An officer who understands mission command and commander’s intent is worth 10 officers who don’t. When you are given a legal and lawful order, execute and stay within your limits. When a commander decides on a course of action, it is not your place to second guess. We advise and make recommendations, commanders make decisions, and assume the risks.
An officer who understands mission command and commander’s intent is worth 10 officers who don’t. When you are given a legal and lawful order, execute and stay within your limits. When a commander decides on a course of action, it is not your place to second guess. We advise and make recommendations, commanders make decisions, and assume the risks.
Two weeks ago, I published “Command: A Comeback Story.” Within 24-hours, that story had been viewed more than 2,500 times, and my inbox filled with notes from officers from across our Air Force. Many of those officers asked me to share the “Thoughts on Leadership” document I discussed with my team in 2018. I am happy to do that.
Leadership is more than knowing where you are, where you want to go, and how you are going to get there. Leading includes inspiring others to take the journey with you. All officers are leaders, regardless of duty position. You must be ready to make decisions, move the mission forward, and lead by example. Great leaders never ask a subordinate to make a sacrifice that he or she is not willing to make. If we hold ourselves to the same standard that we hold our Soldiers, they will strive to meet or exceed that standard.
Leadership has always been required, and that remains true in today’s digitally connected, global environment. Leaders must continue to prepare for what is, and for what may come. After 34 years of active-duty service to our country in the Infantry and the Special Forces, I have seen and learned a great deal from many different leaders. Like the author, I have learned many valuable leadership lessons, and continue to learn every day.
As we all strive to continue learning, MAJ Player has eloquently captured some excellent lessons in the “8 Essential Characteristics of Army Officership.” This book helps to define a number of leadership characteristics that are instrumental in the development of an Army Officer. Excellent leaders attack each day with an intense resolve to improve and become a better leader than they were the day before. This book will be a helpful tool to help hone the critical qualities necessary to become a successful leader. A detailed read and following action plan to personally develop as a leader from some of the lessons in this book will be key as you continue to develop your own leadership skills.
The views expressed in the foreword are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the US Government.
Eric P. Wendt
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army
INTRODUCTION
I wrote the article that would later grow into this short book while sitting in a hotel room in Madrid contemplating how I got there. I was visiting the Spanish and Portuguese militaries as part of my experience in the Army’s Schools of Other Nations (SON) Program. I have spent the last nine months studying at the Colombian Superior School of War, and I sometimes pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming.
In 2007, if you told 2LT Player, a “CHEMO” for 3-7 Field Artillery, what the next decade would look like, he would have told you to stop teasing him because he had to finish the USR. I am confident about what he would have said, because I am him, just ten years later. However, in the next ten years, I served in multiple leadership positions at the platoon and company level. I also served in a joint special operations unit, taught ROTC, and was selected to attend a foreign service’s ILE.
I arrived at my first assignment at Schofield Barracks with doom and gloom ringing in my ears. During my Basic Officer Leader Course, my small group leader told me that as a 74A headed to the 25thInfantry Division, I most likely would not have a chance to lead and it would be a constant struggle to be viewed as a serious professional.
Fortunately, the battalion operations officer changed my outlook during our initial counseling session. He listened intently as I told him my concerns of being “stuck on staff” and my desire to lead a platoon. He said: “There is no such thing as a bad branch, only bad officers.” He went on to say that if I wanted to lead Soldiers, I needed to demonstrate my leadership potential by performing well. He had a good point. In the Army, we do not always have control over duty assignments, but we have complete control over our performance. I committed myself to earn the right to lead Soldiers and developing the skills and attributes required for success.
As a result, I discovered what I consider the “Eight Essential Characteristics of Officership.”
Leadership is more than knowing where you are, where you want to go, and how you are going to get there. Leading includes inspiring others to take the journey with you. All officers are leaders, regardless of duty position. You must be ready to make decisions, move the mission forward, and lead by example. Great leaders never ask a subordinate to make a sacrifice that he or she is not willing to make. If we hold ourselves to the same standard that we hold our Soldiers, they will strive to meet or exceed that standard.
Keep an open mind and seek advice. Every team has experienced members that are an extremely valuable resource. These team members can provide historical examples of past issues and help guide your decisions. But first, you must be approachable and willing to listen.
An officer who understands mission command and commander’s intent is worth 10 officers who don’t. When you are given a legal and lawful order, execute and stay within your limits. When a commander decides on a course of action, it is not your place to second guess. We advise and make recommendations, commanders make decisions and assume the risks.
Superior leaders are acutely aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They actively build on their strengths and improve upon their weaknesses. Complacency is a fatal leadership flaw and we should never find comfort in remaining stagnant. This goes for every aspect of the profession of arms. Make realistic and achievable goals and then work to achieve them.
Officers who require constant oversight are detrimental to high op tempo organizations that operate in complex environments. Valuable members of the team understand their responsibilities and execute with little supervision. Asking for the occasional azimuth check is important, but don’t inundate your boss with questions you should be able to answer yourself.
Counseling is the most important tool that leaders have at their disposal. Clearly communicating expectations and standards provides a baseline for measuring performance and ensures that both the rater and rated officer understand expectations. This is especially important when managing your rater profile and justifying the contents of evaluation reports for both officers and NCOs.
Leaders who take a genuine interest in their subordinates will see their teams achieve amazing feats. This goes hand in hand with counseling. You must get to know your Soldiers and help them personally and professionally. Find out their goals and help develop a plan to achieve them. If you take care of your Soldiers, they will always take care of the mission.
As a professional, you must immerse yourself in your profession. Military history is full of lessons and examples that you can compare to your situation. “Top block” officers read history and apply it regularly in their work. Taking the time to learn from the past will increase your ability to answer the tough questions when they arise.
Major Nathan Player is currently serving as the Raleigh Recruiting Battalion Executive Officer. He has 15 years of combined enlisted and officer service, has taught ROTC, commanded, and served in various Joint Staff, USAREC, and Special Operations assignments.
“I’ll see you after spring break when we will discuss how the Allies won World War Two. Enjoy your week off.” The seventeen cadets enrolled in one of my sections of, “History of the Military Art from 1904 to 2013,” at the United States Military Academy took my words as the cue that class – our final one before the 2020 spring break – was dismissed. They got up from their desks and began filing out of our Thayer Hall classroom to head to a lunch formation.
I read The Ugly American for the first time eleven years ago on my way to Iraq as an advisor. It’s one of the few books I’ve ever rated with 5-stars, a rating I reserve for books that change the way I think about something. I picked it up again based recently with a renewed interest in foreign policy.
This is a story of Americans in a fictitious Southeast Asian country where the United States and the Soviet Union are vying for influence. Written in 1958, it foreshadows our foreign policy debacle in Vietnam, but do not let that fool you into thinking it lacks relevance. The fictitious nation trying to balance relationships between the United States and the Soviet Union could be one of several countries in the world today. Simply replace the Soviet Union with a contemporary American adversary like Russia or China and the effect remains.
I would love to say the portrayal of the American officials’ insensitivity to language, culture, and custom is rare, but the authors’ critical sarcasm of U.S. foreign policy comes from their witness to our arrogance. They base their stories on true accounts; in fact, the book was initially written as non-fiction. It was a plea for change. Not four years after this book was published, we helped the South Vietnamese government with the strategic hamlet program, a best practice copied from the Malayan Emergency. Culture and customs in Vietnam tied people to their land, something not found in Malaysia. Instead of improving conditions, the program helped isolate the population from the South Vietnamese government, not at all what was intended. Arrogance happens, and frankly, I saw some of the described behavior from senior U.S. officials while advising in Iraq not long ago. Not all behaved this way of course, but this book is a warning to approach interactions with caution and be wary of ourselves.
But if arrogance is innate, where does it come from? There are at least two potential drivers of arrogance highlighted by the story. The first source stems from hubris. Pride is easy when you globally dominate the economic and military spheres. Our success often blinds us, as can our national narrative. We believe hard work will bring success, but in some places, you need more than that. Another source of arrogance comes from bureaucracy. There are always disagreements between allies and this tension is exacerbated by bureaucracy. The hidden bureaucratic incentives drive us to dismiss others to achieve the stated and unstated goals in our organization. A contemporary Army example is our penchant for action and making things happen, a trait that serves us well on the battlefield but not so well when compromise is necessary. Hubris and bureaucracy cloud our ability to listen to another.
To overcome this flaw, Lederer and Burdick believe character is the answer. The protagonist, Homer Atkins, is an inventor, not a member of the government establishment. His dirty hands always “reminded him he was an ugly man.” He was humble, patient, and understanding. He listened and compromised to get things done for the country he loved and cared for, even if it was not his own. Because of that, he was the epitome of an ambassador.
The Ugly American sold over a million copies and had a profound impact on U.S. foreign policy. It is said to have been the genesis of President Kennedy’s Peace Corps. The funny part is that term ugly American is stuck in our lexicon the wrong way. The ugly American was the hero; it was the arrogant American, impeccably dressed, that was ugly.
Lieutenant Colonel Christopher L’Heureux is an Armor Officer currently assigned as an instructor at the School of Command Preparation. He commanded 2d Squadron, 2d US Cavalry in Vilseck, Germany.
My first command experience was difficult. The performance report I received upon “graduating” contains a line without any stratification or quantifiable accomplishments. It would be safe to characterize that line as a throw-away. In my case, that throw-away is the line I take the most pride in. That line is as follows:
“-Inherited broken Gp-lvl unit—applied core values/grit; built standard-setting Sq-equiv—amazing morale & execution”
Part of a book club a few years back, I read and discussed a book that half the group thought read like a college paper. They were turned-off, their attention applied to structure over the content. This skewed the subsequent discussion away from the author’s arguments towards the monotonous tone of the book. It was a well-reasoned and thoughtful thesis, but it did not capture the attention of at least half of us. How do you prevent that in your own writing?
Protests in America have literally been a staple of rectifying inequalities from this nation’s origins. In fact, it has been codified and is protected in the First Amendment of the Constitution as the freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. From the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights movement that ended segregation and Jim Crow laws, there have been peaceful protests mixed in with violence.