THE TRANSFORMER: HOW MONTY TRANSFORMED THE EIGHTH ARMY AND TRIUMPHED AT EL ALAMEIN

DR STEPHEN BUNGAY

When, in August 1942, General Bernard Law Montgomery (‘Monty’) inherited the command of the Eighth Army in North Africa he found himself in charge of a barely cohesive conglomerate of troops from across the Empire. To defeat Rommel’s Afrika Korps, Montgomery realised that he would first need to transform the army he had inherited.

In this lecture addressing themes of leadership and organisational change and focussing on how to move from strategy to successful execution, Dr Stephen Bungay describes how in less than 100 days, Monty created a new atmosphere in the Eighth Army by building the top team, communicating with his troops and creating trust at every level. He set clear direction, made an accurate assessment of his organisation’s capabilities and built his strategy around those capabilities, which he continued to develop further.

These changes enabled the Eighth Army to defeat the Afrika Korps in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the first decisive Allied land victory of WW2.

DR STEPHEN BUNGAY

A UK-based management consultant and military historian, Stephen has four decades of business experience and teaches executives at a range of business schools. His books and lectures focus on the subjects of strategy, leadership and organisation, and in his role as a historian he makes frequent appearances on television. His books include The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results (2010), Alamein (2002) and The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain (2001).

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