The U.S. military leadership model is
based on an overview of all great
leaders, not just warriors. Thus, it is not
surprising that it also captures non-
warriors. In such a model, followers
determine if a person is a great leader or
not.
Deceptions in Leadership
In Clark Aldrich's book, Simulations and
the Future of Learning, he tells the story
of a manager who listened to the ideas
presented to him by his subordinates
and then went to his boss and presented
them as his own. He then had the
subordinates dismissed so that there
were no witnesses left. I imagine that he
was considered a good leader by both his
boss and himself, yet the subordinates
would of course had said otherwise. In
most circumstances the best judges of
leadership are the followers.
I once worked with a retired Navy Chief
who led one of our departments. Being
located in the Pacific Northwest, the
department has a good share of
individuals who, let's say, have quite an
opposing idea of the military. In addition,
since the company provides same-sex
benefits to its partners, it also attracts it
share of people from the gay
community. So here we have this
ramrod-straight leader with perfectly
combed hair, who even in civilian
clothes looks as if he is still in uniform
(starched, straight lines, etc.), quite
conservative, and whose actions often
paints the perfect picture of a Marine
drill instructor. His subordinates, for the
most part, have long hair, body-
piercings, dress quite sloppy, are quite
liberal, whose actions at times reminds
you of the demonstrators you see during
anti-war protests. However, they
thought he was the greatest thing since
the invention of peanut butter. They
were in tears when he left the company
to go on to greater things.
Great leadership works in the military
and civilian life because it is what one
“DOES.” Hitler and Aldrich's manager
are deceptions who capture the essence
of phoniness and are quite self-serving
in nature. Gandhi and the retired Navy
Chief are leaders because they capture
the essence of truth and selfless service.
During Enron's heyday its officers were
discussing how much money they could
screw out of Aunt Millie.
Leadership is multifaceted in that it
takes a path along many dimensions and
perspectives. In the early stages of the
Iraq war, a senior Army officer was
charged with pointing a gun at a local
and threatened to shoot him if he did
not reveal some information. According
to the officer, he needed the information
to save lives and that he would not have
actually shot him. His actions were
applauded by many, to include the
mothers and wives of the soldiers he
was sworn to protect (one of the basic
rules of leadership is that you look out
for the welfare of those under you).
However, senior Army officials had a
different outlook on the matter in that
he broke the basic leadership attributes
of ethics, values, and character that it
expects of its leaders.
Leadership decisions often take paths
that define our nation's humanity and
character. . . and it is not always one
easy straight and narrow path, but
rather a multifaceted undertaking that
often has no one-correct answer.
Character and Traits in Leadership
Managers are people who do things
right, while leaders are people who
do the right thing. — Warren
Bennis, Ph.D. On Becoming a
Leader
Building Excellence
Leaders do not command excellence,
they build excellence. Excellence is
“being all you can be” within the bounds
of doing what is right for your
organization. To reach excellence you
must first be a leader of good character.
You must do everything you are
supposed to do. Organizations will not
achieve excellence by figuring out
where it wants to go, having leaders do
whatever they have to in order to get
the job done, and then hope their
leaders acted with good character. This
type of thinking is backwards. Pursuing
excellence should not be confused with
accomplishing a job or task. When you
do planning, you do it by backwards
planning. But you do not achieve
excellence by backwards planning.
Excellence starts with leaders of good
and strong character who engage in the
entire process of leadership. And the
first process is being a person of
honorable character.
Waste no more time arguing what a
good man should be. Be one. —
Marcus Aurelius
Character develops over time. Many
think that much of a person's character
is formed early in life. However, we do
not know exactly how much or how
early character develops. But, it is safe
to claim that character does not change
quickly. A person's observable behavior
is an indication of her character. This
behavior can be strong or weak, good or
bad. A person with strong character
shows drive, energy, determination,
self-discipline, willpower, and nerve. She
sees what she wants and goes after it.
She attracts followers. On the other
hand, a person with weak character
shows none of these traits. She does not
know what she wants. Her traits are
disorganized, she vacillates and is
inconsistent. She will attract no
followers.
A strong person can be good or bad. A
gang leader is an example of a strong
person with a bad character, while an
outstanding community leader is one
with both strong and good
characteristics. An organization needs
leaders with both strong and good
characteristics, people who will guide
them to the future and show that they
can be trusted.
Courage — not complacency — is
our need today. Leadership not
salesmanship. — John F. Kennedy
To be an effective leader, your followers
must have trust in you and they need to
be sold on your vision. Korn-Ferry
International, an executive search
company, performed a survey on what
organizations want from their leaders.
The respondents said they wanted
people who were both ethical and who
convey a strong vision of the future. In
any organization, a leader's actions set
the pace. This behavior wins trust,
loyalty, and ensures the organization's
continued vitality. One of the ways to
build trust is to display a good sense of
character composed of beliefs, values,
skills, and traits (U.S. Army Handbook,
1973):
Beliefs are what we hold dear to us and
are rooted deeply within us. They could
be assumptions or convictions that you
hold true regarding people, concepts, or
things. They could be the beliefs about
life, death, religion, what is good, what is
bad, what is human nature, etc.
Values are attitudes about the worth of
people, concepts, or things. For example,
you might value a good car, home,
friendship, personal comfort, or
relatives. Values are important as they
influence a person's behavior to weigh
the importance of alternatives. For
example, you might value friends more
than privacy, while others might be the
opposite.
Skills are the knowledge and abilities
that a person gains throughout life. The
ability to learn a new skill varies with
each individual. Some skills come almost
naturally, while others come only by
complete devotion to study and practice.
Traits are distinguishing qualities or
characteristics of a person, while
character is the sum total of these traits.
There are hundreds of personality traits,
far too many to be discussed here.
Instead, we will focus on a few that are
crucial for a leader. The more of these
you display as a leader, the more your
followers will believe and trust in you.
Traits of a Good Leader
Compiled by the Santa Clara University
and the Tom Peters Group:
Honest — Display sincerity, integrity,
and candor in all your actions.
Deceptive behavior will not inspire
trust.
Competent — Base your actions on
reason and moral principles. Do not
make decisions based on childlike
emotional desires or feelings.
Forward-looking — Set goals and
have a vision of the future. The vision
must be owned throughout the
organization. Effective leaders
envision what they want and how to
get it. They habitually pick priorities
stemming from their basic values.
Inspiring — Display confidence in all
that you do. By showing endurance in
mental, physical, and spiritual
stamina, you will inspire others to
reach for new heights. Take charge
when necessary.
Intelligent — Read, study, and seek
challenging assignments.
Fair-minded — Show fair treatment
to all people. Prejudice is the enemy
of justice. Display empathy by being
sensitive to the feelings, values,
interests, and well-being of others.
Broad-minded — Seek out diversity.
Courageous — Have the
perseverance to accomplish a goal,
regardless of the seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. Display a
confident calmness when under
stress.
Straightforward — Use sound
judgment to make a good decisions at
the right time.
Imaginative — Make timely and
appropriate changes in your thinking,
plans, and methods. Show creativity
by thinking of new and better goals,
ideas, and solutions to problems. Be
innovative!
Retreat Hell! We've just got here!
— Attributed to several World War
I Marine Corps officers, Belleau
Wood, June 1918 (key ideal — take
a stand)
Attributes
Attributes establish what leaders are,
and every leader needs at least three of
them (U.S. Army Handbook, 1973):
Standard Bearers
establish the ethical framework within
an organization. This demands a
commitment to live and defend the
climate and culture that you want to
permeate your organization. What you
set as an example will soon become
the rule as unlike knowledge, ethical
behavior is learned more by observing
than by listening. And in fast moving
situations, examples become certainty.
Being a standard bearer creates trust
and openness in your employees, who
in turn, fulfill your visions.
Developers
help others learn through teaching,
training, and coaching. This creates an
exciting place to work and learn.
Never miss an opportunity to teach or
learn something new yourself.
Coaching suggests someone who cares
enough to get involved by encouraging
and developing others who are less
experienced. Employees who work for
developers know that they can take
risks, learn by making mistakes, and
winning in the end.
Integrators
orchestrate the many activities that
take place throughout an organization
by providing a view of the future and
the ability to obtain it. Success can
only be achieved when there is a unity
of effort. Integrators have a sixth
sense about where problems will occur
and make their presence felt during
critical times. They know that their
employees do their best when they are
left to work within a vision-based
framework.
Goddamn it, you will never get the
Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole!
Follow me! — Captain Henry P.
“Jim” Crowe, USMC, Guadalcanal,
13 January 1943. (key words —
follow me, NOT “go”)
Perspectives of Character and Traits
Traits (acronym — JJ did tie buckle)
Justice
Judgment
Dependability
Initiative
Decisiveness
Tact
Integrity
Enthusiasm
Bearing
Unselfishness
Courage
Knowledge
Loyalty
Endurance
The Image of Leadership — John
Schoolland
What kind of a leader are you going
to be — the kind who thinks he is
the best?
Or will you be one of the very few
greats
Who attributes success to the rest.
The U.S. Army's Eleven Leadership
Principles
— Be tactically and technically
proficient
— Know yourself and seek self-
improvement
— Know your soldiers and look out for
their welfare
— Keep your soldiers informed
— Set the example
— Ensure the task is understood,
supervised and accomplished
— Train your soldiers as a team
— Make sound and timely decisions
— Develop a sense of responsibility in
your subordinates
— Employ your unit in accordance with
its capabilities
— Seek responsibility and take
responsibility for your actions
Organizations consist of three
components:
1. The structure gives the
organization its form and dictates
the way it will interact.
2. The followers respond to the
structure and the leaders.
3. The leaders determine the
ultimate effectiveness of the
organization as the character and
skills that they bring determine
the way problems are solved and
tasks are accomplished.
U.S. Army 23 Traits of Character
Bearing
Confidence
Courage
Integrity
Decisiveness
Justice
Endurance
Tact
Initiative
Coolness
Maturity
Improvement
Will
Assertiveness
Candor
Sense of humor
Competence
Commitment
Creativity
Self-discipline
Humility
Flexibility
Empathy/Compassion
Are managers leaders? Are leaders
managers?
Managers need to be leaders. . . their
workers need vision and guidance!
On the other hand, leaders need to be
good managers of the resources
entrusted to them.
Is Character Developed Via Nature or
Nurture (Ridley, 2003)?
I do not believe that the nature vs.
nurture debate is linear enough to put
percentages on it — on one side of the
fence we have nature and on the other
side we have nurture. And while nature
(genes) certainly has its influences on
us, the environment (nurture) normally
determines the impact of a gene.
For example, one of the classic examples
for discussing genes is Konrad Lorenz's
work on the imprinting that occurs in
baby geese — they have it within them
to imprint whatever is moving near
them, which is normally their mother.
However, it could be anything else that
is moving around them, such as a
person. But no matter what they imprint
on, rather it be their mother, a human,
or an inanimate object, the piece of the
environment that they actually imprint
on is going to have a huge impact on
their life. Thus genes provide the goal,
but the environment provides the
process. And it is what happens during
the process that will determine the
outcome.
Piaget was probably the first person to
think of children as species equipped
with a characteristic mind, rather than
as apprentice adults (little adults). He
discovered they went through a series of
five developmental stages that were
always in the same order, but not
always at the same rate:
1. Sensorimotor
2. Preoperational
3. Concrete operations
4. In adolescence they have Abstract
Thoughts and
5. Deductive reasoning
Piaget's two contemporaries, Konrad
Lorenz and B. F. Skinner took up
extreme positions. Lorenz as a champion
of nature and Skinner as a champion of
nurture. Piaget, however, dived right
down the middle of this debate. He
believed a gene's meaning depends
heavily on its context with the
surrounding environment. That is, while
a child goes through five stages of
development (genes), it is the active
engagement of the mind with the
surrounding environment (nurture)
that causes development. The two main
forces of the environment are feedback
and social interaction. From this, the
child assimilates predicted experiences
and accommodates it to unexpected
experiences.
For some time it was believed that
animals grew no new neurons in the
cortex of their brains upon reaching
adulthood, thus their fate was basically
sealed by their genetic nature. This was
apparently proved by a Pasco Rakic, a
neuroscientist. However, Fernando
Nottebohm soon found that adult
canaries made new neurons when they
learn new songs. So Rakic replied that it
was only adult mammals that could not
grow neurons. But soon afterward,
Elizabeth Gould found that rats grow
new neurons. So Rakic replied primates
could not. Gould next discovered that
tree shrews grew new neurons. Rakic
that higher primates could not grow
new neurons. Gould then found them in
marmosets. Rakic zeroed it down to old-
world primates. Gould then discovered
them in macaques.
Today it is almost certain that all
primates, including humans, grow new
neurons in response to new
experiences, and lose neurons in
response to neglect. Thus, with all the
determinism built into the initial wiring
of our brain, experience with our
surrounding environment refines and in
some cases rewires that initial wiring.
Nature may be our internal guide (map),