Leadership Lessons From Hiroshima And Nagasaki

Given what we now know 75 years later, do you believe the US bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan were justified?

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both of which happened three days apart.
Although many of us living today have only read about this, those who bore witness to the era can still remember the horrors and subsequent suffering due to exposure to nuclear radiation.
The history of our species is far from wholesome. It is littered with decisions that led to great pain, turmoil, and death. Do we remember the fallen, or do we hide their skeletons in the closet?
The following are leadership lessons from the 1945 bombings that might help today’s leaders hone their leadership prowess for the better.

1. Consider the cost

Leaders must realise that their decisions significantly impact the lives of not just people today, but many future generations.
Many in Japan and the US continue to suffer due to the effect of radiation caused by the atomic bombs. Cancers of all types continue to plague many, leaving families devastated. Psychological damage in the form of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from wars continues to haunt many war veterans.

In his speech, President Obama asserted that the human wisdom of science had created the nuclear bombs, but humanity had not yet succeeded in creating the ethical wisdom to abandon nuclear weapons(Obama 2016)

As of now, between the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) there are an estimated 13 400 nuclear weapons in the world, 90% of which is owned by the US and Russia. When will that wisdom come, I wonder.

2. Make data-driven decision guided by ethics and wisdom

Sound decisions are often derived from multidimensional approaches. Today’s leaders in business and politics understand the need for data analytics, and how the inherent insights drive sustainable value for organisations. Nevertheless, this was not the case in 1945 when President Truman ordered the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The atomic bombs were the among most remarkable scientific and technological pivots of the era. And although there was no precedent of such capability before their use, the world’s civilization as we know it today would not have been possible.

However, it was impossible to anticipate the scope of casualties, and that explains why to this day there is a huge disparity on whether or not it was justified for the US to carry out the bombings.
Regardless of your position, the world at large continues to suffer the effects of this decision whether justified or not. As such, today’s leaders must understand that it’s their burden to make decisions that are sound in results, and that aim at reducing the costs and casualties of war justified or not especially where human life is involved.

3. Be Decisive

It is often said that indecision is a resource-waster and an opportunity-squanderer. The decision by the US to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a clear and decisive one. Debates and arguments about the necessity and ethics of the decision continue to this day.

Nevertheless, despite the ethical debates that will never be resolved. One thing is for certain, the US believed at least then based on President Truman’s view that his decision to drop the bombs saved not just American but Japanese lives as well.

The decision by the US to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a clear and decisive one. Debates and arguments about the necessity and ethics of the decision continue to this day.

The best measure of leadership is often gauged during a crisis. Leaders must embrace the idea that those they lead look up to them to make hard and tough decisions and take responsibility for those decisions whether they are right or wrong. Note, therefore, that as a leader you’re expected to have the courage, confidence, and consistency that make you credible.

The days ensuing the bombings, the US set up research study centers where till this day research is still ongoing in an effort to understand the health risks associated with the impact of radiation among other psychological effects.

4. Communicate Effectively (Own Your Leadership)

Leading is by nature a challenge in that the effect of one’s leadership is only evident after the fact.

How well you communicate to those you lead tells whether you are the kind of a leader that owns his/her leadership or the kind that places blame on others. Being a leader means that you are willing to stand behind your decisional brand of leadership regardless of the outcomes.

At the time of the bombings, the US didn’t have any data to support whether or not the decision to bomb Japan would yield the expected results, although World War II would end with the surrender of the Japanese forces.

Despite the huge numbers of casualties in human life then and in the years and decades that followed, the US upheld her stand that her actions were the best outcome at the time. Leading is by nature a challenge in that the effect of one’s leadership is only evident after the fact.

5. Be Humble

Leaders must learn to be humble and maintain a degree of openness as no one person has all the answers.  According to political historians, the jury is still out on whether the end of World War II was due to the bombings by the US or the Soviet Union entry into war with Japan in Manchuria on August 9th, 1945.

In his classic book Good to Great; Jim Collins asserts that great leaders are often those who lead with humility and not through personality.

“Level 5 leadership is a concept developed in the book Good to Great. Level 5 leaders display a powerful mixture of personal humility and indomitable will. They’re incredibly ambitious, but their ambition is first and foremost for the cause, for the organization and its purpose, not themselves. These leaders are often self-effacing, quiet, reserved, and even shy.”
Hubris is probably one of the most costly aspects of any conflict. Leaders need not consume their energies and intellect with the miniature, but rather on what drives their cause for sustainable value and results.

Conclusion

Leadership is not for the faint of heart but rather an exercise of sound judgment by those who understand why they choose to become leaders in the first place, or are aware of their dispositional strength or weakness and are willing to learn, grow, be decisive the whole way through and own the results–whatever they might be.