A Leadership Lesson From The History Of Valentine’s Day

The Modern Business World Is Filled With Leaders Like This Roman Emperor

Most people associate Valentine’s Day with Roses, cute stuffed Teddy Bears, and Commercialism.

All fair things, but not as interesting for Leaders as the story I’m about to tell…

I want to take you back to the Year 270 A.D.

The Roman Empire has not been doing well.

History would call this period the “Crisis of the Third Century” where the world’s most powerful Empire nearly collapsed.

At this point of the Crisis, we have the Emperor Claudius Gothicus.

Many today call him Claudius the Cruel.

He was involved in a number of extremely unpopular and bloody military campaigns during his short tenure as Emperor.

Claudius the Cruel believed that to maintain his Crumbling Empire, more war would be needed, and therefore would need to maintain a powerful army.

But he had a Problem.

It seemed that even though he was (debatably) the most powerful person in the world at that time, he couldn’t convince people to join the army.