Courage in the Vanguard

By: Jorge Brizuela

The word vanguard?comes from the Anglo-French word avantgarde, which is a combination of the words avant ("before") and garde ("guard").?In medieval times, the avantgarde was the group of troops that marched at the front of an army.?Shortened to Vanguard it became the term used to not just leadership in military but being the forefront of emerging technologies, fashion, art, and anything cutting edge.

The leaders that led from the Vanguard are etched in halls of history from Napoleon, Alexander The Great, Charlemagne, Julius Caeser, El Cid, and many others. The list goes on and on of the intrepid leaders that chose to lead from the front, that put themselves in harms way to lead. As military technology improved this form of leadership became increasingly rare, but there is much to learn from these leaders of antiquity.

Leadership regardless of era has never changed. It takes someone willing to do the same thing that is being asked of their subordinates. A simple concept; but simple doesn’t mean easy. At time leaders are thrust into a position that they weren’t prepared for or more likely able to convince the powers that be that they are prepared for an assignment that they plainly aren’t. When it comes to staffing leading from the Vanguard is the only path.

In my time in staffing I’ve seen two different kind of leadership; one of a leader & one of an authority. The leadership of a leader is that of the Vanguard. A leader that when clients aren’t responding are willing to pick up the phone and go to battle for his candidates inspiring through integrity of being on the frontline. A leader that when there aren’t enough clients are willing to go out and attack the market with their skillset to bring in the clientele that advance the overall mission of the team inspiring through effort. A leader that when they aren’t seeing the candidates they are hoping to find from their team, will actively pursue candidates on their own accord to demonstrate the quality of candidate they are targeting inspiring through market knowledge. All of these falls in contrast to leadership from authority. Leadership from authority; when clients aren’t responding would send an email, and follow up with their subordinates about their progress but not actively engage on the ground floor about affecting any real change hoping to inspire through the avatar of their email. An authority; when there aren’t enough clients will focus on metrics hoping to inspire through fear and look to find fault in others shielding themselves from the responsibility of their leadership. A leader from authority; when they aren’t seeing the right candidates for the positions, will berate the efforts of their subordinates, compare their efforts to recruiters they’ve had in the past and their superiority all this in an effort to lead through shame and mockery.

Today’s market has made it easier than ever to allow authority to come off as leadership. Shifting of blame, is the norm. As opposed to having a leader willing to jump on a grenade for their team you have leaders stacking bodies to shield themselves from those same grenades.

If you are in leadership, especially the higher echelons it is not always feasible to lead from the Vanguard. These layers of command usually require instilling ownership in your team. Allowing your team to know that you are there with them and you are so secure in their decision making that you are willing to take responsibility for proxy decisions being made. Extreme Ownership by Jock Willink & Leif Babin is a great book breaking down ownership principals and how they where enacted on the battlefield. I’d highly recommend this book for anyone in leadership.

Although the practicality of leading from the Vanguard in the era of drone missiles is an impracticality many of those same leadership goals are sought after by todays military. In the United States Marine Corps, enlisted Marines eat before officers?as a way to show that the Marines' needs come before the officers' personal needs.?This practice is known as "Leaders Eat Last" and is based on the idea that leaders should put the needs of their team first.

Today whatever your lot may be: Be Bold, Be Valiant, Lead by Example, Lead from the Vanguard.