Leadership

"Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way."

Military leadership, especially commanding troops in combat, remains the crucible for any soldier. The study of combat leaders can reveal how they made crucial decision at critical moments, often under extreme pressure or under fire. Another crucial element in military leadership is also the management and development of doctrine and training during peacetime. This section examines these leaders and draws some conclusions about lessons that can be learned for use today and tomorrow.

Battlefield Leadership

Command in battle is driven by many factors, which can be summed up an assessment of METT-T: Mission: What is the Commander's objective? Enemy: What is the intent and capability of the opposing commander? Troops Available: What resources does the Commander have at hand? Terrain: What is the geography (and weather) of the Area of Operations? Time: A Commander must use time to plan and execute missions; all while realzing that the opponent is doing the same. Making command decisions means making the right choice based on all available knowledge at a given moment. But, as we see too, battlefield leadership is sown in the training grounds of peacetime.

On Business: Using Clausewitz in the business world This paper provides business managers with linkage between previously published academic works on business leadership and environmental scanning and relevant material drawn from Carl von Clausewitz’s classic military affairs treatise, “On War.” This linkage will assist business strategists and Top Management Teams in broadening their knowledge on scanning and their development of strategic plans.	Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way Managing an organization is more than just ensuring that the stated missions and goals are accomplished. In order to be truly effective, a manager must be a leader. The leader must truly care about the organization and its people. The leader must set the tone, the vision and the environment for the organization. The leader must train, guide, mentor and discipline the members of the organization. But the leader must also do the same internally; training, evaluating, critiquing and adapting the moral character and fiber. Leaders lead by learning. Without learning, the leader becomes stagnant and unable to adapt to change and thus manage it.
Inchon A popular military aphorism is that victory has a thousand fathers, while defeat is an orphan. The American invasion of Inchon during the Korean War must certainly be the exception to this. General Douglas MacArthur, loved by some, hated by others, rightfully deserves all of the credit for such a bold and audacious decision. In retrospect, his decision deserves perhaps a bit more circumspection. If Inchon had failed, whether tactically or strategically, not only could the war’s outcome have been different, but most certainly MacArthur would have been lambasted in his own time, as well as our own by arm chair theorists and generals. Was his decision soundly based in military principles, balanced by ends to means? Or was it a gambler’s last toss of the dice?	Hans von Seeckt Hans von Seeckt's influence on the development of the German military machine. This paper explores his ideas and impacts during the Revolution in Military Affairs that occurred in Germany after World War One.
Eisenhower and the Broad Front vs. Single Thrust Decision Following the successful Allied invasion of the European continent on 6 June, 1944, General D.D. Eisenhower was placed in an unenviable position. As the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he had to be a politician, a diplomat, a subordinate to the most powerful men in the world, and a superior to the most combat tested and senior generals in the Allied army. He was also faced with a strategic decision over how best to deploy Allied forces: Should the Allies drive straight to Berlin in an arrow like push (Single Thrust) or push on a broad front, able to protect their flanks against German counterattack?	Toward a Paradigm of Combat Leadership Combat operations are intense, dangerous situations with unknown and known risks and hazards. Combat leaders must effectively lead and manage their troops under challenging situations, against an enemy, whose purpose is to destroy those troops, preventing them from accomplishing their mission. The challenge for teaching leadership in the military is to mentally prepare leaders to make the right decisions at the right times. This can be done by exposing leaders to real life situations that veterans faced, along with the decisions they made and why they made them. For a researcher, the key is to combine case studies with an analysis of quantifiable date to determine those qualities and characteristics of successful leadership on which future leaders can model themselves.
Leadership and Conflict Resolution in "Saving Private Ryan" “Saving Private Ryan” is a movie which focuses on the question of the worth of human life and examines the conduct of soldiers during wartime. The film focuses on the interpersonal conflict between the soldiers when they have been given a mission to perform which could conceivably cost all of them their lives. Outright conflict develops between the characters about their roles as soldiers in the unit and the roles which discipline and order play in group dynamics. At its core, this movie is about the often innate interpersonal conflict between leaders and the led.	The Reunification of Germany Under construction

The Tactical Operations Center

Leadership

Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way

Recommended Readings

"Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way."

Battlefield Leadership