Saladin - Better Living Through Chivalry
Saladin (1137-93) was held in high esteem by both his allies and his enemies. He shifted gears easily from harsh to gentle. He defined his era and his legend lives on today.
Saladin was the Muslim Sultan of Egypt and Syria for almost 20 years 1174-1193. A clever fighter, he won by using his head just as much as his sword arm. He united squabbling Islamic armies by uniting them in a jihad against a common foe: the Chrisitan Crusaders.
In the early 1180s, Saladin was sultan of Egypt, but not all that big of a deal in either the Islamic or Christian worlds. He wasn’t super powerful, and had to make treaties with his powerful neighbors, no matter their religious faiths. The truce was always tenuous, with tensions and mutual distrust all around.
He might just be a footnote in history, but one of those neighbors, Reynald de Chatillon, broke the treaty by attacking a caravan of Muslim pilgrims on their way to Mecca. Saladin used this as his casus belli to attack the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Rather than just charge headlong at his enemy, Saladin meticulously planned the campaign. He lured his enemies deep into the desert, then placed guards at all the wells and springs between him and his foes. He aimed to draw the Crusaders into a battle on terms most favorable to his army.
King Guy of Jerusalem was unpopular with his people. While he really needed a win, he did not plan ahead. The bishop of Acre had a most sacred relic, a piece of the True Cross, and he went along for the ride, so how could they lose?
King Guy’s knights suited up in their heavy armor and rushed out into the July heat. Their water ran out before they could reach Saladin’s forces. On July 4, 1187, Saladin crushed the crusaders at the Battle of Hattin. They lost the battle, thousands were killed, and their leaders were captured.
Saladin was known for his chivalrous acts. He offered King Guy a glass of ice water, showing kindness and respect to his defeated foe. But Saladin was no pushover. He beheaded the hated Reynald with his own sword on the spot.
With crusader forces depleted, Saladin was able to achieve his main goal and retake Jerusalem. By October he entered the city in triumph. Furthering his reputation for chivalry, after the city surrendered, he allowed the families of means to ransom their relatives. Saladin encouraged the Knights Hospitaller to pay the ransom for those too poor to pay for themselves.
Given all this kindness, you might think Saladin was a wimp in the medieval world. Not so. When he needed to be ruthless, he didn’t hesitate. Just hours after he offered ice water to the king of Jerusalem, he ordered the execution of hundreds of Knights Templar held prisoner. The people of Jerusalem that couldn’t pay their ransom were sold into slavery. Make no mistake, Saladin was nobody’s doormat.
By retaking Jerusalem and crippling the Crusaders, Saladin had altered the balance of power in the region dramatically in his favor. He raised his profile from zero to hero in the Islamic world. Through his cunning tactics and chivalrous acts to the defeated, he became esteemed throughout Christian Europe.
This news, of course, caused much consternation once it got back to Europe. The loss of Jerusalem was the reason that the Third Crusade was called. That’s another story, but from this point onward, Saladin’s name would be on the Top Medieval Ruler list forevermore.
You probably have been told that you gotta be tough to make it in business. Maybe so, at least sometimes. But can kindness be a strategic advantage?
No matter who you are, you can make your workplace better or worse through your actions every day. And if you're the manager, you can have an outsized effect.
Everything works better at work when the office doesn't suck. A culture of kindness encourages collaboration and teamwork. You get more done with less effort when teams cooperate.
This doesn’t mean that a strong culture is all trust falls and community building. Sometimes tough decisions have to be made, but you don’t have to be medieval about it.
Saladin was known for his generosity and chivalrous acts. He was tough when needed but not brutal for its own sake. His enemies respected him so were more likely to surrender the city to him and not expect to be immediately killed.
If you want to increase loyalty with your team, try to enhance trust. A great way to do that is to be kind when you can. Or at least just don’t be a jerk all the time just because. Or maybe it will be your head that rolls one day.
