The Little Prince and Leadership

By Luke Schamel, Project Director for the American Leaders Organization and a sophomore at the US Naval Academy.

The following is a short excerpt from Antoine de Saint Exupery's, "The Little Prince." The story is about a small boy who travels from his small, house-sized planet to other nearby planets and eventually Earth. The little prince's findings accentuate different aspects of our society and the simple truths and reasoning that we often forget as we lose our innocence through "growing up." I especially like the chapter where he meets a king due to its leadership implications, which is the excerpt I have provided.

"Ah! Here is a subject," exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming.
And the little prince asked himself:
"How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?"
He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects.
"Approach, so that I may see you better," said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.
The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king's magnificent ermine robe. So he remained standing upright, and, since he was tired, he yawned.
"It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king," the monarch said to him. "I forbid you to do so."
"I can't help it. I can't stop myself," replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. "I have come on a long journey, and I have had no sleep . . ."
"Ah, then," the king said. "I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order."
"That frightens me . . . I cannot, any more . . ." murmured the little prince, now completely abashed.
"Hum! Hum!" replied the king. "Then I--I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to--"
He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed.
For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.
"If I ordered a general," he would say, by way of example, "if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault."
"May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.
"I order you to do so," the king answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.
But the little prince was wondering . . . The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?
"Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question--"
"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him.
"Sire--over what do you rule?"
"Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity.
"Over everything?"
The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars.
"Over all that?" asked the little prince.
"Over all that," the king answered.
For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal.
"And the stars obey you?"
"Certainly they do," the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."
Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not forty-four times in one day, but seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred times, without ever having to move his chair. And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor:
"I should like to see a sunset . . . Do me that kindness . . . Order the sun to set . . ."
"If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to write a tragic drama, or to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received, which one of us would be in the wrong?" the king demanded. "The general, or myself?"
"You," said the little prince firmly.
"Exactly. One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."
"Then my sunset?" the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it.
"You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But, according to my science of government, I shall wait until conditions are favorable."
"When will that be?" inquired the little prince.
"Hum! Hum!" replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac. "Hum! Hum! That will be about--about--that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed!"

My take on some key points: I think it vital to focus on the simplicity of the king's statements. The raw nature of his philosophy on leadership should be examined and personalized wherever applicable, and applauded for its close ties with logical reasoning. Without reasoning and logical thought, an order holds no meaning with a subordinate. One can only hope they have earned the respect of their subordinates enough for them to overlook an unreasonable request, but repetition of such requests will begin to undermine any respect or trust that has developed. Trust is earned through respect and reasoning, and is not allotted simply based on rank or position--it is not issued and cannot be forced. Rank does not make one's actions right, nor does it automatically require obedience (though it is important to note that it may be legally required). Relying on anything other than respect, reason, and logic to accomplish goals and influence subordinates is unwise and puts any leader that does so on thin-ice, at best.
To the readers: Do not forget or overlook the simple truths. Ask only what you can reasonably expect of your people, and know how to ask for obedience so that your requests can be carried out--do not demand the impossible, but still strive for excellence.

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