Iron Will

Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills — Arthur Schopenhauer

She stood before the Parliament and said “No, no, no.”

It wasn’t going to happen on her watch. And it didn’t.

With the Euro in crisis today, no doubt her long time critics are keeping their mouth shut on that subject. She has been proven right, but no doubt her numerous critics on both sides of the aisle won’t give her credit on that, except they had to acknowledge that she had an Iron Will.

Yes, the Iron Lady. And many didn’t mean it as a complimentary sobriquet.

“Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.”  — Niccolo Machiavelli

Lady Margaret Thatcher, a Fieldmarshal Rational, had that Iron Will.  A Will necessary to revive Britain from it’s obvious decline.  And the Will to continue with the British Pound Sterling, despite huge pressure from those who wanted Britain to be an integral part of the European Union.

As a reviewer of Claire Berlinski biography of Thatcher has said:

Berlinski starts in just the right way, demonstrating that the Britain in which Thatcher rose to power was an entirely different country from Britain today. The standard of living had fallen behind that of Italy and France and far behind that of West Germany. Unemployment and inflation had become chronic. Strikes cost millions of work days each year. “London,” Berlinski writes, “was dreary and sullen. Throughout Britain, people looked ragged and worn-down.” A nation that within living memory had commanded an empire and defeated Hitler had grown shabby, ugly, dirty, and poor.

Thatcher, the daughter of a greengrocer, believed she could change that, succeeding where a long line of Conservative grandees had failed. “She’s not your ordinary, worldweary, pompous, self-important, thinking-inside-the-box, slightly defeatist, pragmatic, cautious, Tory politician,” John Hoskyns, the businessman who became one of Thatcher’s closest advisers, tells Berlinski. Hoskyns showed Thatcher a diagram displaying Britain’s countless ills–a hopeless tangle of causes and effects. “What the diagram really said,” Hoskyns explains, “is that if [you were] going to change anything, [you had] to change everything.” Thatcher understood, realizing, as Hoskyns puts it, “that something terrible [had] to be done.”

Breaking the Unions did not endear many of Britain’s population to her.  Even after more than two decades she left 10 Downing Street, she evokes anger in many at the mere mention of her name.

Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the privitisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. In her first years in office Thatcher’s popularity waned amid recession and high unemployment; then economic recovery and the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her re-election in 1983. Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987. [Wikipedia]

She had opposed using the Euro instead of the Sterling, but her support of a VAT (Value Added Tax) made her even more unpopular, so she resigned.  But not before the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and she had restored some lustre and life into that ragged British Union Jack.

When in charge of an organization, whether in the military, business, education, or government, Fieldmarshals more than any other type desire (and generally have the ability) to visualize where the organization is going, and they seem able to communicate that vision to others. Their organizational and coordinating skills tends to be highly developed, which means that they are likely to be good at systematizing, ordering priorities, generalizing, summarizing, marshaling evidence, and at demonstrating their ideas. [Please Understand Me II]

Soviet Union collapsed soon after she left 10 Downing Street.  What will be the fate of the Euro? The Pound Sterling?

Quote1.pngNothing is more obstinate than a fashionable consensus.Quote2.png  — Margaret Thatcher

12 thoughts on “Iron Will”

  1. I have read a country can get the leader it needs, I never understood the role she played, (not dismissing the suffering and hardship resulting from her government), but her leadership and government was very powerful, visionary, and she is an amazing example of a Fieldmarshal Rational. Australia is just beginning to see the determination and sheer courage of the Fieldmarshal with their own (female) Rational Prime Minister. She, in a minority government has been able to get through 269 pieces of legislation, reforms and policies. Not equalled by any other minority government. I have a whole new perspective and understanding of the female Fieldmarshal. And great respect, even if I don’t agree with all they enact or do, they seem to be able withstand the impassable and achieve the impossible.

  2. Miles Vorkosigan is an example of a rational character who emphasizes will. He is a prince of a neofeudal planet which has a murderous bigotry against cripples, and was disabled in an assassination attempt against his father Aral(Aral Vorkosigan was one of the best Guardian characters ever done, by the way). He overcame these odds to become a noted and feared warrior and a trusted councilor to the emperor.

  3. Professor, I know for sure that I’m a Coordinator(NTJ) but I still remain in doubt about my Role Variant. I would appreciate if you would list the differences between Fieldmarshals(ENTJs) and Masterminds(INTJs).

    1. Fabio, have you access to Professor David West Keirsey’s book ‘Please Understand Me II’, or even the Fieldmarshal and Mastermind descriptions from:
      http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/rational_overview.asp
      I have came out of the Sorter both Architect Rational and Healer Idealist at the couple of times I took it, (once younger at University, Healer), then older as Architect. So I read through the descriptions of temperament, (keeping in mind this is but ‘theory’), and while I can identify with many of the strengths in both Rational and Idealist types, I keep coming back to the strength of my temperament being a ‘Reconciler’ (Healer)-from my childhood it was obvious (to me), and even as an adult it is my basic best strength in my ‘hand’ of temperament. I got Please Understand Me II because I wanted more in depth information about temperament, the Keirsey site itself was not sufficient for my needs.
      My understanding of Fieldmarshal Rational is they are the ‘mobiliser’ coordinator, as in Thatcher, as in Douglas McArthur, Carl Sagan, Ellen Sirleaf- “arranging a well-ordered hierarchy that makes possible the chain of command and mobilising forces….expressive, energetic coordinators commandeer whatever human capabilities and material resources available and use them to execute complex strategies….any kind of undertaking, whether commercial, educational, political, military or whatever” Please Understand Me II page 173-174, Rationals.
      Whereas:
      “Masterminds”-(Arrangers) arrange things in coherent and comprehensive sequential order, and that is, they coordinate operations by making efficient schedules…..and contingency plans for keeping their schedule….often working behind the scenes…” (page 174)

      It took me a while to come to realisation and settlement on my temperament-most-likely also. I have developed many other strengths through time and my life, so I wont pigeon-hole myself black and white, (to a point anyway).
      Best wishes on this FB.

  4. What would Mrs Thatcher have said about the flag on this page? Whatever it is, this must be one of the worst I have seen.

    I live on the England/Scotland border. There are quite a few union flags flying in this area, but none like that one. Please replace it.

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