Winston Churchill is known worldwide for his qualities as a wartime leader, tactician, and exceptional orator. The strongman of the United Kingdom during the Second World War led Great Britain to final victory over Nazi Germany. While his genius is now universally acknowledged, his appointment as Prime Minister in 1940 was not a foregone conclusion for his contemporaries.

In his youth, Winston Churchill was described as a "nasty little bulldog" and a dunce by his teachers, who would never have predicted the future that awaited him. At the Sandhurst Cavalry School, his lack of punctuality and his aversion to drill were notorious. Despite often harsh criticism, Churchill gradually made his way in politics, culminating in several ministerial appointments.

In a Europe still traumatized by the Great War, political timidity characterized France and Great Britain, which did not react militarily to the first annexations of territory by Hitler's Germany. Following its multiple invasions, the declaration of war on Germany signaled the failure of pacifism, and Chamberlain was forced to resign.

It was thanks to an unprecedented geopolitical context and Chamberlain's inadequate pacifist political stance that Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister at the age of 66. Faced with waves of German air raids on London, Churchill found the words to restore hope to the British people:

« I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
We face a most painful ordeal. We face many long months of struggle and suffering.
You ask, what is our policy? I can tell you: it is to wage war on land, sea, and air, with all the power and strength God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, unparalleled in the dark and desolate annals of crime. That is our policy.
You ask, what is our goal? I can answer in one word: victory, victory at any cost, victory in spite of terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival..»

It is a speech of truth, clarity and hope that forges the conviction in the hearts of the British people that victory is not only possible but even certain.

Great Britain took the risk of selecting, of "recruiting," Winston Churchill to lead them to victory. Our companies can still draw inspiration from the extraordinary story of this "one-of-a-kind" candidate to take the risk of recruiting unconventional profiles.

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