It is a sad period for todays battle-tested Army. Ill explain, but first, some background: There are many nice things to know about leadership, all of which are good and useful, though I am thoroughly convinced that leadership is not about what you know—however important knowledge may be—but rather, it is about what you do. This is not to suggest a good leader should act’ before ‘think.’ Many have tested this strategy to no avail, and have, in fact at often times, caused the mission to come against great peril. It is certainly necessary for a good leader to know enough strategy of leadership, informed by a vast amount of literature and accounts on the subject, and to possess enough intellectual knowledge to be capable of forming sound judgment and a trustworthy gut instinct. The latter being true, what I refer to when I say “Leadership is not what you know, but what you do” is that every person who intends on exercising good leadership should behave chiefly in a way as not to be preoccupied with leading, but rather with the impact of his or her actions; to act as often as possible alongside a loyal diverse cohort, not ahead of or absent of such a group; and, if ever necessary, to press forward with the mission at great personal cost. Good leadership is a sort of sacrifice, a form of selflessness. To be fully selfless, an individual must get past personal achievement, to not be so concerned with matters of esteem and to forego the fear of failure tied so explicably to self-promotion. This is why I say it is a sad time in the US Army, with so many junior leaders so preoccupied with performance records and rating evaluations to document good leadership and to keep from being cut. The essence of good leadership, as I see it, is to act selflessly - an Army Value. Let us hope the all-volunteer US Army will always comprise of good leaders when all else is said and done...
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 12:58:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015