In 1429, an illiterate 17-year old French peasant defined the fate of kings and successfully redefined global power politics.
During the Hundred Years’ War, England held wide swaths of France.
England wanted an English King, Henry VI, to sit on the French throne.
France, as you might imagine, had different ideas.
Problem was, the legitimate French heir, Charles VII, never even had a coronation. The English forces were knocking at the gates of the French city of Orleans, and if that city fell, France fell.
Then, Joan of Arc walked into Charles VII’s court and convinced him to let her join the army.
When she was 13, she began hearing voices of Saints telling her to drive the English out of France and get Charles VII crowned at the cathedral city of Reims.
So there she was with no military training, no credentials, no obvious advantages.
Just unshakeable, contagious conviction.
She didn’t try to win the war. She identified the one thing that would change everything: break the siege of Orleans, and get Charles crowned at Reims. That was it.
Experienced commanders deferred to her. Soldiers twice her age followed her into battle. She led armies into war carrying a banner, not a weapon.
You might say she was confident, and conviction often gets all the credit. But conviction without aim doesn’t get you very far.
John F. Kennedy didn’t say “we’re going to have a really, really great, top-tier space program folks!”
He said, “we choose to go to the moon.”
Six words. One objective and absolutely no ambiguity.
Joan of Arc didn’t survive. She was captured, tried and burned at the stake at 19. But Charles VII was crowned. The English were driven out. France endured.
She found the point of maximum leverage and she hit it.
A lot of people feel conviction. The rare leaders know exactly where to point it.
Where’s yours?
