How Winston Churchill Taught Me To Lead A Company From Overseas

Do you want to know what’s difficult? Leading a company. Do you want to know what’s even more difficult? Leading a company from overseas. It may sound far-fetched.? In fact, some might say I took the whole remote working aspect to an entire extreme. But strategies are oftentimes extreme. Especially when you’re seeking to achieve extreme outcomes. Markarie is truly a place without walls, with more than half of our team located overseas. Strategic soldiers spread across several cities spanning the entire globe.?

I’m often taken aback by that reality. But then I’m guided back by the wisdom of a great historical leader, Winston Churchill, who had a code for every situation, every scenario. After all, this man shielded an entire nation, and led it through triumph, during the most destructive conflagration of any generation.?

So it’s fitting that I’ve taken lessons from Churchill - to draw knowledge on leading through adversity. Here are the 5 lessons from Winston Churchill that taught me how to lead a company from overseas.

#5- Use History To Illuminate the Future?

Churchill was a history buff, much like I’d like to consider myself. Churchill would always use historical events and historical figures to guide him. His immersion in history allowed him to foresee the future. It made him relentless. He would use history to adapt and adjust, one of our core values at Markarie. I use the same approach with Markarie, regularly relying on historical figures and lessons to nurture modern-day business strategies. I instilled in my team the importance of historical context and historical lessons so that they too can become adept in history, and use it as a torch to guide their choices.?

“Everyone can recognize history when it happens. Everyone can recognize history after it has happened; but it is only the wise person who knows at the moment what is vital and permanent, what is lasting and memorable.”

?–Winston Churchill

#4- Be Courageous (another Markarie core value)

It’s easy to shoot down the idea of having your team, the entire foundation of your company, based overseas. However, I saw early advantages. Aristotle says that courage "is a means with regard to feelings of fear and confidence". Thus, it comes as no surprise when Aristotle says that a courageous person not only fears rightly, but also is confident about the right things, in the right way, and at the right time. For me, courage is a necessity with anything you do. There is a leap of faith that everyone has to take with whatever they decide to pursue. From Churchill, I drew the motivation to take that leap. That’s why this next Churchill quote depicts one of Markarie’s core values, which would be courage.

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others.”

?—Winston Churchill

#3- Lead By Example: Show Passion and Inspire Your Team

One obstacle I find with leading an entire company of strategic business coaches from overseas is that you have to supply a steady stream of passion. You are the glue that sticks it all together. They have to feed off of your passion, your commitment, your drive, your vision. Just how Churchill shielded, guided, and protected an entire nation in its most uncertain times, I draw from his grit, his grandeur, to galvanize a group of individuals from across the globe. Provide a purpose to propel those around you.?

"It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them."

?—Winston Churchill

#2- Instill Determination in Your Team

Another thing that brings me joy is when I see my Markarian army leading business campaigns and dealing with clients from overseas. Mind you the many obstacles they have in front of them. The excruciating time difference, language barriers, cultural barriers, and the need to catch themselves up to speed about the client’s business and industry. Yet they do all this with great exuberance, excellence, and continuous effort. I come to their aid by constantly instilling in them the determination they need to keep going. My MBA Professor Ben Daniel, taught me "the most important trait in an entrepreneur is persistence." No matter how tall the task or wide the wall, I urge them to keep pushing forward, and reach their full potential. I will never ask my team to do something I am not willing to do myself, and most times have already done.

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”

-Winston Churchill

#1- Never Give Up?

Such a sensitive business model remote working is. Even the most established companies have buckled and folded under the pressure of remote management and operations. So what then would you say about a company whose team is based entirely overseas? I’m sort of hammering in that aspect because I want to highlight how easy it would have been for me, or any one of my team members, to quit on the entire process. Believing in something that you can’t see or touch every day is difficult. The daily tasks are challenging. Juggling the day-to-day obstacles, with the expectations of clients, while overseas is daunting. Yet as Winston Churchill once said, and as I often remind myself and my team, “if you’re going through hell, keep going.”?

“If you’re going through hell,?

keep going.”

-Winston Churchill