Army Leadership Self-Analysis

Everything great started somewhere, even the US Army. Since the beginning of US history, leadership built up the US Army and military into what is now the strongest in the world. The US Army is the greatest in the world because of the Foundation of US Army Leadership. History, loyalty, accountability, and evolving US Army doctrine are all known as the foundation of US Army Leadership. These foundations are very important to the strength and security of our country.

Moving forward, our Army's primary purpose is steadfast and resolute: to fight and win our Nation's wars. But we all know that the Army must be able to do much more than that. Today, we require an Army that is adaptive and innovative, flexible and agile, integrated and synchronized, lethal and discriminate. Even more critical in today's complex and uncertain environment, the Army is the decisive arm of the Joint Force in a broad range of missions. Historically the Army has been focused on a specific set of needs, but these needs and the means in which they are resourced have changed. So we must fundamentally change how we do business. As we keep adding rocks to our Soldiers' rucksacks, all leaders must remain cognizant over time. Everyone's load can get too heavy and cause permanent wear and tear. So it is a good idea to

My leadership philosophy is to emulate the Drill Sergeant Creed and to uphold today’s Soldiers to the standards of military bearing and courtesy. As a Drill Sergeant, I strive to be a subject matter expert in all aspects of the Army. I will always lead by example and train my Soldiers to meet and exceed that standard. I will set the example for others to follow by adhering to the values set forth by the Creeds, Army Values, and Warrior Ethos. The following are characteristics I hold highest for myself and my Soldiers: competence, consistency, mission accomplishment, personal responsibility and communication.

Strategic leaders have acquired the core leader competencies at the lower levels of leadership and are now working at a much more complex level. These leaders are prepared to solve complex problems and thrive in uncertain environments. They have to consider the bigger picture since the decisions made at this level often have a global impact. They do not have to think about an individual battalion or even a corps; they have to think about the army. Their influence reaches out to hundreds of thousands of people. They start to change the way that that the organizational and direct level leaders operate. The ideas being pushed out at this level have been planned for years before the final plan surfaces. These plans will take years to accomplish being as they change the organization as a whole. With a larger influence also comes with a larger range of consequences for ones

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

In his “Welcome to the Seminar” reading, Thomas Galvin listed eight competencies that graduates of the US Army War College should possess. He highlighted them as a “way of helping students visualize the end state of this journey – being a senior leader.”1 Galvin further divided the eight competencies into persistent and mission specific. Persistent, meaning traits for everyday life and mission specific, meaning only for certain situations. Galvin lists the four mission specific traits as Strategic Advisor, Strategic Planner, Strategic Theorist and finally Senior Leader at the Strategic Level.2 This paper will concern itself with two mission specific outcomes, Strategic Advisor/Communicator and Senior Leader at the Strategic Level as I perceive these areas to have the biggest potential for my development.

The 2014 Army Strategic Guidance directs the U.S. Army to remain the most highly trained and professional military force in the world. Based on the 2014 Army Strategic Planning Guidance, the U.S. Army has the responsibility to train its junior officers in strategy trough the domains of leader development. First at Institutional training, then during their operational assignments and third during the facilitation of leader self-development. This essay explains how the three domains of leader development nest strategic training for junior officers starting at the institutional training domain.

The main points of this article relate to the changing nature of warfare (think terrorism and advancements in technology) and the adjustments military leaders are obliged to make. Hence, according to the article, leaders must: a) be trained in critical thinking skills; b) be "committed to life-long [and self-directed] learning"; c) be willing to take the initiative to "diagnose" their goals, needs,

The Army completed two vitally important publications in 2014. The first was the much-anticipated U.S. Army Operating Concept: Win in a Complex World 2020-2040. This work, with a foreword from the Chief of Staff of the Army, “provides the intellectual foundation and framework for learning and for applying what we learn to future force development under Force 2025 and Beyond.” The TRADOC Commanding General’s foreword emphasizes that the Army Operating Concept’s “vision of the future must drive change to ensure that Army forces and prepared to prevent conflict, shape the security environment, and win wars.” The Army Operating Concept includes an acknowledgment of the “continuities in the nature of war as well as an appreciation for changes in the character of armed conflict” and references Thucydides and Clausewitz. A number of themes emerge from the Army Operating Concept’s vision of the future. These include complexity, ambiguity, multiplicity, adaptation,

My leadership philosophy revolves entirely around the Army Values. In every action I take as a leader, I assess whether or not it lines up with the Army Values and the potential impacts. I have had a variety of leadership assignments during my career, all requiring a different leadership approach, spanning from team leader through platoon sergeant. My conflict resolution skills have greatly evolved through my twelve years in the Army, from rudimentary conversations to in depth problem solving. My professional development has had a profound effect on my leadership abilities, from NCOPD’s to mentorship from senior non-commissioned officers (NCO’s).

“You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do

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

In December 2001, the Chief of Staff of the Army tasked the Army War College to produce a report which identified Strategic Leader Competencies for the post 9/11 Army. Dr. Leonard Wong and four U.S. Army War College students prepared a report under the direction of the Director of the Strategic Studies Institute. That report produced a list of six meta-competencies.3 Although the title of that report and the materials presented here have a similar name, that report dealt with soldiers operating in a strategic environment, where tactical and operational level decisions can have strategic ramifications. This paper addresses more broad-based attributes, which in some instances are complementary to several characteristics described in the

Joining Air War College (AWC) will remain one of my memorable things to have happened in my life because it marked the transition from being just a leader to being a Strategic Leader. In the military, once enlisted as an officer you assume leadership right from the beginning but through experience and training at different levels, officers continue to develop their leadership skills as well. As we started Joint Strategic Leadership Modules in AWC, we learned that a strategic leader combines the day to day operations and the long term goals to grow an organization. Hence, strategic leadership calls for an individual to have the ability to influence subordinates through motivation, persuasion and other leadership traits in acquiring/achieving an organization’s vision. We also learned that strategic leadership involves development and enhancement of new skills and abilities that will enable a leader face the new strategic environment which is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). Whereas my current leadership posture is more of direct leadership where missions and goals are rather clear, joining AWC meant the beginning for transformation into strategic leadership where working with peers will be paramount as opposed to command. Therefore, this essay endeavors to state my goals and objectives for this academic year while in AWC, where I will also be able to evaluate my current leadership ability at strategic level and identify any shortcomings thereon, assess ways

When I was a lieutenant, one of my mentors told me that the officers ‘job is first and foremost about leadership. For senior officers, then, one must say everything is about leading strategically. In order to be an effective strategic leader, my self-assessment has led me to focus on the following goals during this academic year at the Air War College (AWC): to improve my understanding of the strategic environment; to learn to be strategically relevant, to shape my ability to communicate effectively at the strategical level.