Hal Moore on Leadership: Winning When Outgunned and Outmanned

by Harold G. Moore

To meet that challenge, a leader must demonstrate three things: (1) He must be competent, (2) he must exercise good judgment, and (3) he must have character.

And though he may not always have been loved, he was always respected by those he led because (a) he never held his men to a standard he could not meet himself and (b) he took responsibility for his own actions and the actions of the organization.

There are two things a leader can do: he can either contaminate his environment (and his people) with his attitude and actions, or he can inspire confidence.

The leader must know his primary challenges and how those challenges may impact his command or his unit. He must understand the playing field; and he must know his own capabilities. To produce a realistic plan of action, he must first make an honest assessment of the situation. What are the assets, constraints, strong points, weak areas, etc? How can the “minuses” be turned into “pluses?” What are the essential things that must be done? What are the frills—the things that are nice to have but are not mandatory? Who are the best subordinates? Who are the weakest subordinates? How can I stack the deck for success?

Will is the inner drive that compels a subordinate to keep going when it would be easier to quit. Yet, without competence, willpower is meaningless. Your subordinates may be willing (and even eager) to do their jobs, but they must know how to do their jobs—and how to do them well.

Be ready, so you don’t have to get ready. A good leader will pre-position as many assets and people as he can before an event, or as a contingency in case of disaster. Thus, when the alert and/or emergency inevitably comes, you will be better prepared to respond to it.

“When taking over an organization,” Moore said, “you’ve got to stand out in front of your people, and state clearly what your goals are; what you expect from them; and what they can expect from you. Then shut up and let everybody go to work.

Their duty at their level was just as important as my duty at my level.

Leaders lead from the front; managers lead from the rear.

Patton, Jr. Their style emphasized four bedrock principles: Surprise Aggressiveness Deception The leader’s personal presence in the battle.

von Clausewitz had it right 150 years earlier when he wrote these words: ‘No one starts a war—or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so—without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.’”

When you identify a toxic subordinate leader within your ranks, remove them. If you cannot remove them, reassign them to a role where their toxicity can be minimized.

A leader must have clearly defined objectives. He must ensure these objectives are clearly understood by his subordinate leaders.

These five activities are: the job, physical fitness, personal time alone, recreation, and social relationships.

“During the later Vietnam War years of 1969-1971,” he said, “Korea was a hotbed of racial tensions and heavy drug use. These were the days of…marijuana, all colors of pills with a lot of Koreans making their living selling these to American soldiers. Houses of prostitution and bars were outside the gates of all military bases and did a booming business. Altercations between black and white soldiers were frequent.”

A leader should never tell an outfit that it’s screwed up. If he does, then it will be screwed up. Why? Because the boss said so.

If you seek to correct a subordinate’s overall behavior or performance, start by telling them what they do well, then tell them where they need to improve.

“People are our most important asset in the 7th Infantry Division. In all that we do, each person must be recognized as an individual; recognizing his aspirations, capabilities, and personal needs. Each man must be continually provided fair treatment and equal opportunity, within appropriate regulations, to rise as high a level of responsibility as his talent and diligence will take him.”

He worked only for me, took orders only from me, and had unlimited access to me day or night. He ran the NCOs of the division; set the standards, checked up on them, and was fearless. My first order to him: ‘Sergeant Major, I don’t want any more problems in the villages around our camps. No more fights. No more problems with the Koreans.’ He straightened things out fast and kept them straight with NCOs in the bars and on the streets working with the military police.

The boss in any organization needs one or two trusted, proven advisors.

We paid particular attention to establishing good relations with the local police and arranged for my several troop commanders (fifteen or so) to be on a roster to ride along in local police cars at night.”

“First,” he explained, “we put great emphasis on non-commissioned officer authority, responsibility, and performance.”

Citing Confucius, Moore then said: “To lead an untrained people to war is to throw them away.”

American military history is full of such instances, which often occur in guerrilla wars where there is no rear area safe from attack.

In the early days of VOLAR, bayonet training, hand-to-hand combat, obstacle courses, and speed road marches had been abolished. Moore however, re-instituted each of these subjects during his first year of command.

A man who has more self-discipline has more confidence in his ability to do the job.

“men in a unit which has disciplined, competent leaders will have more confidence in those leaders.”

A good leader trains his people to adapt to changes in the environment or the marketplace.

To ease the moving process for incoming soldiers and officers, Moore put a sponsor program in effect. “Each man on orders to Fort Ord,” he wrote at the time, “has appointed for him a local sponsor of equivalent grade, typically a member of the unit or staff section which the new arrival is slated to join.

Don’t overreact. And never overreact to an overreaction.

Stand up for principles; choose the “harder right” over the “easier wrong.”

loyalty going up and down the chain of command. They write that: “His subordinates are required to produce results and maintain high discipline, which they do, assisted by the personal example set by Major Moore. His primary job of military instruction has been accomplished with much initiative and infectious enthusiasm. Loyalty is exerted in both directions [emphasis added].”

His subordinates love him and would follow him anywhere.

“He is, at the same time an efficient administrator and a thorough, sound planner. He is very articulate and has a unique ability to describe combat situations. Moore is one of our topmost fighting colonels who is daily adding to the luster of his already deservedly bright reputation. I have recommended him for the DSC and his unit (with others) for the Presidential Unit Citation. He is a brand new colonel but is already a clear cut candidate for promotion to brigadier general as soon as he is in the zone for consideration.

“Colonel Moore’s performance was thoroughly outstanding in all respects. A very seasoned combat leader, he consistently produced overwhelming victories against determined North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces of reinforced battalion size. In two major operations, DAVY CROCKETT and NATHAN HALE each of about two weeks duration, he fought his brigade (two to five battalions of infantry with supporting arms) under a wide variety of combat conditions with remarkable success. His leadership was brilliant, resourceful, forceful, colorful and highly inspiring.

In summary, my views are: take care of the troops, develop four-way confidence and be professional. This ensures we can carry out our first duty - accomplishment of the mission. Finally, concerning professionalism, I believe even now the clock is bringing us closer to some few seconds, minutes or hours in the future when the professionalism we will have, or will not have, will make a life or death difference for the men placed under our leadership and whose families can only trust, hope, and pray we know our business.

Executive Vice President of the Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado.