His Passport Shall Be Made

Something we’ve been thinking about

In Shakespeare’s Henry V, on the morning of Agincourt, the English army is outnumbered, sick, and a long way from home. Westmorland wishes aloud for ten thousand of the men sitting idle in England. Henry refuses the wish, “the fewer men, the greater share of honour,” and then turns it into an offer to the whole army: “he which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart; his passport shall be made, and crowns for convoy put into his purse: we would not die in that man’s company that fears his fellowship to die with us.”

How we see it through leadership economics

The speech is more famous for its lines about the band of brothers:

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother

The band of brothers, however, is not an idle sentiment applied to anyone. The phrase is made meaningful because of the offer made to provide passport and money for those that wish to leave.

Henry is short of everything, but he is at least capable of knowing who is truly with him. A soldier who stands in the line because he was mustered tells little about how that line will hold; compulsion keeps men in place, but it also makes them unreadable. So Henry pays the cost of an honest exit, a passport and crowns for the road, and every man who stays becomes a man who chose this fight knowing the odds. The choice is the information Henry needs to be assured of his army’s commitment. Commitment speaks in proportion to what it costs and how freely it is given, which is why a smaller army of volunteers can be worth more than a larger one of the mustered.

Commitment is shown by what people give (and what they gave up). When we commit to an objective or to a relationship or an idea, we sacrifice other possible priorities. These sacrifices are investments in that relationship. Little by little, each investment makes people joint owners of the outcome. In turn, leaders must constantly observe commitment. It provides important information about whose unseen actions and opinions are most likely in line with the objective. It allows leaders a tool for collating their many streams of information.

Without being burdensome or excessively demanding, give people opportunities to show their commitment. Henry gave a guilt-free, clean opportunity to show commitment; he gave his soldiers an opportunity to show they were willing to give up a safe, pre-paid journey back to their homes.

A line we’re sitting with

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Drift-Wood”