Leadership

The United States Army Leadership Field Manual states that a military leader of “character and competence acts to achieve excellence.” He must be imbued with the values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. He must continually work to develop his mental, physical, and emotional skills to their fullest. He must demonstrate superior interpersonal, conceptual, technical, and tactical skills. He must demonstrate the ability to act via influencing others (through communication, decision-making, and motivation); by planning, executing the plan, and assessing it; and by improving himself by learning from experience. Above all, he must set the tone in preconditioning the will of his subordinates to sacrifice their lives if necessary. The only consistently credible way to do this—if the history of great military leadership is any guide—is to lead from the front as much as possible and share the risk of death with the lowliest foot soldier. Such a philosophy of leadership may underline why the Israeli and American armies are often thought of as the best military organizations today on the small-unit level.

(Above from The Modern Scholar class Command and Control by Prof. Mark R. Polelle.)