
Admiration, Envy, and the Monday After Remembrance
“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier.” Samuel Johnson’s line, highlighted by the author Bernard Cornwell, nails a social emotion we still feel: admiration for soldiers that can shade into quiet envy. In workplaces, that can become a gap between the virtues we praise and the people we actually hire. This Remembrance Sunday, convert homage into habit, clarify what you value, fix selection proxies, and build systems that recognise real leadership, including from veterans, while staying clear-eyed about limits and context.