It was at a time when Napoleon Bonaparte had conquered much of Europe and was involved in heavy fighting in Waterloo. Needing reinforcements, he sent a memo to his commanding general Grouchy to direct his 33,000 man army to Waterloo.

The memo began with the sentence: “His Majesty desires you will head for Wavre in order to draw near to us.”

What Napoleon intended was for Grouchy to push the Prussians in Wavre to Waterloo. But all Grouchy read was “Head for Wavre“, and headed there instead of to Waterloo! The reinforcements never arrived, and Napoleon, who till then had remained unstoppable, was finally defeated by the duke of Wellington, paving the way for England’s dominance in Europe and subsequently the rest of the world.

As strong a leader Napoleon was, this incident showed him as a poor communicator. The Duke of Wellington, on the other hand, was a stickler for communication, and it is said, used to sleep with a pen by his bedside. Napoleon may have been the most powerful ruler during his time, but when it mattered the most, the pen proved to be mightier than the sword!

This reminds me of the number of unclear and ambiguous emails and documented requirements leading to misinterpretations and time wastage in projects.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Napoleon had communicated his instructions to his general more clearly. This blog would probably have been in French then!