Leadership Lesson from the Army

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The U.S. Army has been one of the world's best leadership development institutions for almost 250 years. Through massive political, technological, social, and economic changes, the Army approach to leadership development has remained surprisingly consistent and resilient. There are a couple of notable differences between the approach to leadership I learned from the Army and the leadership development I've experienced in my post-Army corporate career. I think these differences are worth exploring as I think we can learn from the Army model how to better equip leaders for the pace of change and perpetual uncertainty we will face going forward.

First, corporate leadership development prepares leaders to operate within the org structure that exists today to make decisions similar to the decisions we confronted last year. Army leadership development is grounded in the belief that war will immediately invalidate plans and wreak havoc on the org chart. Everyone has to be prepared to take initiative to accomplish the mission. Because of the chaos of war, the Army needs to prepare everyone to be leaders and expects everyone to be followers, also.

Where corporate leadership programs focus on closing the "Knowing-Doing Gap" (Learn Skills, Apply those Skills), the Army adds a third dimension that emphasizes character: "Be, Know, Do." In the Army, leader development is "whole person" development, which I think is an approach the corporate world should adopt.

Effective leader development must focus on the type of person an individual is ("Be"), the kinds of competencies he has ("Know"), and the kinds of decisions he makes ("Do). - U.S. Army Leadership Field Manual

Within character development, there is one attribute that I do not hear much in corporate settings, but the Army Leadership Manual mentions 137 times - personal courage. Better humans are more courageous. Our world is changing so quickly that leaders cannot be sure what works. Leading in uncertainty requires courage. Reading through the Army Leadership Manual (~250 pages), I was impressed by how courage is mentioned in so many different contexts that are perfectly applicable for our corporate teams. Here are just a few:

• "It takes personal courage to empower your subordinate leaders, but a leader must let subordinate leaders learn by doing."
• "Courageous leaders are willing to look critically inside themselves, consider new ideas, and change what needs changing."
• "Situations requiring physical courage are rare; situations requiring moral courage can occur frequently... Moral courage often expresses itself as candor. Candor means calling things as you see them, even when it's uncomfortable or you think it might be better for you to just be quiet."
• "No matter what technology you have or how it affects your mission, it's still your soldiers - their minds, hearts, courage, and talents - that will win the day."
• "Leaders must have the personal courage to say which tasks are more important than others. In the absence of a clear priority, you must set one."
• "It takes courage to create a learning environment. When you try new things or try things in different ways, you're bound to make mistakes."

As technology continues to become more prominent in our workplaces, those uniquely human capabilities, like character and courage, will become more valuable. Another company will be able to quickly copy your algorithms, but the minds, hearts, courage, and talents of your team will win the day everyday.

Leaders of character are going to thrive in the era of A.I. and the 250 year old leadership principles from the U.S. Army still provide a useful guide for effective leadership. Hooah!

* P.S. If you believe, like I do, that this kind of leadership is more needed than ever, then hire more veterans! Leadership skills developed in the military absolutely translate to corporate settings.

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