Leadership is often seen as the most critical factor in the success or failure of teams. General Ronald Fogleman once said that to become a successful leaders, we must first learn that no matter how good the technology or how shiny the equipment, people-to-people relations get things done and that if you are to be a good leader, you have to cultivate your skills in the arena of personal relations (AFDD 1-1, 34). One way to prepare our leaders for these challenges is to study the history of other leaders who also had to overcome great challenges. Lieutenant General William H. Tunner—a key leader in the planning and execution of the Hump and Berlin Airlift—provides a great opportunity to bridge the gap between leadership theories and practice.
This paper provides an analysis of a case study on Lt Gen Tunner titled “When you get a job to do, do it” by Major Davis S. Hanson. Leading off will be a discussion of the elements of leadership theory by Lt Gen Tunner in his career. In this case the focus will be on Scientific Management Theory. The second objective will be to explain the use of Social Systems Theories and Systems Design as Gen Tunner led his teams. Finally, this paper will wrap up with a discussion on how Tunner managed productivity through either human resources or a pure “production” perspective.
As stated, Scientific Management Theory will begin the dialogue on leadership theories. Scientific Management is a theory introduced by Fredrick Taylor (Hughes,
The intention of this paper is to introduce my leadership philosophy. I will start off defining leadership as well as explaining my leadership philosophy. I will then share a summary of an interview with a Squadron Commander about a difficult situation that he needed to use his philosophy to work through and analyze how my philosophy applies to the same situation followed by a brief summary.
Independent of the Army and country you serve, leadership is always an important subject. There are many civilian books and military manuals talking about leadership. The United States Army divides the subject leadership in three levels. These levels are Direct Leadership, Organizational Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In this paper, the focus will be only about the first two levels. According with you rank, you will work more in one of these levels. Because of that, most part of time there is not much interaction between higher-level leaders and lower level leaders. Despite the limited interaction between higher level leaders like Brigade commanders with the lower level leader like company commander it’s not affect a satisfactory mission accomplishment.
The movie “Twelve O’ Clock High” is a case study in the application of leadership theory during World War Two. Gregory Peck portrays Brigadier General Savage, a United States Army Air Force officer thrust into a situation that requires a maximum effort both on the ground and in the air as he attempts to re-invigorate an undisciplined, anxiety ridden, and ineffective combat unit. Throughout the movie we observe Peck’s character employing a variety of leadership methods, but ultimately discovering that true combat effectiveness and cohesion is accomplished through a
Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer is a very influential novel in the military. In fact, it is required reading material for all 1st Lieutenants in the Marine Corps as well as in the United States Military Academy at West Point. Many Army leaders have read the book and often discuss it among themselves in social situations. Although a fiction read, many leaders extrapolate the use of mission command as well as the leaderships attributes. In this analysis I will be comparing a single event in the novel to the Army’s leadership principles as well as Mission Command. I will then provide a personal reflection and conclude.
This paper will briefly analyze the case study— Rebecca S. Halstead: Steadfast Leadership, and examine General Rebecca Halstead 's career history and how through her personal attributes, skills, experiences and challenges she developed into a successful leader and commander in the U.S. Army. Although General Halstead faced a number of challenges during her career, this paper will focus primarily on her leadership style and philosophy specifically with leading teams and dealing with difficult bosses.
For the next 10-15 years, leadership development is critical within the military. Training to develop agile leaders will yield a competitive advantage within both private and public organizations. Importantly, leadership training should mirror as if one would fight in the new Era International Security Environment. Such tenacity will confront limited engagements in the next 10 years, plus a great deal of offensive operations in the 15 years. Therefore, trained leaders are flexible to their changing missions, roles, and responsibilities, thus are more adaptive to compelling new conflicts.
This paper on Leadership will compare the primary differences and characteristics between the tactical leader and the organizational leader. I will provide you with the basics for development, characteristics, and the fundamentals that help guide and influence each leader’s style and how they influence Soldiers to follow them. Leaders at all levels demonstrate their values, knowledge, skills, and abilities in many different means and methods in
As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several
Leadership is defined by Peter G. Northouse as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”. One’s leadership style can shape a subordinate’s approach and place emphasis to the task or mission at hand as well as accomplishing long term objectives. The role of any leader is to provide direction and guidance to those who may fall under his/her command. The manner in which leadership is applied, especially in today’s society and ever-changing geopolitical situations can vary significantly and be markedly effective or undermine the leader’s ability to lead. In the readings from the Canadian Military Journal (CMJ) several examples are provided to support each author’s viewpoint of leadership style and I will use these along with my own opinions and experiences to substantiate the importance of differing leadership styles as they pertain to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Profession of Arms in the 21st century.
SFC (Ret.) Mark C. Daw is the subject of this Leader’s Legacy paper. SFC Daw served for over twenty years in the United States Army Signal Corps. SFC Daw served during the Cold War in the Berlin Brigade, in Operation Desert Storm, in Bosnia during Implementation Force (I-FOR), and in Operation Iraqi Freedom 04-06. A career paratrooper, SFC Daw’s leadership style involved leading from the front at all times, superior tactical and technical proficiency, a hand of discipline tempered by wisdom, and developing his Soldiers professionally and personally. SFC Daw’s example serves as one worthy of emulation by all Soldiers, regardless of expertise or field. I am the Soldier I am today because of SFC Daw.
But as an effective leader, Willink tried to temper the confidence by instilling a culture within his task unit to “never be satisfied; we pushed ourselves harder to continuously improve our performance.” Throughout this chapter, Willink uses his military experiences to teach several lessons about the importance of checking one’s ego. The first important point, leaders must trust others with humility, professionalism and mutual respect, “ from our earliest arrival, we established the
In discussion forum 9, leaders are challenged through situations of crisis and are given ways to confront those challenges which allows them to overcome setbacks and face adversity. In the book “Resilient Leaders”, written by Major General Robert Dees, he provides leaders with his personal experiences of the battlefront and home front and what he had to do in order to cope as well as overcome each situation he was placed in. Major General Dees discusses his foundational ideas on leadership in Chapters one and two. The three concepts that our group decided on are Selfless Service, Character and Risk Management.
General Powell highlights 18 lessons learned in leadership that are applied to successful companies, and how they are applied to leadership in his presentation to the Outreach Program, and the Sears Corporate Headquarters. These approaches can be applied not only in business but life in general. I will highlight three of the lessons that have impacted my career in the military
In the past, academic literature focused on the analytical leadership approach. While still productive and
Beginning in boot camp and continuing throughout my career, I’ve seen the Coast Guard promote the leadership model to be: “You” influencing “Others” to achieve a “Goal”. With all the different ways leadership can be defined, this simplistic model which has been permanently engrained in my thinking definition still rings true for me. As such, when defining my own personal definition of leadership, I align it to this same model. More specifically, while I support the fact that leadership involves influencing others to achieve a common end I propose that is not the whole story. Leaders must not be stagnant in their vision and must lend themselves to the possibility they may have to adjust their leadership styles depending on the goal. The best leaders are the ones that understand their own personality traits as well as those traits of the people they are trying to lead.