero.Early YearsNeville Reginald Howse, born in Somerset, England on 26th October 1863, was the secondof Dr Alfred and Lucy Howes’s ten children. Like his father, Neville studied medicine atLondon Hospital and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. As a young man,Neville suffered ill health and was advised to move to Australia for the milder climate. Hemoved in 1889, becoming a respected and highly regarded doctor at Taree in the colony ofNew South Wales. In 1895 he visited England for postgraduate work in surgery and returnedto Australia two years later, this time settling in the bustling town of Orange in western NewSouth Wales.

Victoria CrossWhile Neville was working at Orange Hospital in 1899, men were being urged by thegovernment to join the forces being sent to the Boer War in South Africa. Neville wanted tocontribute, and on 17th January 1900 he was commissioned Lieutenant in the New SouthWales Medical Corps and sailed with the 2nd contingent for South Africa. After a month atsea, they arrived in Cape Town. It would be another two months, however, before Nevillecould begin treating soldiers, as he became ill. After re-joining his unit, Neville risked hisown life to save a wounded man under heavy fire.Noticing a trumpeter fall, Neville leapt onto a nearby horse, and dodging bullets, gallopedtoward the wounded man. Despite his horse being shot out from under him, Neville reachedthe man and bandaged his wound. Then, as shell-fire intensified, he heaved the man ontohis back and hurried to a makeshift hospital in the safety of his own lines. Despite his severewounds, the young trumpeter survived. Neville was awarded a Victoria Cross for his braveryin the field. Surgeon General William Williams, who witnessed the action, claimed that “noman, more worthily earned distinction, throughout the campaign” than Neville Howse.Promoted to Captain, Neville returned to Australia in 1901. Later that year, at a ceremony atVictoria Barracks in Sydney, Lieutenant-Governor Sir Frederick Darley pinned a VictoriaCross to his uniform. Despite his extraordinary act of bravery, Neville always felt he was justdoing his duty and was surprised by the attention he received. When he was asked to retellhis story he modestly explained “It appears that a shell had fallen close to me. My horsereared, and I was thrown on my head. Suffering from concussion, and knowing not what Iwas doing, I had performed this tremendous deed of valour while suffering from temporaryinsanity.” After returning to Australia, he went back to South Africa as an honorary major inthe Australian Army Medical Corps in February 1902, just as the war ended.Companion of BathAfter the war, Neville became widely known in Orange for his skill as a surgeon and wastwice mayor. On the 31st January 1905, Neville married Evelyn Gertrude Northcote Pilcherat Bathurst. He remained a major in the Australian Army Medical Corps Reserve. On theoutbreak of war in 1914, Neville at once again volunteered for active service. Given the rankof Lieutenant-Colonel, he proceeded to Rabaul, New Guinea, as principal medical officer ofthe expeditionary troops. For this trip, on his initiative, Neville attained drugs and medicalequipment suitable for a tropical campaign Returning to Sydney in October, he was in timeto sail with the First Australian Division, and in Egypt was chosen to be Assistant Director ofMedical Services of the First Division.He was shocked at the Imperial Forces medical plan upon landing at Gallipoli andimmediately obtained improvements in the arrangements for the evacuation of theAustralian wounded. Neville took personal charge of the evacuation. Colonel BrudenellWhite described how Neville disregarded “orders in a manner quite shocking but strangelyproductive of results. Shells and bullets, he completely disregarded.” White added thatNeville “to the wounded he was gentleness itself.” He was later given control of all medicalservices for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. On Gallipoli, he established the

Anzac Medical Society which met regularly to disseminate knowledge among his officers.For his accomplishments at Anzac, he was created Companion of Bath.Director General of Medical ServicesEarly in 1916 Surgeon General Fetherston held an inquiry into the organisation of theAustralian Army Medical Services and as a result, Neville Howse was appointed DirectorGeneral of Medical Services of the Australian and New Zealand forces in the Mediterranean.Holding the rank of Surgeon General, he made a vast improvement in the conditions inEgypt. In 1916 he was also the Medical Director of the Australian Imperial Forces in France.The way in which he organised medical services for the Anzac soldiers was so effective; itbecame a model for the other allied nations to follow. He introduced surgical teams in thefield and developed resuscitation teams into each of his divisions. His valuable services werebrought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War, and in 1917 he was created KnightCommander K.C.B. In 1919, he was made K.C.M.G. and Knight of Grace of the Order of StJohn of Jerusalem.PoliticianNeville returned to New South Wales in December 1919. In 1921 he was made DirectorGeneral of Medical Services, as a regular major general stationed in Melbourne. From theday of his return, he spoke out in public about the achievement of the Australian ArmyMedical Corps in maintaining the health of the Australian Imperial Force and insisted thesame must be done for all Australians in peacetime. As a regular officer he could notcampaign in public, so resigned in 1922 and was elected to the House of Representatives forthe seat of Calare, as a member of the Nationalist Party. In 1923 he was a member of theAustralian delegation to the fourth Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva. He wasreappointed Director General of Medical Services on a part-time basis until he entered thecabinet in 1925. From January 1925, until March 1927, he was Minister for Defence andMinister for Health. In March 1927 he became Minister for Health and Repatriation. In the1929 election, he lost his parliamentary seat.In his brief parliamentary career, Neville was champion of the returned servicemen and wasa pioneer for public health in Australia. He spoke on the need for the Commonwealth toimprove public health, focusing on the treatment of cancer and venereal diseases andmaternity allowances. With the purchase of £100,000 of radium, Neville set up one of theworld’s first radium banks. He helped found the Federal Health Council in 1925 and theCollege of Surgeons of Australasia in 1928. He went to England for medical treatment in1930 and died of cancer on 19th September 1930. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery,London.Neville Howse had such a significant impact on improving the lives of Australians; first as adoctor, then a solider and finally as a politician. His dedication to the Anzac cause andensuring the safety of the troops was unrivalled. His successes in the words of another greatDirector General of Medical Services, Colonel R.M. Downes, “made him one of theoutstanding Australians of the Great War….one of the most remarkable and self-sacrificingmedical administrators any military force has ever known.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM SPARTACUSSpartacus was a Thracian gladiator, who led a slave revolt and defeated the Roman forcesseveral times as he marched his army up and down the Italian peninsula until he was killedin battle in April 71 BC. He is a figure from history who has inspired revolutionaries andfilmmakers, although scholars do not have significant amounts of information about him.Only accounts from a few ancient writers have survived to this day, and none of thesereports were written by Spartacus or his supporters.BackgroundAccording to the main two sources at the time, Appian of Alexandria and Plutarch ofChaeronea, Spartacus was born around 111 BC. in Thrace, whose boundaries today wouldencapsulate parts of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. This was an area in Southeast Europe thatthe Roman’s were often trying to subjugate in the first century.Spartacus appears to have served in a Roman auxiliary unit for a time, and he eitherdeserted or became an insurgent against the Romans.He was therefore captured and forced into enslavement. Due to his strength and stature, hewas sold as a slave to Lentulus Batiatis, owner of the gladiatorial school, Ludus in Capua, 110miles from Rome. Spartacus was considered a heavyweight gladiator called a “murmillo”.However, Spartacus was a rebel. In 73 BC, Spartacus was among a group of 78 gladiatorswho plotted an escape from Ludus. Spartacus and his co-leaders, Gaul’s Oenomaus andCrixus broke out of the barracks, seized kitchen utensils, and took several wagons ofweapons and armour. They defeated legions sent after them, plundered the regionsurrounding Capua, recruited many other slaves into their rank, and eventually retired to amore defensible position on Mount Vesuvius. This was more than a century before iterupted, and in Spartacus’ time, the mountain was covered with vines and had fertilefarmland nearby.

Rome’s response to this incident was limited as they were distracted fighting both a revoltin Spain and against King Mithridates VI of Pontus in Northern Turkey. The Romansdispatched a force of 3,000 under the command of Gaius Claudius Glaber and isolated thegladiators on a hill-top on Vesuvius. However, Spartacus surprised them as he had madeladders from the branches and ropes from vines and descended from the hill during thenight. The Romans, still in camp, never saw them coming. Plutarch wrote “the slaves wereable to surround them and to shock the Romans with a surprise attack. When the Romansfled, the slaves seized their camp.”Rome then sent a second force, twice the size of the first, commanded by Publius Varinius.The rebels easily defeated the second expedition. Varinius himself was humiliated; he lostthe very horse that he rode on, they killed his lieutenants, seized all their militaryequipment, and Spartacus paraded their fasces through his camp. With these two successes,they expanded their raiding territory to include the towns of Nola, Nuceria, Thurii andMetapontum. More and more slaves flocked to Spartacus’s forces, as did many shepherdsand herdsmen from the surrounding regions. By this point, Spartacus had 70,000 peopleunder his command.In the winter of 73-72 BC, on the coast of Metapontum, Spartacus spent the winter traininghis recruits. He planned to cross the Apennines Mountains and move to the north, where hispeople could return to their homelands. At the same time, the Roman Senate, alarmed bythe defeat of the praetorian forces, dispatched a pair of consular legions under thecommands of Lucius Gellius Publicola, and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus to defeatSpartacus. In the spring of 72 BC, a number of the rebels stayed in south Italy with co-leaderCrixus, while the remainder advanced towards the Alps under the command of Spartacus.Gellius’ troops caught up Crixus’ division and slaughtering Crixus and 30,000 of the rebelsnear Mount Garganus. Gellius then proceeded to advance on Spartacus from the southwhile Lentulus drove in from the north. Spartacus was trapped between two armies likelyequipped with better arms and armour than he had. However, neither commanderanticipated the sizeable cavalry force Spartacus had built up in the preceding months.Lentulus intercepted the main force of Spartacus’s army near the Apennines. Plutarch wrotethat with his cavalry force Spartacus was able to rush at Lentulus’ army and defeat themswiftly. Gellius was then either defeated by Spartacus or forced to retreat.Spartacus had one last obstacle before reaching the Alps: the army of Gallia Cisalpina, theRoman province which was inhabited by the Gauls along the river, Po, which flowed acrossnorthern Italy. At Modena, Governor Gaius Cassius Longinus and his provincial army weredefeated. Spartacus’s forces were now free to climb the Alps and go to Gaul, Thrace orother areas not controlled by Rome. However, for reasons lost to history, Spartacus chosenot to do this. Instead, he turned his forces around and went back into Italy. It is likely thatSpartacus was vetoed by his men, who had a taste for victory and had “visions of Rome inflames”. It was also speculated that Spartacus received news of Roman advances in Thrace,making him doubt he would ever be able to return safely home.In the winter of 71 BC, Spartacus arrived at the “toe” of Italy and captured the city, Thurii.According to sources, Spartacus made a bargain with Cilician pirates to then transport himand his men to Sicily, where he intended to gather reinforcements. “Although the Cilicians

made an agreement with Spartacus and accepted his gifts, they deceived him and sailedaway,” wrote Plutarch. Spartacus forces then retreated toward Bruttium, near Messina.By the time Spartacus had reached the Messina Straits, a new leader Marcus Licinius Crassushad taken command of the Roman forces. He was a wealthy individual, able to raise a largearmy and pay them, at least in part, out of his pocket. Among his forces were remnants oflegions, belong to Gellius and Lentulus that had been previously defeated by Spartacus. Herevived the practice of ‘decimation’ where military units that ran away from the enemywould draw lots and have a random number of soldiers killed by being clubbed or stoned todeath. Appian wrote “Crassus selected every tenth man from the consular legions by lot andhad him executed,”. This tightened discipline under Crassus.Rather than openly battle Spartacus in southern Italy he built a system of fortificationsacross Bruttium, from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Ionian Sea. It was a sixty kilometres longwall, cutting Spartacus’s troops off from their supplies. Spartacus responded to the situationby offering Crassus a peace treaty. Crassus rejected this and Spartacus detected that histroops were wavering, Spartacus stiffened their resolve by crucifying a Roman soldier whereall could see. It served as a “visual demonstration to his men of what would happen to themif they did not win,” wrote Appian.Although Spartacus was able to eventually breakthrough Crassus’s trap, splits emerged inthe rebel camp. A group of dissidents led by Castus and Gannicus broke away fromSpartacus and set off on their own. Also, another force, led by Marcus Terentius VarroLucullus, was about to land in Brundisium, and a third force, led by Pompey, was on its wayfrom Spain. In the spring of 71 BC, Castus and Gannicus were defeated by Crassus at theBattle of Cantenna. Once Lucullus’s troops landed at Brundisium, Spartacus’s men could nolonger get out of Italy using that port. It was time for Spartacus’s final battle.According to Plutarch, Spartacus called for his horse and in front of his entire army killed it,stating, “If we win I will have no need of this horse because we will have thousands ofroman horses and if we lose I would have no use of a horse”. He was able to defeat two ofCrassus' lieutenants, Quintus Marcius Rufus and Gnaeus Tremellius Scrofa. The final battlewas fought in April 71 B.C in the Upper Silarus Valley. The remaining 35,000 rebels weredefeated with most them being killed on the battlefield. Six thousand survivors of the revoltcaptured by the legions of Crassus were crucified, lining the Appian Way from Rome toCapua. However, the body of Spartacus was never found.Despite Spartacus’s astonishing achievements his struggles were barely revered or evenremembered as the centuries passed. Not a single written word survives from Spartacus orany of his men, and only four thousand words of historical record survived about his feats.Roman historians and scholars chose not to record or comment too much on this darkchapter in their history. It wasn’t until the 1760s that his memory was resurrected in France,with political freedom movements sweeping across the country and the rest of Europe. KarlMarx cited him as one of his heroes and the ultimate icon of the class struggle. He inspiredGerman Spartacus League, a forerunner of the Communist Party of Germany. Also, severalsports clubs in Europe were named after Spartacus. In eastern Europe, there are severalfootball clubs have Spartak in their title. His appeal was not just limited to left-wingpoliticians and countries. He was also mentioned by Ronald Reagan as a symbol of the fightfor freedom.

What can we learn from Spartacus’s life and achievements? 1. PersuasivenessAt the gladiatorial school in Capua, Spartacus would have been surrounded by captives fromall over Europe. There would have been an assimilation of different languages and awariness of one another, as their fate would be battle to the death in the arena. Organisingan escape with others in these conditions would have been extremely difficult. Spartacuswould have to have been a very persuasive individual to convince 70 of his potentialgladiatorial opponents that they should work together to escape from Capua. 2. GenerositySpartacus insisted on equally dividing the spoils amongst his men. This was one of theprimary reasons why an abundance of slaves from all over rural Italy were so keen to joinhim and showed some much loyalty to him. 3. Psychological WarfareSpartacus knew the importance of getting under the skin of not only his opponents but ofhis men. After defeating Gellius’ and Lentulus’ armies, Spartacus took 400 Roman prisonersand forced them to fight gladiatorial games. Spartacus knew reports of these games wouldget back to Rome making a mockery of the empire. When he thought his men werewavering Spartacus stiffened their resolve by crucifying a Roman soldier where all could see.He showed his men what would happen to them if they did not stay to fight. In what was tobe his last battle, Spartacus called for his horse and in front of his entire army killed itstating, “If we win I will have no need of this horse because we will have thousands ofroman horses and if we lose I would have no use of a horse”. Even when he knew what hisfate would be, he was still trying to inspire his men, in the hope of an unlikely victory. 4. Importance of TimingThe initial Roman troops sent to quell the uprising at Mount Vesuvius would have beenoverconfident as they assumed that they were taking on a small handful of gladiators. TheRoman’s had all the weapons and equipment needed to overwhelm Spartacus and his men.However, from his position on Vesuvius he could judge his enemies moves, and when theyleast expected it in the middle of the night, he struck, abseiling his men down Vesuvius toencircle the enemy. 5. VisionSpartacus knew that he would not be able to survive against the might of Rome without anarmy of skilled soldiers. In the winter of 73-72 BC, on the coast of Metapontum, he turnedhis group of rebels into a fighting force. He also recognised it did not matter how skilled hissoldiers were if they did not have the right equipment. Traders attempted to complete dealswith Spartacus’s armies, to trade the bounty they had looted, but Spartacus had forbiddenhis soldiers to sell bounty for gold or silver. He said “All I want is brass or iron to be turnedinto weapons” effectively setting up an arms industry smelting iron as fast as possible tomake sure every man had a weapon. Spartacus’s men became known throughout the

ancient world for their skill with the Roman Gladius Sword. Spartacus also recognised theimportance of his armies use of their horses in battle. Thracians were known to be goodhorseman, and it was a skill Spartacus taught to the rest of his troops. 6. The Importance of a Figure HeadSpartacus’s camp on Mount Vesuvius had become a beacon attracting all those who had agrievance against Rome. Spartacus accumulated a mixed group; he had a core of gladiatorsand runaway slaves under his control. The number of followers swelled during their time atVesuvius. It was estimated that there were 70,000 and reached up to 120,000 at the peak ofhis rebellion campaign. In Spartacus, they had found a figurehead for their hatred of theempire.There are few names as recognisable from ancient history as Spartacus. His achievementswere remarkable. Spartacus and his followers, the vast majority of them who had neverfought as soldiers, won at least nine major victories over Roman armies, the dominant worldpower at the time. This unique feat makes Spartacus’ slave uprising the largest and mostsuccessful of its kind in ancient history. His conquests mean that today Spartacus is thesymbol of a small man’s fight against brutal oppression.

DON’T TELL ME DATA IS YOUR ANSWER, IT’S YOUR PEOPLE – GET AWAY FROMYOUR SCREEN AND GET IN FRONT OF YOUR PEOPLEData is not the answer. Data is not going to deliver your products and services, gain yourbusiness customer loyalty, or enhance the companies’ profits. It is your people.It has been argued that people are a business’ most valuable intangible assets. This iscertainly true. It is usually a company’s human assets, instead of their actual tangible assetswhich will differentiate organisations and competitors from one another. Employeessignificantly contribute to the worth of the organisation.Good employees are irreplaceable. Without good people, your business will struggle. Whileemployees leaving a company can be replaced, their knowledge and inherent understandingof the business cannot simply be interchanged.Businesses must recognise and take advantage of the strong value which their people bringto the organisation in order to succeed. People management is essential. Managing a team,and doing it well, means you can create a positive workforce. Such environments lead toimproved morale, increased collaboration and teamwork, willingness to share ideas,enhanced productivity, and lower turnover. All of these outcomes considerably impact anorganisation and contribute to the business’ success or failure.In managing employees, there are a number of imperative things to consider.CommunicationCommunicate, do not dictate. Communication is vital in managing employees. Make sureyou uphold communication at all times. Managers should be effective communicators, bothverbally and in written form. Good leaders are clear and concise in their communication,allowing employees to receive and completely understand the message being delivered.Effective communication ensures consistency, collaboration, engagement of employees, a

common understanding of the strategy, promotes two-way feedback, and developsrelationships. When communicating with employees, it is important to pay attention to themessage being delivered, the language used, the timing of the communication, and yourtone.MotivationMotivation relates to inspiring, stimulating and encouraging employees to perform to thebest of their ability. It is an internal feeling which represents an individuals’ willingness tocomplete their work. Many people have argued that motivation leads to high levels ofemployee engagement, and in order to achieve high productivity, managers must keepemployees motivated. You want to create an environment in which people actually want towork, instead of perceiving the workplace as a chore. Motivated employees generally havehigher levels of innovation, creativity, are better problem-solvers, and create higher levelsof customer satisfaction.AppreciationEnsure employees feel appreciated and valued. The need to feel important is a naturalhuman instinct as no one likes to see their hard efforts go unnoticed. If employees believethey are valued, they are likely to feel more comfortable in their workplace, and morewilling to accept additional responsibility, or go the extra mile for the business. Showingemployees that you value them is a strong motivator as it encourages them to work hard forthe business. Be sure to keep this in mind when managing a team. Ensuring that employeesfeel appreciated should be an essential part of your business culture.Don’t tell me data is your answer, it’s your people. Get away from your screen and get infront of your people.

BACKGROUNDBlenheim Partners specialise in:• Executive Search;• Non-Executive Director Search;• Board Strategy and Structure Consulting;• External Succession Planning; and• Executive Re-Engagement / Transition.Founded in 2012, our team have acted as specialist Blenheim Partners is continually investing inadviser to many of the world’s leading corporations knowledge and understanding as exemplified by ouron Board and Executive performance, capability and Thought Leadership “The Challenges of Attainingsuccession planning. Growth”, Industry Papers and monthly Market Intelligence reports.Our consultants have worked with clients from allsectors and a broad range of geographies. They Our philosophy is to develop deep and committedinclude over 80 of the ASX 100, 10% of the FTSE relationships with a select number of clients and help100, Private Equity, Multinational, Private Family and them deliver a superior performance by optimisingMutually Owned Companies. the composition of their Board and Executive team.Our work includes assignments that are both local Our culture is built on pride, professionalism, espritand international in scope. de corps and client service.Our team consists of senior Search Consultants,Human Resource Directors, Psychologists, Coachesand exceptionally experienced Researchers. ASIA PACIFIC • EUROPE • LATIN AMERICA • MIDDLE EAST • AFRICA • NORTH AMERICA

Contact us Sydney p +61 2 9253 0950Melbourne p +61 3 9653 9510w www.blenheimpartners.com