LEADERSHIP
Leadership starts at the top, with the character of the leader, with your character. In order to lead others, you must first make sure your own house is in order. For example, the first line of The Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer states, "No one is more professional than I." But it takes a remarkable person to move from memorizing a creed to actually living that creed; a true leader is that remarkable person.
Army leadership begins with what the leader must BE, the values and attributes that shape a leader's character. It may be helpful to think of these as internal qualities: you possess them all the time, alone and with others. They define who you are; they give you a solid footing. These values and attributes are the same for all leaders, regardless of position, although you certainly refine your understanding of them as you become more experienced and assume positions of greater responsibility. For example, a sergeant major with combat experience has a deeper understanding of selfless service and personal courage than a new soldier does.
Your skills are those things you KNOW how to do, your competence in everything from the technical side of your job to the people skills a leader requires. The skill categories of the Army leadership framework apply to all leaders. However, as you assume positions of greater responsibility, you must master additional skills in each category.
But character and knowledge -- while absolutely necessary -- are not enough. You cannot be effective, you cannot be a leader, until you apply what you know, until you act and DO what you must. As with skills, you will learn more leadership actions as you serve in different positions. Leadership is about taking action, but there's more to being a leader than just what you do. Character and competence, the BE and the KNOW, underlie everything a leader does. So becoming a leader involves developing all aspects of yourself. This includes adopting and living Army values. It means developing the attributes and learning the skills of an Army leader. Only by this self-development will you become a confident and competent leader of character. Being an Army leader is not easy. There are no cookie-cutter solutions to leadership challenges, and there are no shortcuts to success. However, the tools are available to every leader. It is up to you to master and use them.
BE
haracter describes a person's inner strength, the BE of BE, KNOW, DO. Your character helps you know what is right; more than that, it links that knowledge to action. Character gives you the courage to do what is right regardless of the circumstances or the consequences.
You demonstrate character through your behavior. One of your key responsibilities as a leader is to teach Army values to your subordinates. The old saying that actions speak louder than words has never been more true than here. Leaders who talk about honor, loyalty, and selfless service but do not live these values -- both on and off duty -- send the wrong message, that this "values stuff" is all just talk.
Here are the Army values that guide you, the leader, and the rest of the Army. They form the acronym LDRSHIP:
Loyalty
Duty
Respect
Selfless Service
Honor
Integrity
Personal Courage
Values tell us part of what the leader must BE; the other side of what a leader must BE are the attributes listed in Figure 1. Leader attributes influence leader actions; leader actions, in turn, always influence the unit or organization. As an example, if you're physically fit, you're more likely to inspire your subordinates to be physically fit. The mental attributes of an Army leader include will, self-discipline, initiative, judgment, self-confidence, intelligence, and cultural awareness. Physical attributes -- health fitness, physical fitness, and military and professional bearing -- can be developed. Army leaders maintain the appropriate level of physical fitness and military bearing.
Help your subordinates use their emotional energy to accomplish amazing feats.
As an Army leader, your emotional attributes -- self-control, balance, and stability -- contribute to how you feel and therefore to how you interact with others. Your people are human beings with hopes, fears, concerns, and dreams. When you understand that will and endurance come from emotional energy, you possess a powerful leadership tool. The feedback you give can help your subordinates use their emotional energy to accomplish amazing feats in tough times. Self-control, balance, and stability also help you make the right ethical choices. (see Sidebar: Personal Courage).
Understanding Army values and leader attributes is only the first step. You also must embrace Army values and develop leader attributes, living them until they become habit. You must teach Army values to your subordinates through action and example and help them develop leader attributes in themselves.
KNOW
leader must have a certain level of knowledge to be competent. That knowledge is spread across four skill domains. You must develop interpersonal skills, knowledge of your people and how to work with them. You must have conceptual skills, the ability to understand and apply the doctrine and other ideas required to do your job. You must learn technical skills, how to use your equipment. Finally, warrior leaders must master tactical skills, the ability to make the right decisions concerning employment of units in combat. Tactical skills include mastery of the art of tactics appropriate to the leader's level of responsibility and unit type. They're amplified by the other skills -- interpersonal, conceptual, and technical -- and are the most important skills for warfighters.
Mastery of different skills in these domains is essential to the Army's success in peace and war. But a true leader is not satisfied with knowing only how to do what will get the organization through today; you must also be concerned about what it will need tomorrow. You must strive to master your job and prepare to take over your boss's job. In addition, as you move to jobs of increasing responsibility, you'll face new equipment, new ideas, and new ways of thinking and doing things. You must learn to apply all these to accomplish your mission.
Army schools teach you basic job skills, but they are only part of the learning picture. You'll learn even more on the job. Good leaders add to their knowledge and skills every day. True leaders seek out opportunities; they're always looking for ways to increase their professional knowledge and skills. Dedicated squad leaders jump at the chance to fill in as acting platoon sergeant, not because they've mastered the platoon sergeant's job but because they know the best place to learn about it is in the thick of the action. Those squad leaders challenge themselves and will learn through doing; what's more, with coaching, they'll learn as much from their mistakes as from their successes.
DO
eaders act. They bring together everything they are, everything they believe, and everything they know how to do to provide purpose, direction, and motivation. Army leaders work to influence people, operate to accomplish the mission, and act to improve their organization. As with leader skills, leader actions increase in scope and complexity as you move from direct leader positions to organizational and strategic leader positions. Leaders who live up to Army values, who display leader attributes, who are competent, who act at all times as they would have their people act, will succeed. Leaders who talk a good game but can't back their words with actions will fail in the long run.
Leader actions, the DO of Army leadership doctrine, include --
Influencing: making decisions, communicating those decisions, and motivating people.
Operating: the things you do to accomplish your organization's immediate mission.
Improving: the things you do to increase the organization's capability to accomplish current or future missions.
The leaders must step in when things are falling apart, when there seems to be no hope.
What about combat? Trained soldiers know what they are supposed to do, but under stress, their instincts might tell them to do something different. The exhausted, hungry, cold, wet, disoriented, and frightened soldier is more likely to do the wrong thing -- stop moving, lie down, retreat -- than one not under that kind of stress. This is when the leader must step in -- when things are falling apart, when there seems to be no hope -- and get the job done.
Leaders of Leaders
Anyone who influences others is a leader.
t any level, anyone responsible for supervising people or accomplishing a mission that involves other people is a leader. Anyone who influences others, motivating them to action or influencing their thinking or decision making, is a leader. It's not a function only of position; it's also a function of role. In addition, everyone in the Army -- including every leader -- fits somewhere in a chain of command. Everyone in the Army is also a follower or subordinate. There are, obviously, many leaders in an organization, and it's important to understand that you don't just lead subordinates -- you lead other leaders. Even at the lowest level, you are a leader of leaders.
For example, a rifle company has four leadership levels: the company commander leads through platoon leaders, the platoon leaders through squad leaders, and the squad leaders through team leaders. At each level, the leader must let subordinate leaders do their jobs. Practicing this kind of decentralized execution based on mission orders in peacetime trains subordinates who will, in battle, exercise disciplined initiative in the absence of orders. They'll continue to fight when the radios are jammed, when the plan falls apart, when the enemy does something unexpected.
This decentralization does not mean that a commander never steps in and takes direct control. There will be times when a leader has to stop leading through subordinates, step forward, and say, "Follow me!" A situation like this may occur in combat, when things are falling apart and, like BG Thomas J. Jackson, you'll need to "stand like a stone wall" and save victory. Or it may occur during training, when a subordinate is about to make a mistake that could result in serious injury or death and you must act to prevent disaster.
More often, however, you should empower your subordinate leaders: give them a task, delegate the necessary authority, and let them do the work. Of course you need to check periodically. How else will you be able to critique, coach, and evaluate them? But the point is to "power down without powering off." Give your subordinate leaders the authority they need to get the job done. Then check on them frequently enough to keep track of what is going on but not so often that you get in their way. You can develop this skill through experience.
It takes personal courage to operate this way. But a leader must let subordinate leaders learn by doing. Is there a risk that, for instance, a squad leader -- especially an inexperienced one -- will make mistakes? Of course there is. But if your subordinate leaders are to grow, you must let them take risks. This means you must let go of some control and let your subordinate leaders do things on their own.
A company commander who routinely steps in and gives orders directly to squad leaders weakens the whole chain of command, denies squad leaders valuable learning experiences, and sends a signal to the whole company that the chain of command and NCO support channel can be bypassed at any time. Effective leaders strive to create an environment of trust and understanding that encourages their subordinates to seize the initiative and act.
Weak leaders who have not trained their subordinates sometimes say, "My organization can't do it without me." Many people, used to being at the center of the action, begin to feel as if they're indispensable. You have heard them: "I can't take a day off. I have to be here all the time. I must watch my subordinates' every move, or who knows what will happen?" But no one is irreplaceable. The Army is not going to stop functioning because one leader -- no matter how senior, no matter how central -- steps aside. In combat, the loss of a leader is a shock to a unit, but the unit must continue its mission. If leaders train their subordinates properly, one of them will take charge.
Strong commanders -- those with personal courage -- realize that their subordinate leaders need room to work. This doesn't mean you should let your subordinates make the same mistakes over and over. Part of your responsibility as a leader is to help your subordinates succeed. You can achieve this through empowering and coaching. Train your subordinates to plan, prepare, execute, and assess well enough to operate independently. Provide sufficient purpose, direction, and motivation for them to operate in support of the overall plan. Finally, check and make corrections. Take time to help your subordinates sort out what happened and why. There is not a soldier out there, from private to general, who has not slipped up from time to time. Good soldiers, and especially good leaders, learn from those mistakes. Good leaders help their subordinates grow by teaching, coaching, and counseling.
Leadership and the Changing Threat
factor that will have a major impact on Army leadership in the near future is the changing nature of the threat. For the Army, the twenty-first century began in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. America no longer defines its security interests in terms of a single, major threat. Instead, it faces numerous, smaller threats and situations, any of which can quickly mushroom into a major security challenge.
The end of the Cold War has increased the frequency and variety of Army missions. Since 1989, the Army has fought a large-scale land war and been continually involved in many different kinds of stability operations and support operations. There has been a greater demand for special, joint, and multinational operations as well. Initiative at all levels is becoming more and more important. In many instances, Army leaders on the ground have had to invent ways of doing business for situations they could not have anticipated.
Not only that, the importance of direct leaders -- NCOs and junior officers -- making the right decisions in stressful situations has increased. Actions by direct-level leaders -- sergeants, warrant officers, lieutenants, and captains -- can have organizational- and strategic-level implications. . . . The Army's organizational and strategic leaders count on direct leaders. It has always been important to accomplish the mission the right way the first time; today it's more important than ever.
The Army has handled change in the past. It will continue to do so in the future as long as Army leaders emphasize the constants -- Army values, teamwork, and discipline -- and help their people anticipate change by seeking always to improve. Army leaders explain, to the extent of their knowledge and in clear terms, what may happen and how the organization can effectively react if it does. Change is inevitable; trying to avoid it is futile. The disciplined, cohesive organization rides out the tough times and will emerge even better than it started. Leadership, in a very real sense, includes managing change and making it work for you. To do that, you must know what to change and what not to change.
Personal Courage
Personal courage isn't the absence of fear; rather, it's the ability to put fear aside and do what's necessary. It takes two forms, physical and moral. Good leaders demonstrate both.
Physical courage means overcoming fears of bodily harm and doing your duty. It's the bravery that allows a soldier to take risks in combat in spite of the fear of wounds or death. Physical courage is what gets the soldier at Airborne School out the aircraft door. It's what allows an infantryman to assault a bunker to save his buddies.
In contrast, moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on your values, principles, and convictions -- even when threatened. It enables leaders to stand up for what they believe is right, regardless of the consequences. Leaders who take responsibility for their decisions and actions, even when things go wrong, display moral courage. Courageous leaders are willing to look critically inside themselves, consider new ideas, and change what needs changing.
Moral courage is sometimes overlooked, both in discussions of personal courage and in the everyday rush of business. A civilian at a meeting heard courage mentioned several times in the context of combat. The civilian pointed out that consistent moral courage is every bit as important as momentary physical courage. Situations requiring physical courage are rare; situations requiring moral courage can occur frequently. Moral courage is essential to living the Army values of integrity and honor every day.
Moral courage often expresses itself as candor. Candor means being frank, honest, and sincere with others while keeping your words free from bias, prejudice, or malice. Candor means calling things as you see them, even when it's uncomfortable or you think it might be better for you to just keep quiet. It means not allowing your feelings to affect what you say about a person or situation. A candid company commander calmly points out the first sergeant's mistake. Likewise, the candid first sergeant respectfully points out when the company commander's pet project isn't working and they need to do something different. For trust to exist between leaders and subordinates, candor is essential.
In combat physical and moral courage may blend together. The right thing to do may not only be unpopular, but dangerous as well. Situations of that sort reveal who's a leader of character and who's not. Consider this example. . . .
On March 16, 1968, Warrant Officer (WO1) Hugh C. Thompson Jr. and his two-man crew were on a reconnaissance mission over the village of My Lai, Republic of Vietnam. WO1 Thompson watched in horror as he saw an American soldier shoot an injured Vietnamese child. Minutes later, when he observed American soldiers advancing on a number of civilians in a ditch, WO1 Thompson landed his helicopter and questioned a young officer about what was happening on the ground. Told that the ground action was none of his business, WO1 Thompson took off and continued to circle the area.
When it became apparent that the American soldiers were now firing on civilians, WO1 Thompson landed his helicopter between the soldiers and a group of 10 villagers who were headed for a homemade bomb shelter. He ordered his gunner to train his weapon on the approaching American soldiers and to fire if necessary. Then he personally coaxed the civilians out of the shelter and airlifted them to safety. WO1 Thompson's radio reports of what was happening were instrumental in bringing about the cease-fire order that saved the lives of more civilians. His willingness to place himself in physical danger in order to do the morally right thing is a sterling example of personal courage.
INTRODUCTIONBY GENERAL ERIC SHINSEKI, UNITED STATES ARMY RETIRED AND FRANCES HESSELBEIN JANUARY 2004
Since we first met five or six years ago, we have collaborated regularly and repeatedly on leadership issues -- on the historic battlefield at Gettysburg, at West Point, at Fort Leavenworth, at the Pentagon, and at the Leader to Leader Institute in Manhattan. Though we come from very different backgrounds -- one a nonprofit leader, the other a career soldier for thirty-eight years -- we have both come to realize, first, that the Army's approach to developing leadership is powerful and eminently successful and, second, that that approach is applicable to institutions and organizations other than the military. With that in mind, we and The Conference Board sponsored conferences that brought together Army, corporate, and nonprofit leaders. One would think that leaders from such varied sectors would not have much in common, but they merged into remarkably cohesive groups. Indeed, there are common denominators among all leaders of quality, and Army leader-development principles capitalize on that fact.
Field Manual 22-100, Army Leadership, has three words on its cover: "Be, Know, Do." After reviewing the draft of this Army doctrinal publication on leadership, Frances shared an important insight with a colonel from the Center for Army Leadership at Fort Leavenworth. She said, "Before we review this together, may I say that this manual could be as helpful to the Salvation Army as to the U.S. Army." She realized intuitively that the Army was about to publish a leadership manual that would be as useful to a general, a lieutenant, or a sergeant as to a captain of industry, a mid-level manager, or a front-line customer service representative. "Be, Know, Do" is a great model for all who appreciate the power of language and the ideas that language conveys. The implications of those three words -- the demands they make -- are profound, far reaching, and relevant to any leader.
All people and all good organizations share the same requirements for strong, selfless leadership. And to develop and institutionalize this kind of leadership, the Army does two things each and every day: it trains its soldiers, and it grows them into leaders. The principles and practices of effective leadership that make the United States Army the greatest landforce in the world are relevant, as well, to civilian organizations -- businesses, nonprofit organizations, and governmental agencies. Understanding and accepting the validity of this important proposition prompted the Leader to Leader Institute to compile lessons from the Army and publish them in this book.
Leader Development Is Essential
he American way of life and our well-being depends on the ability of Army leaders at all levels to inspire and lead, often under the most harrowing conditions and unimaginable levels of stress. And the Army has long understood that there is no substitute for strong leaders -- throughout its ranks. During combat, squad leaders, platoon leaders, company commanders, and battalion commanders can be incapacitated or killed -- as can their replacements and their subordinates. The cost of failure at any point in its complex formations could well be catastrophic, as risks are most often measured in lives. Filling the ranks with well-trained, highly motivated, and performance- oriented soldiers who, without hesitation, can and will step forward to lead when victory hangs in the balance is the unrelenting requirement for success in battle. The Army, therefore, makes leadership everyone's priority.
The Army's record for developing leaders is superb. Today, it is one of the most innovative training organizations in the world. Although many companies in the private sector endorse promoting from within their ranks, contracted executive search firms most often fill top positions by attracting talent from other organizations. This is not an option for the Army; it does not indulge the free agency process. To train and grow effective leaders takes years. And because the Army does not have the luxury of raiding competitors for leadership talent, its top leaders must devote themselves to and succeed in developing new generations of leaders who can cope with uncertainty when preparing for crises yet to be defined. Thus, throughout its history, the Army has found leaders of extraordinary character who have risen to lead the Army and the nation through crisis -- Generals Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, John J. Pershing, George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, Creighton W. Abrams, and Colin L. Powell, to name just a few.
Growing Successful Leaders for a Changing Environment
n entering this new century, we have also entered an era of unprecedented change, one that is enormously challenging strategically. Though time-tested leadership practices remain viable, those practices will need to be augmented with new leader competencies that are relevant to the dynamic global environment in which the Army and the nation must prevail decisively. Consider this description of the Objective Force, the vision toward which The Army is working:
The human dimension of warfare will always remain preeminent. War is uncertain, mentally complex, physically demanding, and an intensely emotional experience. Objective Force Soldiers must be physically and mentally tough enough to dominate their opponents despite these challenges. Objective Force Soldiers and leaders must also possess the competence and confidence to close with their opponents in open, close, and complex terrain -- and kill them. They must be highly trained in all tasks across the spectrum of military operations. They must be knowledgeable and disciplined in their application of Rules of Engagement. They must be multifaceted, adaptive, and self-aware -- knowing how to clear a room, send a digital message, or repair a vehicle -- because sustainment in the first 72 hours of a deployment on a non-linear battlefield will be limited. These Soldiers will need demanding, realistic training conducted by leaders who feel a moral obligation to train them correctly and make them tough, disciplined, and motivated. Knowing and adhering to high standards of discipline, fitness, and competency are essential to Objective Force success ["Concepts for the Objective Force," U.S. Army White Paper].
Physically and mentally tough, competent and confident, highly trained, knowledgeable and disciplined, multifaceted, adaptive, selfaware -- these are the characteristics of successful leaders in the twenty-first century. We can develop the leaders that our organizations require for an uncertain future, and we believe everyone who aspires to lead or to train leaders can learn from the Army. Since before the birth of the nation and through eras of remarkable change, the Army has been developing leadership principles and practices that speak to the constants of effective leadership -- loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.
The Army must always be ready to fight and win the wars of the nation -- it has this duty as a nonnegotiable contract with the American people. In the wake of the War of 1812, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun described the sole purpose for a peacetime Army -- "to prepare for war." To that end, the Army trains to fight every day. And through every period of its more than 228-year history, the Army has continued to refine its approach to leadership as a matter of embracing relevant change. Since the mid-1970s, the Army has undergone a monumental training revolution. It has refined training doctrine, improved training techniques, raised the bar on performance standards, focused soldiers on individual competence, and focused units on collective performance, all to attain higher levels of warfighting readiness. Army training stresses attainment of competence at individual tasks that are performed repeatedly at increasing levels of difficulty until realistic conditions of combat are most closely simulated. Thus, individual competence becomes the building block for collective team performance of the most complex tasks to the prescribed standard in actual combat. Candid After- Action Reviews (AARs) -- a staple of Army leader development -- promote and nurture teamwork, strengthen clear communications, emphasize personal accountability, encourage performance to standard, and acknowledge shared risk. The product of AARs is the development of organizational trust and growth in leadership that is effective in any scenario, no matter how the environment may change. This innovative training methodology has been so successful that many of the nation's most renowned corporations have adopted it.
Sharing the Army's Approach with Today's Generation
uring World War II and its immediate aftermath, military culture was a familiar part of American life. The Army and its values were integral to our national culture. Millions of Americans in what Tom Brokaw came to call "The Greatest Generation" had fought in World War II, and even those who did not participate directly had fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons -- in some cases mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters -- who did. They learned about sacrifice, about serving a purpose greater than self, and about determination, teamwork, and trust. While the military draft was in effect, large numbers of men spent two years of their lives in uniform. Their common experiences provided a shared bond, a shared language, and shared values; but the breadth of this experience began to erode early in the 1970s.
Since the end of the draft and the establishment of the all-volunteer force in 1973, fewer and fewer citizens have been exposed to the Army, its values, and its leadership ethos. Today, a smaller segment of the population is familiar with the Army and Army values. A still smaller percentage has participated in Army life and had the chance to benefit from its focus on leaders of character and institutional values. This is unfortunate because the Army continues to provide a premier leadership development opportunity for the nation. How does it do it? How can we use the principles of Army Leadership to strengthen other parts of our society, of our corporate, governmental, or nonprofit organizations? Exploring and answering those questions is the Leader to Leader Institute's purpose in this book.
All Leaders Can Benefit
eadership matters. It matters in the life and death situations in which a lack of trust, teamwork, clear focus, confidence, and motivation could spell disaster -- leadership matters in combat. Leadership matters when preparing soldiers for the rigors of combat in realistic training scenarios that simulate combat with inherently dangerous equipment and munitions. And leadership matters during the down time, as well, when soldiers prepare for future missions, plan training, repair and maintain equipment, and spend time with their families. Leadership of successful organizations is not a nine-to-five, five-day-a-week duty. It is a way of life. It underscores every organizational endeavor. Consider that, while advances in materials and technology have changed the face of battle, the Army continues to rely most heavily on strong leaders at all levels -- exceptional leaders who are self-aware, adaptive, and agile; leaders who will hold units together in the midst of tragedy; leaders who will achieve their objectives in the face of concerted opposition and the most overwhelming odds. These are leaders of indomitable spirit who fulfill their obligations to their assigned missions and to their people. Soldier-leaders represent what's best about the Army. They deliver our magnificent moments -- noble by sacrifice, magnificent by performance, and respected by all. They make us better than we ever expected to be.
In the post-9/11 world, leaders in all organizations can gain from the Army's approach to leadership. Even if we don't face the life and death challenges of combat, civilian leaders do face unprecedented change, ruthless competition, unexpected threats, and battles for market share -- all of which can mean the survival or destruction of products, careers, and companies and can have serious consequences for the people who are the heart and soul of all institutions.
In this book, the Leader to Leader Institute shares the Army's leadership philosophy with leaders from many sectors -- business, government, nonprofits, and volunteer organizations. It adapts material from the Army's primary leadership manual, Army Leadership, and draws lessons from Army leaders at a variety of levels and across its formations. It offers practical advice to leaders everywhere on how to use Army leadership principles to transform themselves and their organizations into more effective, efficient, and committed teams that work toward common goals. We know firsthand the challenges leaders face, and we have learned how well the Army prepares its people to meet them.
Leadership is most important when the stakes are highest, but it must be continuously developed, patiently nurtured, and tested with uncertainty if it is to be fully ready for those unforeseen crises. In today's turbulent world, Army leadership is being tested daily around the globe in battles that were not envisioned three years ago, and the Army is meeting every challenge.
Army leadership begins with what the leader must BE, the values and attributes that shape a leader's character. It may be helpful to think of these as internal qualities: you possess them all the time, alone and with others. They define who you are; they give you a solid footing. These values and attributes are the same for all leaders, regardless of position, although you certainly refine your understanding of them as you become more experienced and assume positions of greater responsibility. For example, a sergeant major with combat experience has a deeper understanding of selfless service and personal courage than a new soldier does.
Your skills are those things you KNOW how to do, your competence in everything from the technical side of your job to the people skills a leader requires. The skill categories of the Army leadership framework apply to all leaders. However, as you assume positions of greater responsibility, you must master additional skills in each category.
But character and knowledge -- while absolutely necessary -- are not enough. You cannot be effective, you cannot be a leader, until you apply what you know, until you act and DO what you must. As with skills, you will learn more leadership actions as you serve in different positions. Leadership is about taking action, but there's more to being a leader than just what you do. Character and competence, the BE and the KNOW, underlie everything a leader does. So becoming a leader involves developing all aspects of yourself. This includes adopting and living Army values. It means developing the attributes and learning the skills of an Army leader. Only by this self-development will you become a confident and competent leader of character. Being an Army leader is not easy. There are no cookie-cutter solutions to leadership challenges, and there are no shortcuts to success. However, the tools are available to every leader. It is up to you to master and use them.
BE
haracter describes a person's inner strength, the BE of BE, KNOW, DO. Your character helps you know what is right; more than that, it links that knowledge to action. Character gives you the courage to do what is right regardless of the circumstances or the consequences.
You demonstrate character through your behavior. One of your key responsibilities as a leader is to teach Army values to your subordinates. The old saying that actions speak louder than words has never been more true than here. Leaders who talk about honor, loyalty, and selfless service but do not live these values -- both on and off duty -- send the wrong message, that this "values stuff" is all just talk.
Here are the Army values that guide you, the leader, and the rest of the Army. They form the acronym LDRSHIP:
Loyalty
Duty
Respect
Selfless Service
Honor
Integrity
Personal Courage
Values tell us part of what the leader must BE; the other side of what a leader must BE are the attributes listed in Figure 1. Leader attributes influence leader actions; leader actions, in turn, always influence the unit or organization. As an example, if you're physically fit, you're more likely to inspire your subordinates to be physically fit. The mental attributes of an Army leader include will, self-discipline, initiative, judgment, self-confidence, intelligence, and cultural awareness. Physical attributes -- health fitness, physical fitness, and military and professional bearing -- can be developed. Army leaders maintain the appropriate level of physical fitness and military bearing.
Help your subordinates use their emotional energy to accomplish amazing feats.
As an Army leader, your emotional attributes -- self-control, balance, and stability -- contribute to how you feel and therefore to how you interact with others. Your people are human beings with hopes, fears, concerns, and dreams. When you understand that will and endurance come from emotional energy, you possess a powerful leadership tool. The feedback you give can help your subordinates use their emotional energy to accomplish amazing feats in tough times. Self-control, balance, and stability also help you make the right ethical choices. (see Sidebar: Personal Courage).
Understanding Army values and leader attributes is only the first step. You also must embrace Army values and develop leader attributes, living them until they become habit. You must teach Army values to your subordinates through action and example and help them develop leader attributes in themselves.
KNOW
leader must have a certain level of knowledge to be competent. That knowledge is spread across four skill domains. You must develop interpersonal skills, knowledge of your people and how to work with them. You must have conceptual skills, the ability to understand and apply the doctrine and other ideas required to do your job. You must learn technical skills, how to use your equipment. Finally, warrior leaders must master tactical skills, the ability to make the right decisions concerning employment of units in combat. Tactical skills include mastery of the art of tactics appropriate to the leader's level of responsibility and unit type. They're amplified by the other skills -- interpersonal, conceptual, and technical -- and are the most important skills for warfighters.
Mastery of different skills in these domains is essential to the Army's success in peace and war. But a true leader is not satisfied with knowing only how to do what will get the organization through today; you must also be concerned about what it will need tomorrow. You must strive to master your job and prepare to take over your boss's job. In addition, as you move to jobs of increasing responsibility, you'll face new equipment, new ideas, and new ways of thinking and doing things. You must learn to apply all these to accomplish your mission.
Army schools teach you basic job skills, but they are only part of the learning picture. You'll learn even more on the job. Good leaders add to their knowledge and skills every day. True leaders seek out opportunities; they're always looking for ways to increase their professional knowledge and skills. Dedicated squad leaders jump at the chance to fill in as acting platoon sergeant, not because they've mastered the platoon sergeant's job but because they know the best place to learn about it is in the thick of the action. Those squad leaders challenge themselves and will learn through doing; what's more, with coaching, they'll learn as much from their mistakes as from their successes.
DO
eaders act. They bring together everything they are, everything they believe, and everything they know how to do to provide purpose, direction, and motivation. Army leaders work to influence people, operate to accomplish the mission, and act to improve their organization. As with leader skills, leader actions increase in scope and complexity as you move from direct leader positions to organizational and strategic leader positions. Leaders who live up to Army values, who display leader attributes, who are competent, who act at all times as they would have their people act, will succeed. Leaders who talk a good game but can't back their words with actions will fail in the long run.
Leader actions, the DO of Army leadership doctrine, include --
Influencing: making decisions, communicating those decisions, and motivating people.
Operating: the things you do to accomplish your organization's immediate mission.
Improving: the things you do to increase the organization's capability to accomplish current or future missions.
The leaders must step in when things are falling apart, when there seems to be no hope.
What about combat? Trained soldiers know what they are supposed to do, but under stress, their instincts might tell them to do something different. The exhausted, hungry, cold, wet, disoriented, and frightened soldier is more likely to do the wrong thing -- stop moving, lie down, retreat -- than one not under that kind of stress. This is when the leader must step in -- when things are falling apart, when there seems to be no hope -- and get the job done.
Leaders of Leaders
Anyone who influences others is a leader.
t any level, anyone responsible for supervising people or accomplishing a mission that involves other people is a leader. Anyone who influences others, motivating them to action or influencing their thinking or decision making, is a leader. It's not a function only of position; it's also a function of role. In addition, everyone in the Army -- including every leader -- fits somewhere in a chain of command. Everyone in the Army is also a follower or subordinate. There are, obviously, many leaders in an organization, and it's important to understand that you don't just lead subordinates -- you lead other leaders. Even at the lowest level, you are a leader of leaders.
For example, a rifle company has four leadership levels: the company commander leads through platoon leaders, the platoon leaders through squad leaders, and the squad leaders through team leaders. At each level, the leader must let subordinate leaders do their jobs. Practicing this kind of decentralized execution based on mission orders in peacetime trains subordinates who will, in battle, exercise disciplined initiative in the absence of orders. They'll continue to fight when the radios are jammed, when the plan falls apart, when the enemy does something unexpected.
This decentralization does not mean that a commander never steps in and takes direct control. There will be times when a leader has to stop leading through subordinates, step forward, and say, "Follow me!" A situation like this may occur in combat, when things are falling apart and, like BG Thomas J. Jackson, you'll need to "stand like a stone wall" and save victory. Or it may occur during training, when a subordinate is about to make a mistake that could result in serious injury or death and you must act to prevent disaster.
More often, however, you should empower your subordinate leaders: give them a task, delegate the necessary authority, and let them do the work. Of course you need to check periodically. How else will you be able to critique, coach, and evaluate them? But the point is to "power down without powering off." Give your subordinate leaders the authority they need to get the job done. Then check on them frequently enough to keep track of what is going on but not so often that you get in their way. You can develop this skill through experience.
It takes personal courage to operate this way. But a leader must let subordinate leaders learn by doing. Is there a risk that, for instance, a squad leader -- especially an inexperienced one -- will make mistakes? Of course there is. But if your subordinate leaders are to grow, you must let them take risks. This means you must let go of some control and let your subordinate leaders do things on their own.
A company commander who routinely steps in and gives orders directly to squad leaders weakens the whole chain of command, denies squad leaders valuable learning experiences, and sends a signal to the whole company that the chain of command and NCO support channel can be bypassed at any time. Effective leaders strive to create an environment of trust and understanding that encourages their subordinates to seize the initiative and act.
Weak leaders who have not trained their subordinates sometimes say, "My organization can't do it without me." Many people, used to being at the center of the action, begin to feel as if they're indispensable. You have heard them: "I can't take a day off. I have to be here all the time. I must watch my subordinates' every move, or who knows what will happen?" But no one is irreplaceable. The Army is not going to stop functioning because one leader -- no matter how senior, no matter how central -- steps aside. In combat, the loss of a leader is a shock to a unit, but the unit must continue its mission. If leaders train their subordinates properly, one of them will take charge.
Strong commanders -- those with personal courage -- realize that their subordinate leaders need room to work. This doesn't mean you should let your subordinates make the same mistakes over and over. Part of your responsibility as a leader is to help your subordinates succeed. You can achieve this through empowering and coaching. Train your subordinates to plan, prepare, execute, and assess well enough to operate independently. Provide sufficient purpose, direction, and motivation for them to operate in support of the overall plan. Finally, check and make corrections. Take time to help your subordinates sort out what happened and why. There is not a soldier out there, from private to general, who has not slipped up from time to time. Good soldiers, and especially good leaders, learn from those mistakes. Good leaders help their subordinates grow by teaching, coaching, and counseling.
Leadership and the Changing Threat
factor that will have a major impact on Army leadership in the near future is the changing nature of the threat. For the Army, the twenty-first century began in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. America no longer defines its security interests in terms of a single, major threat. Instead, it faces numerous, smaller threats and situations, any of which can quickly mushroom into a major security challenge.
The end of the Cold War has increased the frequency and variety of Army missions. Since 1989, the Army has fought a large-scale land war and been continually involved in many different kinds of stability operations and support operations. There has been a greater demand for special, joint, and multinational operations as well. Initiative at all levels is becoming more and more important. In many instances, Army leaders on the ground have had to invent ways of doing business for situations they could not have anticipated.
Not only that, the importance of direct leaders -- NCOs and junior officers -- making the right decisions in stressful situations has increased. Actions by direct-level leaders -- sergeants, warrant officers, lieutenants, and captains -- can have organizational- and strategic-level implications. . . . The Army's organizational and strategic leaders count on direct leaders. It has always been important to accomplish the mission the right way the first time; today it's more important than ever.
The Army has handled change in the past. It will continue to do so in the future as long as Army leaders emphasize the constants -- Army values, teamwork, and discipline -- and help their people anticipate change by seeking always to improve. Army leaders explain, to the extent of their knowledge and in clear terms, what may happen and how the organization can effectively react if it does. Change is inevitable; trying to avoid it is futile. The disciplined, cohesive organization rides out the tough times and will emerge even better than it started. Leadership, in a very real sense, includes managing change and making it work for you. To do that, you must know what to change and what not to change.
Personal Courage
Personal courage isn't the absence of fear; rather, it's the ability to put fear aside and do what's necessary. It takes two forms, physical and moral. Good leaders demonstrate both.
Physical courage means overcoming fears of bodily harm and doing your duty. It's the bravery that allows a soldier to take risks in combat in spite of the fear of wounds or death. Physical courage is what gets the soldier at Airborne School out the aircraft door. It's what allows an infantryman to assault a bunker to save his buddies.
In contrast, moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on your values, principles, and convictions -- even when threatened. It enables leaders to stand up for what they believe is right, regardless of the consequences. Leaders who take responsibility for their decisions and actions, even when things go wrong, display moral courage. Courageous leaders are willing to look critically inside themselves, consider new ideas, and change what needs changing.
Moral courage is sometimes overlooked, both in discussions of personal courage and in the everyday rush of business. A civilian at a meeting heard courage mentioned several times in the context of combat. The civilian pointed out that consistent moral courage is every bit as important as momentary physical courage. Situations requiring physical courage are rare; situations requiring moral courage can occur frequently. Moral courage is essential to living the Army values of integrity and honor every day.
Moral courage often expresses itself as candor. Candor means being frank, honest, and sincere with others while keeping your words free from bias, prejudice, or malice. Candor means calling things as you see them, even when it's uncomfortable or you think it might be better for you to just keep quiet. It means not allowing your feelings to affect what you say about a person or situation. A candid company commander calmly points out the first sergeant's mistake. Likewise, the candid first sergeant respectfully points out when the company commander's pet project isn't working and they need to do something different. For trust to exist between leaders and subordinates, candor is essential.
In combat physical and moral courage may blend together. The right thing to do may not only be unpopular, but dangerous as well. Situations of that sort reveal who's a leader of character and who's not. Consider this example. . . .
On March 16, 1968, Warrant Officer (WO1) Hugh C. Thompson Jr. and his two-man crew were on a reconnaissance mission over the village of My Lai, Republic of Vietnam. WO1 Thompson watched in horror as he saw an American soldier shoot an injured Vietnamese child. Minutes later, when he observed American soldiers advancing on a number of civilians in a ditch, WO1 Thompson landed his helicopter and questioned a young officer about what was happening on the ground. Told that the ground action was none of his business, WO1 Thompson took off and continued to circle the area.
When it became apparent that the American soldiers were now firing on civilians, WO1 Thompson landed his helicopter between the soldiers and a group of 10 villagers who were headed for a homemade bomb shelter. He ordered his gunner to train his weapon on the approaching American soldiers and to fire if necessary. Then he personally coaxed the civilians out of the shelter and airlifted them to safety. WO1 Thompson's radio reports of what was happening were instrumental in bringing about the cease-fire order that saved the lives of more civilians. His willingness to place himself in physical danger in order to do the morally right thing is a sterling example of personal courage.
INTRODUCTIONBY GENERAL ERIC SHINSEKI, UNITED STATES ARMY RETIRED AND FRANCES HESSELBEIN JANUARY 2004
Since we first met five or six years ago, we have collaborated regularly and repeatedly on leadership issues -- on the historic battlefield at Gettysburg, at West Point, at Fort Leavenworth, at the Pentagon, and at the Leader to Leader Institute in Manhattan. Though we come from very different backgrounds -- one a nonprofit leader, the other a career soldier for thirty-eight years -- we have both come to realize, first, that the Army's approach to developing leadership is powerful and eminently successful and, second, that that approach is applicable to institutions and organizations other than the military. With that in mind, we and The Conference Board sponsored conferences that brought together Army, corporate, and nonprofit leaders. One would think that leaders from such varied sectors would not have much in common, but they merged into remarkably cohesive groups. Indeed, there are common denominators among all leaders of quality, and Army leader-development principles capitalize on that fact.
Field Manual 22-100, Army Leadership, has three words on its cover: "Be, Know, Do." After reviewing the draft of this Army doctrinal publication on leadership, Frances shared an important insight with a colonel from the Center for Army Leadership at Fort Leavenworth. She said, "Before we review this together, may I say that this manual could be as helpful to the Salvation Army as to the U.S. Army." She realized intuitively that the Army was about to publish a leadership manual that would be as useful to a general, a lieutenant, or a sergeant as to a captain of industry, a mid-level manager, or a front-line customer service representative. "Be, Know, Do" is a great model for all who appreciate the power of language and the ideas that language conveys. The implications of those three words -- the demands they make -- are profound, far reaching, and relevant to any leader.
All people and all good organizations share the same requirements for strong, selfless leadership. And to develop and institutionalize this kind of leadership, the Army does two things each and every day: it trains its soldiers, and it grows them into leaders. The principles and practices of effective leadership that make the United States Army the greatest landforce in the world are relevant, as well, to civilian organizations -- businesses, nonprofit organizations, and governmental agencies. Understanding and accepting the validity of this important proposition prompted the Leader to Leader Institute to compile lessons from the Army and publish them in this book.
Leader Development Is Essential
he American way of life and our well-being depends on the ability of Army leaders at all levels to inspire and lead, often under the most harrowing conditions and unimaginable levels of stress. And the Army has long understood that there is no substitute for strong leaders -- throughout its ranks. During combat, squad leaders, platoon leaders, company commanders, and battalion commanders can be incapacitated or killed -- as can their replacements and their subordinates. The cost of failure at any point in its complex formations could well be catastrophic, as risks are most often measured in lives. Filling the ranks with well-trained, highly motivated, and performance- oriented soldiers who, without hesitation, can and will step forward to lead when victory hangs in the balance is the unrelenting requirement for success in battle. The Army, therefore, makes leadership everyone's priority.
The Army's record for developing leaders is superb. Today, it is one of the most innovative training organizations in the world. Although many companies in the private sector endorse promoting from within their ranks, contracted executive search firms most often fill top positions by attracting talent from other organizations. This is not an option for the Army; it does not indulge the free agency process. To train and grow effective leaders takes years. And because the Army does not have the luxury of raiding competitors for leadership talent, its top leaders must devote themselves to and succeed in developing new generations of leaders who can cope with uncertainty when preparing for crises yet to be defined. Thus, throughout its history, the Army has found leaders of extraordinary character who have risen to lead the Army and the nation through crisis -- Generals Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, John J. Pershing, George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, Creighton W. Abrams, and Colin L. Powell, to name just a few.
Growing Successful Leaders for a Changing Environment
n entering this new century, we have also entered an era of unprecedented change, one that is enormously challenging strategically. Though time-tested leadership practices remain viable, those practices will need to be augmented with new leader competencies that are relevant to the dynamic global environment in which the Army and the nation must prevail decisively. Consider this description of the Objective Force, the vision toward which The Army is working:
The human dimension of warfare will always remain preeminent. War is uncertain, mentally complex, physically demanding, and an intensely emotional experience. Objective Force Soldiers must be physically and mentally tough enough to dominate their opponents despite these challenges. Objective Force Soldiers and leaders must also possess the competence and confidence to close with their opponents in open, close, and complex terrain -- and kill them. They must be highly trained in all tasks across the spectrum of military operations. They must be knowledgeable and disciplined in their application of Rules of Engagement. They must be multifaceted, adaptive, and self-aware -- knowing how to clear a room, send a digital message, or repair a vehicle -- because sustainment in the first 72 hours of a deployment on a non-linear battlefield will be limited. These Soldiers will need demanding, realistic training conducted by leaders who feel a moral obligation to train them correctly and make them tough, disciplined, and motivated. Knowing and adhering to high standards of discipline, fitness, and competency are essential to Objective Force success ["Concepts for the Objective Force," U.S. Army White Paper].
Physically and mentally tough, competent and confident, highly trained, knowledgeable and disciplined, multifaceted, adaptive, selfaware -- these are the characteristics of successful leaders in the twenty-first century. We can develop the leaders that our organizations require for an uncertain future, and we believe everyone who aspires to lead or to train leaders can learn from the Army. Since before the birth of the nation and through eras of remarkable change, the Army has been developing leadership principles and practices that speak to the constants of effective leadership -- loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.
The Army must always be ready to fight and win the wars of the nation -- it has this duty as a nonnegotiable contract with the American people. In the wake of the War of 1812, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun described the sole purpose for a peacetime Army -- "to prepare for war." To that end, the Army trains to fight every day. And through every period of its more than 228-year history, the Army has continued to refine its approach to leadership as a matter of embracing relevant change. Since the mid-1970s, the Army has undergone a monumental training revolution. It has refined training doctrine, improved training techniques, raised the bar on performance standards, focused soldiers on individual competence, and focused units on collective performance, all to attain higher levels of warfighting readiness. Army training stresses attainment of competence at individual tasks that are performed repeatedly at increasing levels of difficulty until realistic conditions of combat are most closely simulated. Thus, individual competence becomes the building block for collective team performance of the most complex tasks to the prescribed standard in actual combat. Candid After- Action Reviews (AARs) -- a staple of Army leader development -- promote and nurture teamwork, strengthen clear communications, emphasize personal accountability, encourage performance to standard, and acknowledge shared risk. The product of AARs is the development of organizational trust and growth in leadership that is effective in any scenario, no matter how the environment may change. This innovative training methodology has been so successful that many of the nation's most renowned corporations have adopted it.
Sharing the Army's Approach with Today's Generation
uring World War II and its immediate aftermath, military culture was a familiar part of American life. The Army and its values were integral to our national culture. Millions of Americans in what Tom Brokaw came to call "The Greatest Generation" had fought in World War II, and even those who did not participate directly had fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons -- in some cases mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters -- who did. They learned about sacrifice, about serving a purpose greater than self, and about determination, teamwork, and trust. While the military draft was in effect, large numbers of men spent two years of their lives in uniform. Their common experiences provided a shared bond, a shared language, and shared values; but the breadth of this experience began to erode early in the 1970s.
Since the end of the draft and the establishment of the all-volunteer force in 1973, fewer and fewer citizens have been exposed to the Army, its values, and its leadership ethos. Today, a smaller segment of the population is familiar with the Army and Army values. A still smaller percentage has participated in Army life and had the chance to benefit from its focus on leaders of character and institutional values. This is unfortunate because the Army continues to provide a premier leadership development opportunity for the nation. How does it do it? How can we use the principles of Army Leadership to strengthen other parts of our society, of our corporate, governmental, or nonprofit organizations? Exploring and answering those questions is the Leader to Leader Institute's purpose in this book.
All Leaders Can Benefit
eadership matters. It matters in the life and death situations in which a lack of trust, teamwork, clear focus, confidence, and motivation could spell disaster -- leadership matters in combat. Leadership matters when preparing soldiers for the rigors of combat in realistic training scenarios that simulate combat with inherently dangerous equipment and munitions. And leadership matters during the down time, as well, when soldiers prepare for future missions, plan training, repair and maintain equipment, and spend time with their families. Leadership of successful organizations is not a nine-to-five, five-day-a-week duty. It is a way of life. It underscores every organizational endeavor. Consider that, while advances in materials and technology have changed the face of battle, the Army continues to rely most heavily on strong leaders at all levels -- exceptional leaders who are self-aware, adaptive, and agile; leaders who will hold units together in the midst of tragedy; leaders who will achieve their objectives in the face of concerted opposition and the most overwhelming odds. These are leaders of indomitable spirit who fulfill their obligations to their assigned missions and to their people. Soldier-leaders represent what's best about the Army. They deliver our magnificent moments -- noble by sacrifice, magnificent by performance, and respected by all. They make us better than we ever expected to be.
In the post-9/11 world, leaders in all organizations can gain from the Army's approach to leadership. Even if we don't face the life and death challenges of combat, civilian leaders do face unprecedented change, ruthless competition, unexpected threats, and battles for market share -- all of which can mean the survival or destruction of products, careers, and companies and can have serious consequences for the people who are the heart and soul of all institutions.
In this book, the Leader to Leader Institute shares the Army's leadership philosophy with leaders from many sectors -- business, government, nonprofits, and volunteer organizations. It adapts material from the Army's primary leadership manual, Army Leadership, and draws lessons from Army leaders at a variety of levels and across its formations. It offers practical advice to leaders everywhere on how to use Army leadership principles to transform themselves and their organizations into more effective, efficient, and committed teams that work toward common goals. We know firsthand the challenges leaders face, and we have learned how well the Army prepares its people to meet them.
Leadership is most important when the stakes are highest, but it must be continuously developed, patiently nurtured, and tested with uncertainty if it is to be fully ready for those unforeseen crises. In today's turbulent world, Army leadership is being tested daily around the globe in battles that were not envisioned three years ago, and the Army is meeting every challenge.
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