Why waiting for certainty is its own kind of failure, and what taking charge actually requires. In 1991, I commanded an Armored Cavalry Squadron of roughly 800 Soldiers and 50 armored vehicles. We were training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, deep in the Mojave Desert, preparing for a major battle against … Read more
Setting the Azimuth takes a fair degree of hard work, and keeping it alive is a discipline that goes on every quarter after. Speaking of hard work, here’s an example of true dedication in leadership: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition ship Endurance became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea in January 1915, and despite … Read more
Integrity is not what you say in the boardroom. It is what you do when no one is watching. When I was a young lieutenant in Germany, I had a platoon of about 41 Soldiers. We patrolled the East and West German border, and when we weren’t out at the border outposts, we worked on … Read more
A plan tells people what to do. Intent tells them what you’re trying to accomplish — so they can adapt when the plan meets reality. Years ago, commanding in a war exercise, I made a decision I have never forgotten. I attacked the enemy’s strength instead of his weakness. It was the wrong call, and … Read more
As I’ve described earlier, West Point and the Army made deliberate decisions to move from a culture of compliance to a culture of commitment, from measuring who could survive to investing in who could lead. That is a culture turnaround. It is one of the most transparent examples I know of what large-scale culture change … Read more
The Real Mutual Accountability Early in my career, not long after I became the Platoon Leader of an armored cavalry platoon with 41 Soldiers and 10 armored vehicles, my Platoon Sergeant (second in command) asked to inspect my fingernails. I was stunned but complied. His name was Sergeant Mac, and he was the kind of … Read more
