On Tactics
In this work, B.A. Friedman provides rich context and insight for tactical practitioners of any rank. The book “unpacks” the tactical principles and tenets many of memorized as lieutenants (tempo, surprise, mass, etc), going beyond the wave tops of doctrine with both historic and contemporary battlefield examples. This work would be an excellent centerpiece for a Battalion or Brigade Leader Professional Development program.
Turn the Ship Around
This is a great leadership book which discusses how great leaders follow a “Leader-Leader” structure instead of a “Leader-Follower” structure. What does a “Leader-Leader” structure entail? First, it requires leaders to give up control. Competent leaders are comfortable pushing decision-making down to the lower levels of the organization. Additionally, these leaders must be adept at providing clarity of purpose, which serves as the basis for subordinate decision-making. Check out this great video for a brief summary of the book.
On Grand Strategy
John Lewis Gaddis believes that strategic thinking requires an understanding of the interplay of history, literature, and philosophy over 2,500 years of Western civilization. The author also believes that honing strategic thinking is not just about mastering the advice of Machiavelli or Clausewitz. Gaddis contextualizes the last two and a half millennia through case studies and also provides readers with occasional insights from Sun Tzu and other non-Western thinkers. For readers who are interested in grand strategy or those who want to hone their strategic thinking, this book is a great place to start your journey.
U.S. Army photo by Spc. John Lytle March 13, 2018.
What do you think of when you imagine what an ideal leader should act like or be? Most people think of movie examples in which a commanding officer or noncommissioned officer of some sort gives a command, and it is, blindly or not, followed by his or her subordinates. This is top-down leadership. Now, most movies and novels portray extreme or once in a lifetime heroic decision making, which in some cases is fictionalized and sometimes is actually real-life events. However, how often is the day to day top-down approach leadership modeling needing to be like this? I argue, not very often. We need to use the bottom-up approach.
Most military leadership models are constructed around old, archaic, top-down leadership approaches. In a vacuum, this model works because it is easily conveyed on paper and has worked in years past. However, war and leadership tactics change. Technology has changed, war tactics have changed, even how we run the office environment too has changed drastically. Sometimes at too fast of a pace. It is impossible for one individual, let’s say for example a commander of a boat, squadron, or a battalion, to know everything of what is going on at every given second; whether on the battlefield or in the office environment. The commander has his intentions and those intentions are expected to be followed.
Team of Teams
A rigid hierarchy often hinders an organization’s adaptability. General McChrystal witnessed this first hand while leading the Joint Special Operations Command in the fight against Al Qaeda. McChrystal’s solution was to foster an environment conducive to shared consciousness and empowered execution. Teams are effective because they trust each other and have a shared purpose. This is what McChrystal refers to as a shared consciousness. Once a shared consciousness gives a team the knowledge to do what is right, the team must also be empowered with the authority to act. McChrystal argues that these elements are required if you want to build a “Team of Teams.”
A Review of The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun are a timeless rendition of leadership best practices spread across the full range of military leadership. These best practices are relevant in both ancient and contemporary times. I have read this book numerous times and each time one common theme comes to mind, “Leadership at the core is based on the foundation of common-sense solutions to complex situations.” The secrets of Attila the Hun’s leadership lend credence to the fact that ancient leadership problems remain prevalent in contemporary leadership roles.
We, as leaders, tend to consider leadership challenges as complicated versus complex, yet The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hunarms readers (leaders) with a playbook for negotiating the complexities associated with navigating through the treacherous and restricted terrain we refer to as the “Human Domain.”Often enough, contemporary leaders look for answers to leadership challenges in “sophisticated spaces” when the answers reside in the most “common spaces.”The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun are still as relevant today as they were 1600 years ago. This ancient smart book for leaders should find a home in every Warriors’ cargo pocket (smart device) or top desk drawer (computer desktop) as a staple reference for what right looks like across all warfighting functions.
This book had a tremendous influence on me and contains a litany of useful and relevant ideas that have enabled me to be effective while serving in tactical, operational, and strategic leadership roles throughout my military career. However, the three overarching principles of the book that I constantly revisit are: The Essentials of Decisiveness, The Art of Delegation, and Lessons Learned.
In the Essentials of Decisiveness, Attila posited, “Wise is the chieftain who never makes a decision when he does not understand the issue. In decision making, valor is guided by prudence.” I have observed leaders who suffered from information overload that disrupted a true understanding of the problem they were charged to negotiate. For leaders to truly make a well informed and timely decision, it is paramount that they first understand the problem before making a hasty decision.
I have mentored many subordinates on understanding the difference between hasty and decisive and found that many leaders confuse an immediate response with decisiveness. Often, decisions are made in haste because these leaders did not truly understand the problem, which is actually a form of indecision. Albert Einstein is often credited with saying, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes understanding the problem and one minute resolving it.” This is a lesson we should all consider while mentoring subordinates, peers, and seniors alike on being truly decisive versus simply hasty (indecisive).
I also find contemporary relevance in the Art of Delegation when Attila states, “Wise chieftains grant both authority and responsibility to those they have delegated assignments.” As a leader, when you commit to delegating a task, you must commit to delegating the requisite authority to enable your subordinate to own the task in its entirety. In my experience, such delegation promotes an environment of empowerment that breeds a positive organizational climate, culture, and bolsters morale. This type of environment defines “winning.”
Lastly, the relevance of “Lessons Learned” is timeless. Attila once stated, “The dreaded enemy led by Aetius used tactics unfamiliar to our noble warriors on the Catalaunian Plains. Many of our brave Huns were lost in a battle for which I simply had not prepared them to fight.” Leaders are charged with the responsibility of never learning the same hard lesson twice and they are expected to incorporate mechanisms for improving teams through lessons learned. Atilla used an ancient variation of after-action reports (AARs) and hot wash forums to ensure his Army never had to learn the same hard lesson twice.
When leaders communicate “Lessons Learned,” they make the unknown, a known and in the words of Carl Jung, “until you make the unconscious, conscious, it will control your life and you will call it fate.” I have shared similar thoughts on learning from experience and compiled a list of advice culled during a few decades of experience. I have named this compilation“Usie’s Top Ten Leader Tips” and the last tip reads, “communicate, communicate, communicate.” I, like Attila the Hun, believe that leaders must communicate effectively to ensure the whole force learns from the experience of others. Only then can we effectively avoid the problems of yesteryear.
I hope you consider The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hunas you continue on your journey of self-development. This book has been formative throughout my years of service and I know the lessons will also benefit me during my post-Army career.
Command Sergeant Major Clay Usie is currently transitioning into the civilian sector after 23-plus years of service in the United States Army. He recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Texas-El Paso with a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies. Clay is a seasoned special operations veteran with multiple deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism and culminated his career as the Senior Enlisted Leader of the Joint Communications Unit (JCU) at the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
Think of all the activities and actions needed to plan a family vacation: parents making a budget, making reservations, researching activities to do with the kids, travel plans, determining who is going, and who will pay for what. The Army conducts similar actions when creating a new unit, relocates a unit to another installation, or makes changes to structure or equipment in an existing unit. The Army process to manage the numerous aspects of these changes is called Force Integration which is the synchronized, resource-constrained, systematic management of approved change and consideration of the potential implications of decisions and actions taken within the execution process.
The Department of the Army approves numerous large and small changes every year. However, many of these changes will not be completed for several years. So how does the Army manage all of these changes and why do these changes take so long? This article will address both of these questions by explaining, in broad terms, Force Integration in the hopes of educating the force about some aspects of change that are considered, the interconnectedness of many factors, and some complications that may affect planning and execution.
Though he actually gives credit to a “statement [he] heard long ago in the Army,” President Eisenhower is commonly credited with the idea that “plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” This is absolutely true when considering the arc our lives will take both personally and professionally. Not only is the planning important, but the recognition that it’s bound to go off the rails at some point is just as important.
There is only one opportunity to choose how we will spend each day, and what direction that day will move us. Like our military work, our broader lives can also fall victim to the crush of the urgent but unimportant. Before we know it, months or even years have passed without moving closer to the things of value we hoped to accomplish. To combat this, we need a strong goal achievement process that helps us break an operation into phases and key tasks. Done right, a strong goal-attainment strategy can help us counteract the daily distractions that pull us away from attacking the intermediate tasks.
People with goals succeed because they know where they are going
Earl Nightingale
ADRP 6-22 defines Leadership as the “process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization (ADRP 6-22, 1-1). “Purpose gives subordinates the reason to achieve a desired outcome, Direction communicates what to accomplish, Motivation supplies the will to do what is necessary to accomplish the mission” (ADRP 6-22, 1-2). One of the most important responsibilities of a leader is to establish priorities. Priorities are how a leader provides purpose, direction, and motivation to achieve results. Priorities communicate what is important and where to invest time, energy, and resources. We operate in an extremely busy world, but those leaders who are able to take the time to stop, think, and reflect are more able to clearly communicate priorities, accomplish the mission, and improve their organization. Journaling is a powerful tool to reflect and reduce mental clutter, increase productivity, learn from your life, and cultivate self-improvement.
Leaders tell us we should be reading throughout our career. They ask about our reading habits in passing or supplement their emphasis with 10 pound hand-me-down tomes. I often wondered how my leaders found the time to read. The exultation of legends such as Secretary of Defense James Mattis, renowned for his monkish ways and extensive library, further promulgate the mysticism of the reading leader. In contrast, I have purchased and started many books. They now sit in my “library” as artifacts of overly ambitious goals in a time and energy deaf environment.
I eventually found a way to overcome this challenge. This discussion highlights how I understood the requirement, identified gaps to find a solution, and discovered ways to achieve that solution.
