Waterloo—You Know, Like in the ABBA Song

An telecom exec came up short in a motivational speech to employees when he called the battle of Waterloo a victory for Napoleon. Now clips of the animated Italian manager urging his staff to "go ahead and score like Napoleon at Waterloo" have become a YouTube hit, the ANSA news agency reports.

"Everybody wrote him off," the unwitting revisionist said of the Little General. But because of "strategy, clarity of ideas, determination, and power," Napoleon was able to make the 1815 battle—which became synonymous with shattering, career-truncating defeat—his "masterpiece." Luca Luciani, a 39-year-old star at Telecom Italia, has apologized for the gaffe. No word on whether he'll move to St. Helena. (More Luca Luciani stories.)