Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun

In Chapter 11, Attila introduces the concept of delegation: the practice of dividing up responsibility among trusted subordinates to rule more effectively. Under Attila’s rule, the Hun nation gained a unity that it never achieved before. This consolidation enabled a new centralized power that was not realistic under the previous structure of loosely associated groups. Attila demonstrates his wisdom in being willing to take trusted advisors into his confidence and give them duties in ruling the nation, which is too large to be governed by one person. Without this division of roles, important areas of managing the nation might have been neglected or poorly executed.

The primary nation dealt with in the book, the Huns were a nomadic people who inhabited Central Asia and Eastern Europe from the 4th to the 6th centuries. Their power peaked under the leadership of Attila in the first half of the 5th century. A racially and linguistically diverse affiliation based around tribal alliances and a nomadic way of life, the Huns gradually coalesced into an identifiable and united people with the ascendance of charismatic leaders—eventually culminating in Attila’s rule—and their wars against the Romans. Much of their economic life was based on raising cattle and livestock, looting enemy encampments, and trading with the Romans.

The pope, as the leader of the Catholic Church, is understood by Catholics to be God’s principal representative on earth and was considered a father to the whole of Christendom in Attila’s era. After Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380, the pope was second in power only to the emperor. One of the most curious encounters of the ancient world was Pope Leo the Great’s diplomatic meeting with Attila. Understanding the role of the pope in that era helps clarify the reasons why an invading enemy met with a religious leader rather than a political one. At that time, the pope was considered the principal religious authority over Christians, so his encounter with Attila was of great global significance. This is why Emperor Valentinian III thought it was so crucial that it be the pope who met with Attila to stop the invasion of Rome: this was the city where the pope resided and, thus, the locus of power for the Catholic Church at that time.