More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
The first is competence. Be brilliant in the basics. Don’t dabble in your job; you must master it.
Of course you’ll screw up sometimes; don’t dwell on that. The last perfect man on earth died on a cross long ago—just be honest and move on, smarter for what your mistake taught you.
Second, caring. To quote Teddy Roosevelt, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Third, conviction. This is harder and deeper than physical courage. Your peers are the first to know what you will stand for and, more important, what you won’t stand for. Your troops catch on fast. State your flat-ass rules and stick to them. They shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. At the same time, leaven your professional passion with personal humility and compassion for your troops. Remember: As an officer, you need to win only one battle—for the hearts of your troops. Win their hearts and they will win the fights.
The Marine philosophy is to recruit for attitude and train for skills.
for the rest of my career, I aggressively delegated tasks to the lowest capable level.
If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you.
Developing a culture of operating from commander’s intent demanded a higher level of unit discipline and self-discipline than issuing voluminous, detailed instructions. In drafting my intent, I learned to provide only what is necessary to achieve a clearly defined end state: tell your team the purpose of the operation, giving no more than the essential details of how you intend to achieve the mission, and then clearly state your goal or end state, one that enables what you intend to do next. Leave the “how” to your subordinates, who must be trained and rewarded for exercising initiative,
...more
The Secretary of Defense most often had to choose the least bad option. If it was an easy decision with good options, that decision had already been made. I sat in more meetings than I can count, and the whole experience brought home to me in an even more elevated context how critical it is to delegate decision-making authority or face paralyzing chaos.
As Churchill noted, “To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”
Throughout my career, I’ve preferred to work with whoever was in place. When a new boss brings in a large team of favorites, it invites discord and the concentration of authority at higher levels.
I don’t care how operationally brilliant you are; if you can’t create harmony—vicious harmony—on the battlefield, based on trust across different military services, foreign allied militaries, and diplomatic lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete.
Leaders are not potted plants, and at all levels they must be constantly out at the critical points doing whatever is required to keep their teams energized, especially when everyone is exhausted.
In the U.S. military, we ride for the brand, as we do out west, where I am from. If a civilian leader tells me to fight rustlers, that’s what I do. If he tells me to round up wild horses, I do that. And if he tells me my job is to help a new settler plow his cornfield, I’ll get off my horse, cinch my holster around my saddle horn, and get behind the plow. But again, in this case guidance was not forthcoming. My requests for clarity up the chain of command went largely unanswered.
My troops had kept the faith, thanks to their will and discipline, and I said good-bye to my rambunctious and undaunted Marines by reading the French “Paratrooper’s Prayer”: I bring this prayer to you, Lord, For you alone can give What one cannot demand from oneself. Give me, Lord, what you have left over, Give me what no one ever asks of you. I don’t ask you for rest or quiet, Whether of soul or body; I don’t ask you for wealth, Nor for success, nor even health perhaps. That sort of thing you get asked for so much That you can’t have any of it left. Give me, Lord, what you have left over,
...more
But a leader’s role is problem solving. If you don’t like problems, stay out of leadership.
Conviction doesn’t mean you should not change your mind when circumstance or new information warrant it. A leader must be willing to change and make change.
PowerPoint is the scourge of critical thinking. It encourages fragmented logic by the briefer and passivity in the listener. Only a verbal narrative that logically connects a succinct problem statement using rational thinking can develop sound solutions. PowerPoint is excellent when displaying data; but it makes us stupid when applied to critical thinking.
Above all, I cautioned them that their natural inclination to be team players could not compromise their independence of character. They had to be capable of articulating necessary options or consequences, even when unpopular. They must give their military advice straight up, not moderating it. Avoid what George Kennan called “the treacherous curtain of deference.” Don’t be political. They had to understand that their advice might not be accepted. Then they must carry out a policy, to the best of their ability, even when they might disagree. Recognize, too, that ultimately any President gets
...more
Commanders must encourage intellectual risk taking to preclude a lethargic environment. Leaders must shelter those challenging nonconformists and mavericks who make institutions uncomfortable; otherwise you wash out innovation.
I told my one-star admirals and generals: “You’re still low enough in rank to be in touch with your troops, but senior enough to protect our mavericks. That’s your job.” If you’re uncomfortable dealing with intellectual ambushes from your own ranks, it’ll be a heck of a lot worse when the enemy does it to you.
plebiscite.
Good word
certitude
Good word
The military is all about teamwork. Everyone enters the military at junior rank and rises according to merit.
“Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it,” Aristotle wrote. “People come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players, by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts we come to be just. By doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled, and by doing brave acts, we become brave.”
I have seen no case where weakness promotes the chance for peace. A Kipling passage comes to mind about a peace-seeking man (the lama) and an old soldier. “It is not a good fancy,” said the lama. “What profit to kill men?” “Very little—as I know,” [the old soldier replied,] “but if evil men were not now and then slain it would not be a good world for weaponless dreamers.”
At the same time, there’s no substitute for constant study to master one’s craft. Living in history builds your own shock absorber, because you’ll learn that there are lots of old solutions to new problems. If you haven’t read hundreds of books, learning from others who went before you, you are functionally illiterate—you can’t coach and you can’t lead. History lights the often dark path ahead; even if it’s a dim light, it’s better than none.
Speed is essential, whether in sports, business, or combat, because time is the least forgiving, least recoverable factor in any competitive situation.
Like a jazzman with the ability to improvise, you need to know doctrine so that you can shift from a known point.
