It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership

by Colin Powell

The battalion commander who is firing a rifle and no longer commanding his battalion is, as we say, “decisively engaged.” (A commander is decisively engaged when he is in a win-or-lose situation and has lost freedom of movement.)

If we need a battalion commander, he or she must have come up inside the organization. We don’t lateral them in from IBM.

Senior officers must learn about that world. They must also learn about the contributions of the other services to the nation’s safety and security. They must gain experience in the operations of international alliances, such as NATO. They must understand and appreciate the political process, the role of Congress, the civilian departments of government, media relations, economics, and a host of other subjects outside the pyramid. Only when an officer has mastered these areas is he able to rise to the more senior layers, where increasingly he deals with and integrates that outside world.