LEADERSHIP LIBRARY

IN BRIEF

What’s different about combat leadership is that the leader has to prepare the team to be successful even if he dies, is injured, loses communication, or otherwise cannot command in battle. Because of that, the leader needs to spend way more time providing context, communicating, training, and pushing decision-making as far down as close to the action as possible. It’s a good thought experiment for civilian sector leaders to think about how their leadership strategy would change if they were trying to literally make themselves replaceable.

Key Concepts

The Army Leadership Framework

“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.” (p. 3)

“This is how you should think about the Army leadership framework: all its pieces work in combination to produce something bigger and better than the sum of the parts.” (p. 9)

The three levels of leadership—Direct (face-to-face), Organizational, Strategic—differ in what they require of leaders

“Organizational leadership skills differ from direct leadership skills in degree, but not in kind. That is, the skill domains are the same, but organizational leaders must deal with more complexity, more people, greater uncertainty, and a greater number of unintended consequences.” (p. 11)

“Strategic leaders think, therefore, in terms of strategic systems that will operate over extended time periods.” (p. 155)

Creating lasting progress with change initiatives 

1. “Strategic leaders...demonstrate a sense of urgency by showing not only the benefits of but the necessity for change. They...” 

2. “...form guiding coalitions to work the process all the way from concept through implementation. With those groups they...” 

3. “...develop a vision of the future and strategy for achieving it. Because change is most effective when members embrace it, strategic leaders...” 

4. “...communicate the vision throughout the institution or organization and then...” 

5. “...empower subordinates at all levels for widespread, parallel efforts.” 

6. “They...plan for short-term successes to validate the programs and keep the vision credible and…” 

7. “...consolidate those wins and produce further change.” 

8. “Finally, the leader...preserves the change culturally.” (p. 180)

“Skipping a step or moving forward prematurely subverts the process and compromises success.” (p. 180)

Quotables

“Leadership is influencing people—by providing purpose, direction, and motivation—while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.” (p. 5)

“To motivate your people, give them missions that challenge them. After all, they did not join the Army to be bored.” (p. 6)

Colonel Albert G. Jenkins, CSA: “To our subordinates we own everything we are or hope to be. For it is our subordinates, not our superiors, who raise us to the dizziest of professional heights, and it is our subordinates who can and will, if we deserve it, bury us in the deepest mire of disgrace.” (p. 15)

“The loyalty of your people is a gift they give you when you train them well, treat them fairly, and live by the concepts you talk about.” (p. 24)

“Self-confidence is the faith that you’ll act correctly and properly in any situation, even one in which you’re under stress and don’t have all the information you want. Self-confidence comes from competence: it’s based on mastering skills, which takes hard work and dedication. Leaders who know their own capabilities and believe in themselves are self-confident.” (p. 35)

“Wherever they are, people who are physically fit feel more competent and confident. That attitude reassures and inspires those around them. Physically fit soldiers and DA civilians can handle stress better, work longer and harder, and recover faster than ones who are not fit.” (p. 38)

“Leadership doesn’t begin until your act.” (p. 49)

“In fact, if you add one more clause, ‘Accomplish the mission and take care of your soldiers,’ you have guidance for a career.” (p. 54)

“Army operations often involve danger and therefore fear. Battling the effects of fear has nothing to do with denying it and everything to do with recognizing fear and handling it.” (p. 57)

“Preparing to be a leader doesn’t get the job done; the test of your character and competence comes when you ask, when you DO those things required of a leader.” (p. 89)

“No matter what your position is, part of your duty is making your boss’s job easier. ...Ask only for decisions that fall outside your scope of authority—not those you want to avoid. Forward only problems you can’t fix—not those whose solutions are just difficult.” (p. 99)

“Organization pay attention to things leaders check.” (p. 123)

“However, the position of organizational leaders makes them more prominent, and they must remain aware of how their behavior affects their organization. A bad day for the leader should not have to be a bad day for everyone else.” (p. 132)

Lieutenant General Walter F. Ulmer, Jr.: “If it’s dumb it’s not our policy.” (p. 134)

“To maximize the use of resources and have the greatest effect on developing an effective organization, organizational leaders move beyond a reacting, problem-solving approach to an anticipating, problem-preemption method.” (p. 135)

GA George C. Marshall: “It is not enough to fight. It is the spirit which we bring to the fight that decides the issue. It is morale that wins the victory.” (p. 137)

General George S. Patton, Jr.: “[A] good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.” (p. 139)

“None of us is as smart as all of us.” —a former Brigade Commander (p. 141)

“Strategic leaders fight complexity by encompassing it. They must be more complex than the situations they face. This means they’re able to expand their frame of reference to fit a situation rather than reducing a situation to fit their preconceptions.” (p. 162)

GA Dwight D. Eisenhower: “There are no victories at bargain prices.” (p. 173)