http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/ 15 Views on leadership from our panel of experts. en Copyright 2009 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:52:58 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.2-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Today the public holds military leaders and members of the armed services in high esteem as altruistic servants of American ideals. Yet, we have to be careful that in honoring those who engage in the business of war, we do not lose sight of the problems with war. We do not yet know what made Nidal Malik Hassan snap, but this horror and other cases of violence, depression, and suicide among soldiers at home and abroad remind us of war's voracity. It not only consumes soldiers' lives, but it seeks to consume their humanity. Soldiers fight the war without and the war within. Military leaders face the challenge of deploying and bringing home fighters who are still decent human beings. http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/wars-voracity.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/wars-voracity.html Military Leadership Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:52:58 -0500 Over the past eight years of war, "13 killed, 30 injured" is a headline military members are used to hearing from Iraq and Afghanistan. Acts of violence and death are supposed to happen "over there," not here in United States and especially not at an Army post. Like the many Americans, I watched the news as events unfolded at Fort Hood. I have many colleagues and former students with their families stationed there. So what does the story of Fort Hood have to do with leadership? In the time of confusion and crisis, the new commander, Lieutenant General Bob Cone, spoke to the press so that he could communicate to his soldiers, civilians, and families. While he was himself visibly shaken by the shootings, Lt. Gen. Cone sought to provide a calming influence to the community. He laid out the facts as he knew them. He was empathetic to those http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/crisis-leadership-from-a-commander.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/crisis-leadership-from-a-commander.html Military Leadership Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:00:34 -0500 I'm in Beijing and watching this on the BBC from 7,000 miles away is surreal. I was stationed at Fort Hood as a new officer, with my young family, and I can only imagine the shock being felt across the post and in the local community. We always felt safe living on military installations, and it was critical that when I was deployed, my family was in a safe, secure place. As there is still no clear indication regarding why this shooting occurred, I can only point to the fact that the military has been under unbelievable stress over the past eight years since 9/11. What began as a rapid response to terrorism has become a "long war," with no end in sight. I'm taking no position here regarding whether the wars were justified, or how long they should continue. My point is simply that the multitude of deployments, the http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/ft-hood-reveals-hidden-wounds.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/ft-hood-reveals-hidden-wounds.html Military Leadership Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:39:59 -0500 UPDATE: Read Col. Allen's commentary on the Fort Hood tragedy. As an African-American youth growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, my first exposure to the U.S. military was during the Hough riots of 1966, when a National Guard soldier was stationed on my block and an armored troop carrier was positioned in the vacant lot next to our apartment building. The next time was during the Glenville riots of 1968. In both cases, I viewed the Army as protecting my family from the civil unrest that was rampant across the United States and which found its way to my town. I was not aware of the social turmoil that spawned the riots but was more concerned for the safety of those I loved during those weeks of violence. In my young eyes, the military was the protector in a society gone mad. It was two years later when that image of http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/four-dead-in-ohio.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/four-dead-in-ohio.html Military Leadership Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:43:01 -0500 Let's be clear that even though support for our military leadership has grown, support for leaders in general is quite low. As is true in tough times, people crave leadership but right now they are disappointed in the talent pool. Who wouldn't be when some of our most trusted leaders have been found lying, cheating, and looking out for their own interests? In the recent past we have been spectators to stormy soap operas and Greek tragedies playing out on the leadership stage. Enter John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, Hamid Karzai, and those Wall Street executives who take millions in bonuses while unemployment soars. It makes Marie Antoinette's famous "Let them eat cake" seem like a mild disconnect with the populace. Even our charismatic President seems caught up in a web of partisan politics and lobbyist demands. So what do military leaders bring to this dismal stage? First, in an age http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/standing-and-delivering.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/standing-and-delivering.html Military Leadership Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:45:21 -0500 High trust for the military extends beyond its members getting to do such cool things as wearing snappy uniforms, saluting smartly, unfolding gigantic flags in Yankee Stadium, or doing thunderous fly-overs at the Super Bowl. This public trust springs mostly from their willingness to sacrifice everything for us. Their mission could not be of greater value. Consequently, and appropriately, it's greatly valued. Yet, too much admiration for military leaders leads to two problems. First is the misperception that because they perform nobly on the battlefield, they must be good at overall strategy. This just isn't so. Two lightly-experienced ex-soldiers -- Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman -- had a far better grasp of grand strategy than their highly decorated generals, George McClellan and Douglas MacArthur. Likewise, when President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed they didn't want to "second guess" their military commanders in Iraq, they were http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/succes-that-doesnt-translate.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/succes-that-doesnt-translate.html Military Leadership Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:07:56 -0500 There are good reasons to have confidence in the competence and integrity of our military leaders. They selflessly risk their lives to protect our nation. They embrace a patriotic culture of duty, loyalty, and honor, and they accept civilian command. But this trust in military leaders as defenders of the republic is not the same as trusting their strategic judgment. Sometimes, as when General Eric Shinseki told Congress that winning the Iraq war would be much more costly than the Bush administration stated, their judgment has proved better than that of their civilian bosses. But throughout our history, military leaders have used their prestige to push questionable strategies. If a poll had been taken in 1864 before Sherman took Atlanta, the public would have expressed more confidence in General George B. McClellan who wanted to bring the Civil War to a draw than in Abraham Lincoln who wanted to win http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/when-generals-are-wrong.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/when-generals-are-wrong.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:26:12 -0500 The United States military has been successful in replicating a type of leadership that has consistently served the nation well. In most cases military leaders lead by example and balance a sincere care for their people with an unrelenting drive to accomplish assigned missions. We admire their courage, discipline, competence, and sacrifice. When I think of the most noble and selfless people I have ever known, my mind always turns to the soldiers I served with. Our military wields awesome destructive power, yet its leaders willingly submit to civilian control and dominance. That is a key reason why the American people have had little reason to fear their own military. We sometimes take for granted how remarkable it is that a large, standing military so assiduously avoids engagement in partisan politics. That is certainly not the case in many other countries, and that kind of ethos doesn't happen by accident. http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/a-priority-not-an-expense.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/a-priority-not-an-expense.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:31:05 -0500 Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, and their savings in the recession while the bosses of Wall Street continue to enjoy generous compensation packages. Politicians, all too anxious to feed the 24-hour news cycle, fling heated words that seem designed to appeal to the extreme wings of their parties. The recent death of Walter Cronkite, the CBS anchorman known as "the most trusted man in America," provided a stark reminder of the low esteem in which many members of the media are held these days. Is it any wonder that the average American perceives a lack of leadership within our country's foremost institutions? He looks at our society and sees a circus. He feels he has been left alone to deal with his worries about his job and his house and how he's going to send his children to college. The military, on the other hand, continues http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/between-the-extremes.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/between-the-extremes.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:12:36 -0500 It is scarcely surprising that public-opinion polls show military leaders earn more confidence, admiration, and respect from the public. It is not just that military leaders engage in activities that provide service for the common good rather than just personal enrichment, as is the case for many business leaders. Military leaders are also much more willing to publicly admit when things have gone wrong and operate in a system that encourages reflection, truth-telling, and learning. People who told Ken Lay that there might be accounting problems in Enron were accused of being disloyal. Not as extreme an example as you might think--my own reward for questioning the value of business education was to be told I was "spitting in the soup." Organizations enforce conformity and for the most part organizational leaders seem to prefer hearing lies that reinforce their impression that everything is all right rather than the truth about http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/ken-lays-after-action-review.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/ken-lays-after-action-review.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:04:31 -0500 Having followed the Harvard National Leadership Index since its inception in 2005, I have two interpretations of the "high level of trust in military." The first and perhaps most important is the quality of leadership development programs, especially in the three largest military academies, which provide the best leadership development programs in the country. By far. Their four years of training places leadership as central to their curriculum. My first-hand experience, which lasted only four months, not the four years of the military academies, took place in late 1944 at Fort Benning, Georgia, at the Officer Candidate School for the infantry. Even that four-month program was superior to all the corporate management training programs I've observed and consulted for over the last 25 years. As to the second reason, I pose the question: compared to what? For almost every institution, over the past five years, confidence, including medicine, has declined. http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/the-west-point-effect.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/the-west-point-effect.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:55:00 -0500 I attribute the high level of trust in military leaders to two major factors. The first being that it would be less than fully patriotic to distrust our military leadership. I believe many baby boomers remember, hopefully with a certain degree of shame, our inability to separate our distrust in our elected leaders and our distaste for the Vietnam conflict with our distrust in military personnel and their leaders. After initially supporting the Vietnam war, in good measure because my parents did, I came to dislike the conflict. Over time, I aligned with demonstrators who were peaceful and non-violent. I think back in horror as I remember the dreadful treatment our returning soldiers -- the names they were called and the fact that some were spat upon. Our soldiers, in that conflict and in today's conflicts, demonstrate their love for our country and the democratic principles we hold so dear, http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/shameful-memories.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/shameful-memories.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:36:54 -0500 I suspect there are many explanations for the current high levels of trust and confidence in our military leaders. But for me, it ultimately boils down to one word: Love. This might surprise many who've haven't served in uniform. But behind those steely eyes, beneath all that body armor and chest-thumping machismo that defines our culture's Rambo image of the modern warrior lies the essence of what makes a soldier fight in combat, love. Oh, she may join up or reenlist for love of country or mom's apple pie, but when it comes to the fundamental motivating value behind military leadership, it's a deep abiding love and respect for one's comrades that matters most. In 1948, sociologists Edward Shils and Morris Janowitz published a classic study titled, "Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II." In an attempt to understand why the German army fought so stubbornly to http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/greater-love-hath-no-man.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/greater-love-hath-no-man.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:19:58 -0500 The American public respects and admires the sense of duty and self sacrifice to a good greater than themselves that they see in the military. Of course military leaders are not the only ones who have such a sense of duty, but the nature and degree of sacrifice they've had to make in recent years has been extraordinary. Military leaders take care of their stakeholders first, themselves last. The military leader doesn't eat until the troops have eaten. This sense of paternal focus on the well-being of those for whom one is responsible, one's stakeholders, wins confidence in those who are watching - and this, by and large, has been the hallmark of our military leaders. There are of course great leaders in government, the media, the private sectors, but the reputation of these sectors has frequently been sullied by the highly publicized negative examples of a few. Also, unlike http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/simple-but-not-easy.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/simple-but-not-easy.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:55:02 -0500 Have you ever heard a candidate for office who did not promise leadership, even in a race for fire-district commissioner? Who do they think will be their followers? But the military is totally different. As an organized and formal hierarchy, differences of opinion are valued and frequent in the run up to a decision, but when it's made, it is the decision of the service. The public, therefore, sees a decisive and effective institution that more often than not attains its goals. Politics and public policy don't operate that way, and in a free society they shouldn't. As a consequence, leadership is much more difficult and must be conducted on the messy and congested avenue of persuasion. http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/the-messy-avenue-of-persuasion.html http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/11/the-messy-avenue-of-persuasion.html Military Leadership Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:52:14 -0500