Is running a company anything like leading an army into battle? Publishers think so. Shelves groan with everything from Sun Tzu's 2,500-year-old classic The Art of War, still in print today, to this year's The Business General: Transform Your Business Using Seven Secrets of Military Success, co-authored by Brigadier Richard Barrons.

So the future looks bright for Gulf War hero Colonel Tim Collins. After retiring from the army in January 2004, Collins is now parlaying his distinguished 22-year military career into one as a business speaker.
Collins's reputation as an orator is already well established. His eve-of-battle speech to troops embarking on the second Iraq invasion in March 2003 made headlines around the world. It won high praise in a personal letter from Prince Charles and President Bush requested a copy for the wall of the Oval Office.

"We go to liberate not to conquer," Collins told his soldiers. "We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them."

Not much there for business leaders-except, arguably, for those about to launch a hostile takeover. Collins, however, has since developed a neat line in business patter. His speech covers: "the importance of detailed planning, new operational tactics, and dealing with the unexpected in the battlefield and business world alike," delivered in the same determined, cigar-chomping style that characterised his Iraq speech.

So how is his message any different from anyone else on the public speaker circuit? He doesn't particularly distinguish himself with this theory: "Business and war are both human functions. The most important aspect in each is leadership-they're no different in that respect."

But when pushed on whether running an army requires a different style of leadership from running a business, he quickly becomes more outspoken. "I think it's important to remind directors that, just like military leaders, they're only where they are by dint of the quality of the men they lead. I watch in wonder as UK businesses invest huge amounts of money in leadership and branding, only to then work hard to undermine that investment," he says. "We see too much office politics in absence of true leadership. It reflects a mentality of short-termism that is both destructive and wasteful."

Collins is also a harsh critic of poor military leadership. He resigned from the army in 2004 citing bureaucracy, chronic underfunding, and the MoD's lack of support when he was investigated (and subsequently cleared) over allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.

In his 2005 memoir, Rules of Engagement, he claimed the most venomous battle of his army career was against jealous generals who seized upon the war-crime allegations as an opportunity to bring him down. "The army and I lost respect for each other. I stopped enjoying what I was doing," he says now. But his harshest criticism is reserved for the UK's political leadership. He now deplores the very invasion he led:
"I was guilty of being naïve. I thought our government and the coalition had given some thought to what we might do once Iraq was captured," he explains. "But our leaders had no plan, so it's turned into anarchy, costing thousands of lives." The invasion has merely served "as a recruiting sergeant for al-Qaida".

Various media outlets (from The Observer newspaper to Sky TV) have called upon the articulate and engaging man as author, columnist, broadcaster and commentator. But perhaps what will play best to the business community is Collins's message that, when it comes to leadership, perhaps the military doesn't always know best.