Leadership Lessons from Napoleon:

Few leaders in history have been able to motivate others to act as Napoleon could. He did it by finding out what his troops wanted most and then did all in his power to help them get it.
Most of us take just the opposite approach. We first decide what we want, then try to persuade others to want the same thing.
Napoleon knew better. He adapted his style and tailored his plea to what his men wanted most at the moment.
When his army was half-starved, he promised them food in exchange for victory. When they were homesick and thinking of deserting, he appealed to their pride by asking them how they wanted to return home - as conquering heroes or as losers. When they were fighting in Egypt in the shadows of the pyramids, he appealed to their sense of history. "Forty centuries are looking down on you," he told them.
Helping others to see and achieve their goals - that is the essence of leadership.

From: Leadership...with a human touch - August 22, 2000