alexander

24 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
front of his men, he torched his own wagons with his take
of the plunder, sparing only the quartermaster’s supplies
(including bullion for pay) and ambulances. He who had
the most to lose went first, and he bade his followers to
follow.
They did.
The army regained its mobility from the ashes.
Inferences and Allegations
Alexander brooked no distinction in rank when it came to
his military obligations. He endured no exceptions. He led
from the front—especially in combat—by example.
Leading Lessons
Be fair. Don’t be obsessed with possessions. Take forceful
steps to deal with problems. Use symbolism as appropriate
(see Chapter 4). These are all important lessons, but here I
wish to emphasize the role of reframing problems. Alexander
did not try to solve the mobility problem with the traditional
solution of slack resources. Rather, he reconceived of
his army as it had been in the beginning: small, mobile, and
flexible. The way to regain this initial formulation was to
recreate it from the flames. Despite the hard-fought fights
to acquire wealth, the army gladly reduced it to ashes when
asked to do so by a great leader who knew how to make the
request visually (by example), symbolically (with fire), and
personally (by going first).
Modern positive equivalents are rare, but negative ex-