Military service is perhaps the most difficult profession in the world because it calls upon its men and women to execute tasks that in some measure, involves death and destruction. Managing troops and subordinates in the military is unique as unlike a corporate entity, military leaders are required to manage their people to fight a war, suffer privations and give orders to kill other human beings. In short, the noble profession of arms is an anathema to all teachings humane and at times produces ethical dilemmas which are not easy to resolve.
Therefore, military leadership demands a rare mix of human qualities and attributes that transcend the ordinary. While leadership styles have been described in great detail by various pundits specializing in the subject, this essay outlines the author’s personal philosophy of military leadership.
The overriding principle that this author believes in is that a leader must lead by example. It must be understood by all military leaders that there are no bad subordinates, only bad leaders. Hence, it devolves upon the leader to provide the necessary inspiration, enunciate clearly his vision and mission for his subordinates and above all be faultless in his personal code of conduct and maintain the core values and traditions of his service.
The author of this essay believes that passing clear and unambiguous orders are the first step in the right direction for providing effective leadership. Possessing the highest levels of personal professional knowledge and being decisive is the next step. ‘Plausible Deniability’ may be necessary attribute for a politician, but definitely is not the province of a military leader. Any leader who ‘beats around the bush’ to escape personal responsibility will quickly lose the respect of his subordinates. A leader who does not delegate authority is no leader at all. Practitioners of ‘Zero Error’ are not true leaders but instead are careerists.
The operative principle is ‘delegate but monitor’. Learning to delegate and having ‘broad shoulders’ to take responsibility for the subordinate’s mistakes when things go wrong is a leadership attribute often forgotten. That the ‘buck stops here’, at the leader’s doorstep must be made unambiguously clear to gain the trust, loyalty and unswerving cooperation of subordinates.
The ‘Hierarchy of Loyalties’ which consists of six loyalties: Constitution, Mission, Service, Ship or Command, Shipmate, and Self is known to all. What must be made clear by the leader to his subordinates that this hierarchy must be understood lucidly and that every subordinate must develop the courage to contest an unlawful superior order even if it means personal censure at a later stage. Personal courage is a prerequisite in the business of war. A fearless (not foolhardy) leader is one whom every subordinate will willingly follow in the harm’s way.
In conclusion it can reiterated that military leadership depends significantly on the personal attributes of the leader. A leader must be morally faultless, professionally competent, and decisive and have the ability to provide a clear vision and mission to his subordinates to be successful. The leader must have a tolerance for ambiguity and have the courage to delegate and accept responsibility for the actions of his subordinates. A leader should in short provide a role model, an inspiration for his subordinates and be ready to ‘lead from the front’ literally and figuratively.