William Wallace: Lessons in Building a Shared Vision

Welcome to Beyond the Crucible. I’m Warwick Fairfax, the founder of Beyond the Crucible. A key part of inspiring a shared vision is to help people look beyond their own self-interest to a vision of a greater purpose. And as we’ll see, Wallace sees something in Robert the Bruce. “In the other nobles, what chance of success does he have?” He’s probably thinking, “Slim to none, but I’ve got to try.” With Robert the Bruce, he’s thinking, “It’s going to be a tough sell, but it just may be possible. It just may be.”

Gary Schneeberger:

Those are high stakes and a high risk that the historical figure we talk about this week, William Wallace, faces in the 1995 Oscar-winning film Braveheart. The story of his effort to build a vision among his Scottish countrymen to fight for their freedom is the focus of this first episode of our 2026 Series Within the Show, more stories from the book Crucible Leadership. Wallace may have lived in the 13th century, but the lessons we can learn from him on this critical aspect of leading a life of significance are extremely relevant to all of us in the 21st century.

Welcome, friends, to this episode of Beyond the Crucible. It’s that time of year again. The year is the calendar’s flipped over to 2026. And we’re recording our first show in what we’re calling, as we have called before, the Series Within the Show once a month for the next year, except for our Summer Series part. But the Series Within the Show this year is a callback a little bit to two years ago when we did stories from the book Crucible Leadership, that’s Warwick’s book. Now we very creatively have come up with more stories from the book Crucible Leadership, just so everybody knows exactly what we’re drilling into.

But we have something that we’re doing that’s a little bit different than what we’ve done before, and we’ll tell you more about that in a bit. But just to level-set us on what Crucible Leadership is, it’s The Wall Street Journal bestseller that was released in 2022, written by Warwick. And it’s an important book because without that book, folks, without that book, there wouldn’t be a Beyond the Crucible. There wouldn’t be this podcast. There wouldn’t be this brand. There wouldn’t be this business if it weren’t for that book that Warwick wrote.

But the angle that we’ve added to what we’re doing here in the Series Within the Show is that some of the things that we’re going to talk about from the book weren’t in the printed copy of the book that I’m sure all of you ordered and have read. These are things that, as they say in the business, wound up on the cutting-room floor. Please understand, when I say that, it does not mean that they weren’t good enough, that they’re bad bits. It just means that there was such a multitude of good things to go in that book, these things just didn’t make the cut.

These things were good stuff, but the great stuff that got in the book didn’t quite allow for this to go in. So we want to make sure that you get to know those things that Warwick did write about back when he wrote his book. And so, that’s why we’re doing this Series Within the Show on more stories from the book Crucible Leadership. And we’re beginning with William Wallace and the power and the importance of shared vision. You’ve heard us talk about shared vision a lot, but we’re going to talk about it today in the context of the story of William Wallace, who, historical figure, but he’s also a filmic figure in that he was the protagonist. He was the main character on which the story was based in the movie Braveheart.

So, all of that, that’s a lot of me blabbing, Warwick. Let me ask you a question. And this is an important one. Why William Wallace? And why do you think that he’s an example of the importance of shared vision as we begin this new dive into stories from the book Crucible Leadership?

Warwick Fairfax:

So, sometimes when we think of stories of visionaries motivating the troops or a nation, we think of presidents, kings, prime ministers, generals. But William Wallace is different. He’s a great example of an ordinary person having the powerful ability to get so many people on board with his vision. He was not somebody that anybody had ever heard of. He was just a regular guy. But he was able to unite his fellow Scots and have a powerful influence on the leading figure to be the future king of Scotland, Robert the Bruce.

So, there are key elements in inspiring a team with shared vision. And one of the most important aspects of that is completely living that vision to your core and inspiring a team with a vision that they would have found hard to believe was possible before. And one of the keys of that is to help people look beyond their own self-interest, look beyond just a few feet in front of them, and to look for a vision that is bigger than they could have imagined, that fulfills some higher purpose. That is not normal for most people.

And so, the other aspect that this movie and story talks about is not just inspiring those around you, those that work for you and with you, but inspiring people at all levels, including those above us. Many of us work in organizations in which we have people two, three, four levels above us. And so, this story of William Wallace shows not just how you can inspire people around you and who work for you but those who are several levels above you, which often is necessary to have a vision become reality. It’s really an inspiring story from which we can learn a lot.

Gary Schneeberger:

Yeah. And as Warwick has intimated there, what we’re going to be talking about here isn’t perhaps scholarly book studies of William Wallace. It is indeed the movie Braveheart, because the key elements that we want to talk about about shared vision come through very starkly, very clearly in the film. So that’s the ground that we’re going to cover here.

And it’s important to note, just for those of you who’ve been with us before when we’ve done a summer series on movies, we’re not going to do from the opening credits to the closing credits on Braveheart. We’re going to focus on those things that really speak into the shared-vision aspect of what he does. So this is a little bit of a different approach to going after looking at the details of the movie. That’s a fair assessment, isn’t it, Warwick?

Warwick Fairfax:

Absolutely. Yeah. We’re really going to focus on the key aspects of the story of how to live a vision, how to share that vision at all levels. So we’ll be talking about aspects of the story that really fit into William Wallace’s ability to inspire the whole of the Scottish people with the vision that he has.

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. And that happens all the time. We prepared for this for… For a fair bit of time, we prepared for this episode. And then you just built a perfect bridge into the first question I’m going to ask you. So, that’s fabulous. Or the second question I’m going to ask you.

And the first hint of William Wallace doing this in the film Braveheart is he loses his father early in the movie in a battle against the British, and the young man who returns, right? So he’s a boy when he loses his father. The young man who returns to Scotland after living with his Uncle Argyle has a much different vision than William Wallace ended up having. So, talk about that a little bit, Warwick, because the William Wallace who comes back from Uncle Argyle’s place to live again in Scotland among his clansman, not the guy we’re going to see as this movie carries on, right? He’s got a different kind of vision early, early, early on.

Warwick Fairfax:

Yeah, it’s very true. When we see William Wallace as a young boy, I mean, he’s got to be, like, 5, 6. He’s certainly less than 10. I mean, we don’t quite know how old he is, but he’s young. And we see his father and older brother go off to war. And he obviously wants to come with, as all kids want to go with parents, but he’s obviously too young. And sadly, both his father and older brother are killed. Now, I don’t know that we see his mother. So, at that point, it would seem like he’s an orphan. And so he ends up going to live with his Uncle Argyle.

And this changes the trajectory of his life completely, not just because he’s not with his parents, but his uncle, his Uncle Argyle, is a well-educated man. And the life he would live in just a very primitive… we wouldn’t even call a house. It’s almost like sort of grass thatching on it and wood, maybe stone. It’s a very primitive existence. And his uncle is very educated. And so, when Wallace returns as a young man, he can read and write, which many people in his village would not have been able to, necessarily. Not only can he read and write, but he can speak French and Latin and has been to Rome, a very radically different existence than he would have had without growing up with his uncle.

Early on when William Wallace is a young boy, Argyle says, his uncle says to him, “William, you must use your mind. You must first use your mind, and then I will teach you how to use a sword.” And this was a powerful life lesson, because as we’ll see later in the movie, William Wallace’s greatest weapon wasn’t just his ability to wield the sword, which he was very proficient at. It was his intellect and cunning, that his mind was very finely honed, very adept, and that was arguably a greater weapon than his sword.

So, when he returns to the village, he’s off somewhere else in Scotland, the townspeople ask if he wants to fight. They’re tired of the English oppression. And so, Wallace says he wants to live in peace and raise a family. He doesn’t want to go to war. That’s not his mission. He just wants to live in peace, get married and have a family. That’s the vision for his life at that point.

Gary Schneeberger:

Yeah. And it’s interesting that you mentioned what his uncle says to him, because before that, even, his father says, as you indicated, when William runs out as a boy to his dad and says, “I can fight,” and his dad says, I have to find the exact phrase, “It’s our wits that make a man a hero,” his dad tells him. So, dad and uncle both have the same approach to… It’s not just about brawn. It’s not just about battle readiness. It’s also about, it starts with what happens in the mind and in the vision, if you will, right? Having a vision for something. And I think that’s what we see develop for William Wallace, for sure.

But Wallace’s perspective on whether he’s going to fight changes when he marries his childhood friend, Murron. She is killed for fighting to get away from an attack by British soldiers. And that changes Wallace’s perspective completely from saying, “I just want a peaceful life.” He was on his path to have that peaceful life, to have those children that he talked about. And then this tragedy happened with his wife being killed. That gives William Wallace a different vision in the aftermath of that work, but it’s a narrow one. And it’s still not the vision that certainly his life will be known for, right?

Warwick Fairfax:

Yeah. Well said, Gary. I mean, the death of his childhood friend, Murron, is transformative. So, when William Wallace returns, he’s a young man, he sees this young woman, Murron. And she’s somebody that he’s known his whole life. I mean, when he was small, living back in the village, they knew each other. And he’s immediately drawn to her, and they start courting, and they get married in secret.

Now, the reason they do this is that the English nobility, the English king, want to really make sure that the Scottish people are under thumb and exert their tyrannical rule. And they enforce this horrific thing called prima nocta. And what that means is that if a couple are about to get married, the very first night after the wedding, the local English noble has the right of first night, as in to be with, to lay with the bride. And so, this is obviously a horrific thing. And so, both William Wallace and Murron are aware of this. And so, they do indeed get, as I mentioned, caught and get married in secret.

But one time when Wallace is somewhere else outside the village, a group of English soldiers see Murron, and they’re just common soldiers, and they proceed to try to rape her. And she fights back and maybe causes some degree of injury to one of the soldiers. And because she fights back, the local leader of the English troops, he might be a local noble, we don’t quite know, he comes back and he wants to make an example of it. Basically, don’t fight back, even against rape. I mean, it’s a horrific thing that’s going on here.

Gary Schneeberger:

Right.

Warwick Fairfax:

And so, what this local English leader does is he ties Murron to a stake and he slits her throat with a dagger and kills her. So, Wallace later returns and sees that the English troops have killed the love of his life, and he is transformed. His vision of, “Hey, I just want to live in peace and raise a family,” that is gone. The love of his life has been killed. And so, he is just filled with rage and bent on vengeance.

So, he, along with other Scots, go to the local garrison of the English troops where this local noble of that area is. And he kills many of those troops and captures the English leader, the local noble who’s killed his wife, and he exacts his vengeance. He ties that leader to a stake. And in the same way that leader killed his wife, he also slits the throat of that leader. So, at this point, his vision is his vengeance and payback. He’s filled with rage. That is the extent of his vision at this point.

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. But that, again, as the movie goes on, as we learn more about him, as he encounters more of what’s going on between England and his homeland of Scotland, there’s really a critical scene, one of the film’s most renowned, actually, that you unpack in detail in the piece of the book that ended up on the cutting-room floor. Talk about that scene and how it offers us guidance on crafting a shared vision, because it really is a masterclass in doing so.

Warwick Fairfax:

It surely is. So, as you’ve mentioned, initially, Wallace’s vision after his wife is killed is narrow. He just wants to avenge the murder of his wife. But then it grows to abolishing this apparent practice of prima nocta first night of just the English troops, on nobility being able to sleep with the bride on her first night. And then it grows from there to being one of freeing Scotland from the English tyranny.

So, what’s interesting is, William Wallace had no desire to be a hero or the leader of his people. He initially, again, was all about revenge. But Wallace’s fame spreads because they hear about how he took on that English garrison and got payback for what they did to his wife. So people keep coming to him and they look to him to be their leader. Initially, he’s a bit nonplussed. It’s like, “I’m just a regular guy. I mean, what do you want from me?” kind of thing.

Gary Schneeberger:

And he actually, Warwick, he actually tells them, because I took a note when I watched it again yesterday, he actually tells them to go home. He tells them at first to go home. He doesn’t want them to be part of what he knows is going to be a difficult vision. So he’s trying to spare his kinsmen.

Warwick Fairfax:

Right. He doesn’t necessarily want to lead this whole big vision. But he’s a commoner, not of noble birth. And I don’t think he necessarily wants to be this hero with this cause. But I think the Scottish people, they see him as one of them. He’s not some noble. He’s just a regular guy.

So, one of the key battle scenes in the movie is a Battle of Stirling Bridge, which was in 1297. And so we see the Scots, and they’re arrayed in the battlefield. And on the other side of the field, we see the might of the English army. This isn’t just some small garrison. This is the English army. And some Scots are getting nervous and saying, “Whoa, I don’t know that I signed up for this. I mean, look at these. That’s an organized army. We’re just a bunch of regular people. We’re not like trained soldiers. These people are.”

And so then William Wallace gives this rousing speech, and he says the following. He says, “I’m William Wallace, and I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You’ve come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What would you do without freedom? Will you fight?” And so then one of the folks in his army, one of these fellow Scots, says, “Fight against that?” pointing to this massive English army raid against them. “No, we will run, and we will live.”

And then Wallace says this, and it’s an incredible speech he gives. He says, “Aye,” very Scottish, right? Means yes, as we all know. “Aye-”

Gary Schneeberger:

Very well done, by the way. Like, “Aye.”

Warwick Fairfax:

“… fight and you may die. Run and you will live, at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now. Would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell your enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom.”

So, this is an incredible example of William Wallace inspiring a shared vision. He’s trying to help his fellow Scots have a vision that the seemingly impossible task of taking on the might of the English army, that they may have hope, that they might win. And even if they don’t, at least they will have died fighting for freedom. I mean, this is not an easy sell. They’re just regular people against the might of a trained army. And he says that they’re fighting to be free men and ask them what will they do without freedom. Do they want to look back years from now and say what might have been? “I could have fought for freedom, but I didn’t.” You’ve got to live with the what-if. “Maybe we could have won, maybe not, but we’ll never know.”

So, Wallace is a common man like them. He’s not wealthy. He has shown that he’s willing to oppose tyranny and is living his vision and inspires Scots to live that vision, too, a vision more than just tending to their fields and their flocks, but a higher purpose vision, a vision of freedom against tyranny. It’s just a remarkable speech. And he’s somebody that… You can’t really ignore William Wallace. He lives his vision, as we’ll talk more about later. He’s somebody that… When William Wallace gives a speech, he’s one of them. He’s been through incredible hardship. They respect him. It’s tough to ignore William Wallace when he’s giving this impassioned speech in front of the army, railed against the whole might of the English army. It’s an incredible speech, incredible moment.

Gary Schneeberger:

Yeah. So, let’s move from 1297 to 2026, and folks who are listening, folks who aren’t on the battlefield in Scotland, folks who are listening to us talk right now. There’s something in what William Wallace does by just being so sold out to his mission that he encourages… He brings aboard, he captures with his rhetoric, with his inspirational notes, a team of fellow travelers. That’s an important thing for us to know now, I mean, to just kind of take that and put that in our pockets as we look to build shared visions ourselves for the things that we have on our lists.

Warwick Fairfax:

Absolutely. And we’ll unpack this more as the movie goes on. But it starts with really being completely sold out for the vision. Well, he started off by taking on that English garrison and exacting revenge for the death of his wife. Here he is fighting for freedom for all of Scotland against the whole of the might of the English army. So, he’s living his vision and is trying to inspire people to think beyond themselves, to inspire them beyond their fears and maybe narrow vision. And so, that’s something that we can all learn from is inspiring people.

You’ve got to model the vision, but you want to inspire them to a vision beyond just their own immediate needs. You inspire them a vision that helps other people. We talk about a life of significance, a vision of a life of significance, of helping others making some impact in the world that we live in. And so, that’s really what shared vision should be all about. You should be inspiring people to do what they think is almost impossible and to think of something that’s beyond their own immediate interest, to help those around them and their neighborhood, their community, their country, maybe the world. That’s what an ideal shared vision is, and that’s what William Wallace is doing.

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. And he continues to have his vision grow as the film goes on. He continues to strengthen his vision and motivate others to join him in an important scene that follows what we just talked about, that battle where he gives that rousing speech. Talk about that scene of, again, the next thing that happens in this film that really solidifies his vision and gets more people to climb aboard it.

Warwick Fairfax:

So, Wallace is a very smart man. He realizes it’s not enough to inspire his fellow Scots, regular folks, the common people, as they would be called back then. He realized that’s critical. But what is also critical is he has to get the powerful Scottish nobles. They have influence, troops, money. He knows they’re not going to win without the support of the Scottish nobles. And he realizes that this is not easy because the English king Longshanks, who we see in the movie, who’s a very ruthless man, but also a cunning, a smart man. He’s no idiot, Longshanks.

And so, what is customary back then is you try to buy off those who might oppose you. So, he gives the Scottish nobles position and land, some even in Northern England. He gives some of the English nobles some land and position in Scotland. He’s trying to make sure that people have a vested interest in opposing the Scots and standing up for the English crown. So, this is not an easy sell.

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. I mean, even him bringing back prima nocta, right? There’s that scene where, “Hey, if we want to get the nobles on our sides, let’s just do this thing.”

Warwick Fairfax:

Exactly.

Gary Schneeberger:

So, he’s very good at that.

Warwick Fairfax:

Exactly. It’s such a good point. So, it’s, why should the English nobles go there? Well, they have this whole, the young women on the night that they’ll be married, being able to lay with them, kind of take advantage of them. For some, that’s an attractive proposition, very sadly.

So, really, what Wallace does is he tries to appeal to the hearts of these nobles and tries to help them think beyond their own self-interest, which is not easy. I mean, these are people with castles, position. In today’s age, it’s like, “Don’t just think about you’re CEO of X company and you have this $10 million home and all this money. Think beyond that.” It’s like, “Okay, why is that? Because life is pretty good. I’m enjoying everything I have. Why should I think beyond the wealth and power and position that I have?” Whether it’s 1297 or 2026, it’s not an easy sell.

And so, Wallace starts to leave a meeting of the Scottish nobles and he’s stopped by one of the nobles, because he’s sort of disgusted with what he sees, really. They’re just all about their own self-interest. And so, one of the nobles says… Oh, I should add, because of Wallace’s triumph at the Battle of Stirling, he’s made a knight, which he’s a-

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. He becomes a noble.

Warwick Fairfax:

Yeah. He becomes Sir William Wallace. He still thinks of himself as a commoner. Just because he’s got a title, I don’t think he instantly gets a castle and money. We don’t really see any evidence of that. You’ve got a title. Well, great.

Anyway. So, one of the nobles says to him, “Sir William, where are you going?” And Wallace says, “We have beaten the English, but they’ll come back because you won’t stand together.” In other words, the English nobles. This nobleman says, “Well, what will you do?” So Wallace says, “I will invade England and defeat the English on their own ground.” This noble says, “Invade? That’s impossible.” I mean, it’s one thing to try to stop the English in Scotland, but he’s thinking, “Go to England and invade.” That’s, like, insanity.

And Wallace says, “Why? Why is that impossible? You were so concerned with squabbling for the scraps of Longshanks’ table…” In other words, the king of England. “You’re so concerned with squabbling for the scraps of Longshanks’ table that you’ve missed your God-given right to something better. There is a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think position exists to provide those people with freedom, and I go to make sure that they have it.”

I mean, he is really appealing to the better angels, the better motivation of these Scottish nobles. And when you look at that scene, it’s like, what is there to appeal to? Are there any better angels within them? They’re all about their own self-interest. You’re thinking, talk about mission impossible. I mean, he’s giving a speech to people that there’s no way they’re going to listen. I mean, why would they? To fight against the might of the English army with this sort of ragtag group of Scottish people. But he says, “Don’t just think of your position, but realize you’ve been given this position,” I’m assuming maybe by God or however he looks at it, “to fight for people.”

Gary Schneeberger:

And then there comes not the introduction of, but really the most vivid scene with the rightful heir to the Scottish throne, Robert the Bruce, which, side note, when this movie came out in 1995, I worked with a guy named Bruce and he got very sick of us calling him Robert the Bruce.

Warwick Fairfax:

You should have told him, “Bruce, you should be honored. What a noble name, Robert the Bruce.” You know?

Gary Schneeberger:

I know, I know. Right. But Robert the Bruce starts playing a bigger role in the film at this point. And Robert the Bruce is pivotal to Wallace’s shared vision becoming reality. There’s a scene that really unpacks that. Talk about that scene where how important Robert the Bruce is to the vision that William Wallace has and which he wants to have others share with him.

Warwick Fairfax:

So, right after the scene with the nobles, the Scottish nobles, in which doesn’t really seem like they’re on board with Wallace’s vision of freedom, he’s leaving, and Robert the Bruce goes after him. And it’s clear that he’s really struck by what Wallace has said. So they get in a discussion about balancing the desire for freedom and keeping the nobles happy, because Robert the Bruce is a smart guy. He said, “It’s not easy to get these nobles to think beyond their self-interest and power and position.”

And so, Robert the Bruce says this. “I’m not a coward. I want what you want, but we need the nobles.” So Wallace says, “We need them? Nobles? Now tell me, what does that mean to be noble? Your title gives you claim to the throne of our country, but men don’t follow titles, they follow courage. Now, our people know you. Noble and common, they respect you. And if you would just lead them to freedom, they would follow you. And so would I.”

Wallace is appealing to Robert the Bruce, the most important Scottish noble, the most influential, and the leading figure to be the future king of Scotland. He tells Bruce that men don’t follow titles, they follow courage. He says that if Robert the Bruce would just lead them to freedom, the Scottish people, the regular folks, they would follow Robert the Bruce. So, Wallace is trying to get him to think more than about his self-interest and money. And he has, obviously, a lot of it as a leading Scottish noble and to think about the Scottish people.

A key part of inspiring a shared vision is to help people look beyond their own self-interest to a vision of a greater purpose. And as we’ll see, Wallace sees something in Robert the Bruce. “In the other nobles, what chance of success does he have?” He’s probably thinking, “Slim to none, but I’ve got to try.” With Robert the Bruce, he’s thinking, “It’s going to be a tough sell, but it just may be possible. It just may be.”

Again, we cannot underestimate how intelligent and discerning William Wallace is. He knows how to understand what’s in the heart of a person. He has this sixth sense of where they are and what he can do to appeal to them to accomplish his vision. And he sees something in Wallace. And we’ll see through the course of the movie, he’s really trying to fight for Robert the Bruce.

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. And that brings us on the precipice of another thing we talk about a lot at Beyond the Crucible, and that is this idea of having fellow travelers. You have to be wise about the way you pick fellow travelers. And really, in our terms in 2026, what William Wallace sees in Robert the Bruce is someone who would make an ideal fellow traveler, not having the same skills necessarily that he does. He’s got higher rank. He’s got more money. He’s got all those things. He’s not exactly like him, but he’s someone who can help him carry out his vision. And that really is a fellow traveler that he’s eyeing when he’s talking to Robert the Bruce, isn’t it?

Warwick Fairfax:

It surely is. He sees somebody that he thinks he can win over, and he’s a critical fellow traveler. It’s helpful to have fellow travelers of all different kinds. But if you’ve got a vision that you are passionate about, if you can find a fellow traveler that has a fair amount of position and influence and the ability to make your vision become reality, that’s a pretty key fellow traveler.

You could be working in a large organization. You’ve got this idea for a new product line, new vision, something that will take the company to the next level. If you’re able to get somebody in senior management on board with that vision, that is absolutely critical fellow travelers. It’s great to have all your buddies that you work with say, “I think this is a great idea, but I have zero influence or ability to make it happen, but I’m with you. Let me know if you get the green light from corporate and I’m on your team. But until then, just let me know.”

So, having fellow travelers who have influence and position and the ability to help you. Who you pick as fellow travelers is important. And certainly, this is arguably the most important fellow traveler that William Wallace needs to get on board to get freedom for Scotland.

Gary Schneeberger:

Yeah. And yet William Wallace, I think, at this point in the film, sees more character in Robert the Bruce than Robert the Bruce manifests in his own life, and certainly, than he’s… that he’s brave enough to share, to show. He’s fearful. And we’ll see why his dad plays a major role in that. There’s another interaction between Wallace and Robert the Bruce that follows immediately after the scene that we’ve been talking about. Unpack that scene a little bit to, again, show folks how this is on a continuum and it keeps moving forward. William Wallace is almost unrelenting in his wooing of Robert the Bruce to be someone who shares his vision with him.

Warwick Fairfax:

Yeah, absolutely. So, there’s this other interaction where Wallace again appeals to Robert the Bruce. So, there’s a dialogue that goes like this. Robert the Bruce says this. “Now you,” as in Wallace, “Now you have achieved more than anyone dreamed, but fighting these odds, it looks like rage, not courage.”

So Wallace says this. “It is well beyond rage. Help me. In the name of Christ, help yourself. Now is our chance, now. If we join, we can win. If we win, then we will have what none of us have ever had before, a country of our own. You’re the rightful leader, and there is strength in you. I see it. Unite us. Unite us. Unite the clans.”

Wallace appeals to the strength of character that he sees inside Robert the Bruce. He says that if Bruce will join them, they will win. He sees the inner strength within Robert the Bruce, his character. He says, “Unite us. Unite the clans. Unite the Scottish people.” So, basically, what we see in these scenes is that Wallace is fighting for the soul of Robert the Bruce. If he wins this battle for Bruce’s soul, then Scotland may be free. If he doesn’t, then the Scots unlikely to win their freedom.

Sometimes when you’re trying to get people on board, that’s what happens. It’s funny, one of the things before we aired, we’ve also talked about William Wilberforce, William Wallace, William Wilberforce.

Gary Schneeberger:

Yeah. It was me always saying Wilberforce by mistake, yes. Thank you for not calling me out on that work. I raise my hand and take the flower.

Warwick Fairfax:

But the reason I mention that is because later on in the late 1700s and early 1800s, Wilberforce is in a similar situation in that he is striving to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire. And here’s a conservative member of parliament, and he’s trying to appeal to the better angels of other members of parliament who have a huge amount of economic interest in the slave trade.

And he’s saying to them, “I realize this pours in millions,” or the equivalent of billions of dollars or pounds, “into the coffers of the country,” and I’m sure probably helps them in their own self-interest. “But think about morality. The slave trade is morally wrong. We’re meant to be religious people here. It’s against God’s plan. It’s morally wrong.” So, again, a tough sell. It’s similar in the sense that both Wilberforce and Wallace are appealing to the better angels of those in power against their own self-interest. Ultimately, Wilberforce succeeds. And it took decades. But ultimately, the slave trade is abolished. And we’ll see how things unfold for William Wallace. So, there are some similar beats to those stories.

Gary Schneeberger:

To the Williams. Now I’m going to say Wilberforce, but I don’t mean to. I’m turning my brain the other way so that doesn’t happen. Talk a little bit now, Warwick, about the Battle of Falkirk and its aftermath. And it causes a change in the same way that we saw a change caused in William Wallace earlier in the film when his vision went from peace, then to vengeance, and then it went to freedom for his people. Robert the Bruce has a change happen to him that’s tied to the battle of Falkirk. Talk about that.

Warwick Fairfax:

Yeah. This is one of the saddest moments in the movie, maybe the saddest. I mean, there are some other sad moments, but this is a real low point. So, in the Battle of Falkirk, the English army, they beat the Scots. Now, the Scots won before, but the key difference is this. The Scottish nobles, you see them on horseback and cavalry on the side of the battlefield, and they leave the battle. Right in the middle of the battle, there’s arrows, there’s swords blazing, and they leave the battlefield.

Throughout this battle, we see a noble on horseback amidst the English army. He has a helmet on. You can’t see his face. It’s a closed helmet. Later, we learn that that nobleman who’s on the side of the English is none other than Robert the Bruce. And so, later on, after the battle is over, Wallace and Robert the Bruce encounter each other and Robert the Bruce takes off his helmet. And Wallace is absolutely crushed and devastated to see that Wallace has betrayed him. He was fighting on the side of the English army. There’s almost a tear in his eye. You can see he’s just absolutely broken. And that look of brokenness and betrayal on Wallace’s face, that will sear deep into the soul of Robert the Bruce. It’s a look that Robert the Bruce I don’t know that will ever be able to get out of his soul and his consciousness.

And so, there’s a powerful scene after that between Robert the Bruce and his father. Now, his father is more pragmatic. He’s a realist. He wants to preserve position and power.

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. That’s a very charitable term. His father’s perhaps more… I mean, yeah, he is pragmatic. I mean, what does he say to his son? He says, “You’re the 17th Robert the Bruce.” That means that 16 people before you have built up all of this wealth and all these lands and all this stuff. So, he’s very much about what he can gain from the position. So, yes, he’s pragmatic.

Warwick Fairfax:

Absolutely. It’s all about power and money. And freeing the Scottish people, not so much, not high on his agenda. It’s not even anywhere on his agenda.

So, there’s this ensuing dialogue. So, the father says, “Son, we must have alliance with England to prevail here. You achieved that. You saved your family, increased your lands. In time, you will have all the power in Scotland.” So Robert the Bruce says, “Lands, title, men, power, nothing.” The father says, “Nothing?”

And so then the son, Robert the Bruce, says this. “Men fight for me, because if they do not, I throw them off my land. I starve their wives and their children. Those men who bled the ground red at Falkirk, they fought for William Wallace, and he fights for something that I’ve never had. And I took it from him when I betrayed him, and I saw it in his face on the battlefield, and it’s tearing me apart.”

The father says, “All men betray. All lose heart.” And Robert the Bruce says this. “I don’t want to lose heart. I want to believe as he does. I will never be on the wrong side again.” That is a powerful statement.

Robert the Bruce’s father is fighting to ensure that his son stays on the side of pragmatism, wealth, money, position, make sure you’re going to be the future leader of Scotland. We’ve seen this moment that this battle for Robert the Bruce’s soul is being won by William Wallace and his vision.

So, I think there’s a powerful lesson here. Sometimes people will disappoint us. Maybe people have influenced the position, our bosses, parents, maybe mentors. They might let us down and they just follow their own self-interest. They won’t help us. They won’t follow a vision of higher purpose. And it can be crushing.

But what William Wallace shows us is don’t give up. Keep appealing to the better angels of those people. Keep appealing to the goodness within their soul that somewhere in there maybe does want to believe that a higher purpose, a life of significance, a life beyond their own self-interest matters. So, if at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up. Keep appealing to the better angels of those often powerful people we try to influence. It could be people in your company, in your family, in your county, state. Just don’t give up appealing to the better angels of those you might perceive as having more power and influence than you do. It’s a powerful example that William Wallace gives us.

Gary Schneeberger:

Yeah. And it’s interesting to hear you talk about Wallace doing battle for Robert the Bruce’s soul. Because at Beyond the Crucible, we talk a lot, you talk a lot about doing the soul work. And what happens here, really, is Robert the Bruce isn’t able, because of his dad’s influence or whatever, he’s not really able to do a lot of soul work on his own. But William Wallace does soul work on his behalf and for him and he sees it reflected in Wallace. And that’s what ultimately changes him, right? I think what you’re talking about is someone helping someone do the soul work. I mean, when he says, “I want to be this,” to his father, the soul work’s been completed. He’s done some soul work. But that’s another aspect of what we do at Beyond the Crucible that we encourage people to get to. And I think it’s important to see that Wallace helps Robert the Bruce get there.

Warwick Fairfax:

It’s such an important point you’re raising, Gary. When we think about inspiring a shared vision, a critical part of it is the soul work. We’re fighting for the souls of men and women, in our families, that we work with, that are in our counties, states, countries. We’re trying to fight to help people think beyond their own self-interest, think of the interest of their family, their company, their state, their nation, their planet. You want them to think of just more than just their own self-interest.

And ultimately, when people are living a life of significance, living a life on purpose, dedicated to serving others, that gives more joy and fulfillment than any amount of money and position can ever give you. I mean, a while back, we did a podcast on Citizen Kane. Was it Charles Foster Kane?

Gary Schneeberger:

Right. Charles Foster Kane, yep.

Warwick Fairfax:

Yeah. And he spent his whole life getting money and power and newspapers, and he dies alone in abject poverty of the soul. None of his money will he be able to take with him. He’ll be left with nothing after he dies in that sense, from an eternal perspective. And so, yes, he was very wealthy with this massive estate, but he was poverty-stricken in the soul. You don’t want to be Charles Foster Kane.

So, that’s really what Wallace is fighting for. And really, more broadly, fighting for the souls of people, it’s a noble cause. You’re trying to help free them from the tyranny of self-interest and narrow sectarianism and all that. You’re trying to help, to appeal to the better angels to fight for a noble cause, a life of significance, a life that helps other people and maybe even the world in some sense. So, really, the core of getting people on a shared vision, at least one that’s a noble vision of a higher purpose, is you’re fighting for the souls of people. It’s a great point.

Gary Schneeberger:

Yeah. Well, we’re at that point in the film and the story of Wallace’s life where Robert the Bruce has gotten his soul activated, alive. So, talk a little bit about what happens next and the legacy of William Wallace, certainly as displayed in this film, but in real life as well.

Warwick Fairfax:

So, unbeknownst to Robert the Bruce, the Scottish nobles lay a trap for Wallace. Clearly, they’re focused on self-interest. “We’re going to carry favor with the English King Longshanks.” And so they lure him into a trap, and Wallace is captured by the English troops. He’s sent to London to face torture and execution. And so, the executioner basically says, “I can give you mercy,” which means a quick death. That’s what mercy means in this sense. But you will have to swear allegiance to the King of England.

And before he dies, Wallace is, I think, praying in a sense and saying, “God, just basically, give me strength to die well. I want to die well,” because he wants to continue to inspire the Scottish people. He doesn’t want to just whimper, which would be pretty understandable under torture. He doesn’t want to take anything away from the cause of freedom. He knows he may die, but I don’t think he’s given up on the whole notion of freedom for the Scottish people.

And so, he refuses to show allegiance to the King of England. And he is executed. But what’s amazing is, he’s in London. This is just English people. They’re not Scots. But at first, they abuse him and boo at him. But as they see his strength and his courage, and the last words he shouts with his almost last breath is freedom. And they shout to the executioner mercy, as in, “Please, let’s get this over with.” You can even see the executioner, who does this for a living, is moved, which is unbelievable, because executioners typically are not moved by these things. So, even then, you can see his vision. He’s inspiring people even outside of Scotland.

After this, after Wallace is executed, we shift to the Battle of Bannockburn. And here we see Robert the Bruce, he’s leading the Scots in victory against the British troops, and they actually do win freedom for the Scottish people. Now, it’s not going to be lasting freedom in the sense of, yes, there will be a Britain and United Kingdom, but at least for a time, there is freedom for the Scottish people.

And here we have Robert the Bruce in front of his Scottish troops as Wallace was before. And he said that they have bled with Wallace, now bleed with him. So he is inspiring the Scots to have a shared vision of freedom the way that Wallace did before. He is really now in Wallace’s shoes. It’s truly remarkable. And even though he’s a noble, he’s not a commoner like pretty much everybody fighting there, he inspired the Scots. They believe now in Robert the Bruce. They believe that Robert the Bruce really does believe in the vision of freedom. He’s now standing in the place, taking up the mantle of Wallace’s legacy.

So, what’s interesting is, fast-forward many hundreds of years, it’s remarkable the final testimony to the power of this movie Braveheart and the story of William Wallace. So, in 1997, two years after the movie came out, there is a vote for a new Scottish Parliament. It’s not complete independence, but it’s certainly more autonomy for the Scottish people. So it’s been said by some commentators that this new Scottish Parliament was powerfully influenced by the movie Braveheart and William Wallace’s story.

In some sense, Wallace’s battle for freedom for the Scottish people, it lived on hundreds of years later. And certainly, some measure of freedom was achieved by the legacy of William Wallace in 1997 when they voted to have a Scottish Parliament, which they have to this day. His legacy is just remarkable.

Gary Schneeberger:

So, Warwick, what are the big takeaways of William Wallace’s story that we’ve discussed today that can help our listeners and viewers make their vision a reality, make their shared vision a shared reality? What are some of the takeaways that we’ve talked about today?

Warwick Fairfax:

So, inspiring a shared vision, it starts with completely living that vision. William Wallace may have begun his vision as one of vengeance to want a payback for the death of his wife and just the rape and just the murder of his wife. But his vision grew to be a vision of freedom for all of the Scottish people. His life is so inspiring in that he was just a regular man, just a common man. And ordinary people came up to him, and they wanted to fight for freedom by his side. He didn’t look to lead a movement. The movement found him. It’s just quite remarkable. He wasn’t trying to be a leader, but people saw themselves in him. Somebody who had courage and would fight for freedom.

Not only is it important to wholly live that vision, but we have to inspire people by word and deed to not just look to their own self-interest but to a higher purpose. Wallace did that at the Battle of Stirling Bridge when some Scots were getting a little nervous, a little weak in the knees because they were just regular folks, farmers, herders, tradesmen, against the might of the English army. It’s understandable they’ll be anxious. And so he appealed to look beyond their own self-interest to a higher purpose, to fighting for freedom from themselves and their families.

But he also appealed to the better angels of the Scottish nobles, which was a tough sell, but especially Robert the Bruce. Wallace knew that Bruce was the leading candidate to be the future king of Scotland. And so, Wallace just saw something in Robert the Bruce, some small ember of character, of love of country, somebody that would fight for freedom. And so, Wallace was a smart guy. He knew that without Bruce, without Robert the Bruce, victory would be impossible. He might have all of the common people on his side, but without the nobles, especially Robert the Bruce, victory was impossible.

Sometimes there are critical people that we have to have on board for our vision to succeed, maybe people of power and wealth or position in our organization or our neighborhood or our country. People are naturally going to gravitate to their self-interest. Certainly, the power and wealthy will absolutely do that. We need to appeal to their better angels and their power of a higher purpose to get them on board with our vision.

We said before, William Wilberforce did in the battle to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire in the late 1700s and early 1800s. In a similar way, in a sense, in an earlier time, in the late 1200s, we’ve got William Wallace appealing to not just the regular people, the common men and women. He’s appealing to the Scottish nobility, especially Robert the Bruce, the potential future king of Scotland.

It’s just a remarkable story about the strength of modeling a vision and somebody that was doing whatever it takes to accomplish that vision using cunning, guile, intelligence, because this was a noble vision, a vision for freedom, to help people think beyond themselves for a higher purpose. It’s a great role model.

And we might think that our battle to achieve our vision is not easy and our battle to get people on board with our shared vision is not easy. Think of William Wallace. He’s up against the might of the English army, of the English King Longshanks. I mean, that’s, like, a million-to-one odds. That’s not an easy call. And he’s trying to convince these Scottish nobles to back him when they’re getting bribed by the English king with position and wealth and land. Why in the world would they listen to this common man? The chance of success feels like a million to one. So, if William Wallace can do it, I think there’s hope for the rest of us.

Gary Schneeberger:

It’s a great place to land the plane here, Warwick. And that does, indeed, friends, wrap up our first Series Within the Show episode on more stories from the book Crucible Leadership. We’ll turn the page next month to another story to help you turn the page and move beyond your crucible to a life of significance.