Pick up any good book on military leadership—I particularly like Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach47 by retired US Army Colonel Mike Malone because of the practical advice this decorated combat infantry leader gives young officers and NCOs. You cannot, he admonishes, give in to the urge to check and control everybody. In the heat of battle, there isn’t time. You have to trust your soldiers and subordinate leaders to do the right thing under the stress of combat. But, and this is the key point, this trust cannot be wished for or assumed. It must be earned through training and
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