Tag Archives: Lead by Example

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What Combat Leaders Need to Know About Neuroscience

We remember the books that change us…that alter our thinking, move us emotionally, or reveal unseen, enlightening perspectives. Powell’s My American Journey did that for me. So did Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. And when I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking in 2007, I recall connecting so many new insights that I didn’t have enough book margin to capture them all. The relevancy for the military profession spilled off of the pages and sparked an intellectual curiosity that has lasted for years.

The topic is neuroscience and the breakthrough discoveries that its researchers have made in recent years. As neuroscientists publish fascinating papers about how the brain functions, authors like Gladwell, Jonah Lehrer, David Rock, Joseph LeDoux, and others translated their work into digestible language with real world application. From decision psychology to organizational efficiency to change detection and management, new understanding of the brain is changing how we live our lives.

But as I made connections from neuroscience to the military profession, specifically tactical combat leadership, I found few resources to aide the service member, Dave Grossman’s On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society and Warrior Mindset being the most useful. So I decided to embark on a personal quest to publish something that references neuroscience to improve military leader performance. What resulted was my first published article and a Master’s thesis on the topic. This post is an adapted version of that endeavor.

Neuroscience

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The Leadership Bottleneck

What happens when managers and leaders cross lines (by Philip Gift)

As editor of The Military Leader, I want to introduce this post. Philip Gift is a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, studied engineering at the Naval Academy, and has offered this thorough analysis of leadership through a lens of Operations Research. It is so far the longest post on this site, but you will find that his insights apply to a wide range of leadership, management, and operations topic areas. You can find his expanded byline at the end of the post.

Many people view Operations Research, if they view it at all, as dealing solely with numbers. Operations Research is more than just numbers; it is primarily about the thought process to get those numbers. An example of this would be increasing the throughput of an assembly line. Adding more resources at the beginning of the line does not necessarily mean there will be an increase to the quantity of the product at the end of the line within the same timeframe. No matter how much is put into the assembly line, it will not be able to produce any more if the slowest point in the assembly line is not quickened.

Leadership Bottleneck

ABOARD USS IWO JIMA (LHD 7) — An MH-53 helicopter prepares to depart the flight deck of USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) September 25 for assesments along the Louisana/Texas coast following Hurricane Rita’s landfall. U. S. Navy Photo by Photographer’s Mate Second Class (AW/SW) Robert Jay Stratchko

By viewing a problem through an Operations Research lens and breaking down the assembly line into its key components, the slowest point can be discovered. Once this point is discovered, a fix can be put in place that would eliminate this bottleneck and allow the assembly line to increase productivity.

The same Operations Research lens used to view the assembly line and break down the key components can be used in non-number related situations, such as leadership. An organization can have better leadership once the bottleneck is discovered and fixed. The leadership bottleneck is non-leadership roles, such as managers, encroaching on the leader’s responsibility.

Just like in the assembly line, no matter how good the leader is, he will not be able to succeed and thus the organization will not flourish without fixing this bottleneck. Managers create this issue because they feel they have all the needed information. When this information is not routinely gathered with face-to-face interactions, though, it is only partial and will lead to poor decisions and create a disconnection with the rest of the work force.

We have ‘Stone Age minds in a space-age universe’.
– An evolutionary psychologist caricature of humans. (Dunbar, 161)

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I Admit It…I Forgot How to Workout

If you look at the picture below and can’t remember the last time you felt like that…this post is for you. The picture is a scene of pure exhaustion, of being tested well beyond your comfort zone, of giving more than you thought was possible. It’s discipline, passion, commitment, and courage, all in one moment.

(I hope) we have all been there before, maybe in Basic Training, or on a unit obstacle course, or during a short-lived flirt with CrossFit ten years ago. Combat arms schools test their students with exhaustive rites of passage to see if, somewhere down inside, they will have what it takes to survive the battlefield.

Leaders go through these trials, then as we become more senior we have the flexibility to avoid them. There are fewer and fewer people in a position to challenge us. The responsibility for pushing the limits shifts to the individual and what happens?…capability typically diminishes. We don’t continue the test and we get soft.

This is what happened to me.

workout

CORONADO, Calif. (April 11, 2011) – Students from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/s) Class 288 participate in log physical training (log PT) during the First Phase of training at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. Log PT is one of many physically demanding evolutions and has remained a part of BUD/s throughout the history of SEAL training.
(U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kyle D. Gahlau/Released)
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The Post-Active Duty Leadership Environment – Part 3 (Developing Leaders)

My goal is to contrast leadership development in my current environment with my experience on active duty in the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC). The thing is, I didn’t really experience much formal leadership development during those 12 years on active duty. So what do I want to share?

I’ve settled on this: The active duty Air Force is purging leaders that were developed the hard way over a decade of constant war and other contingency operations, while nearly exclusively retaining candidates who developed their careers and resumes according to official timelines and benchmarks. There is a need for both types of leaders and I want to close this series by advocating for a compromise. Strong leaders, in any stage of their careers, should be considered for positions that have come to be reserved for career development.

leaders

U.S. Air Force Capt. Chance Hansen, a C-130 Hercules aircraft pilot with the 36th Airlift Squadron, visually locates another C-130 over Japan Oct. 22, 2013, during a large-formation flight. (DoD photo by Yasuo Osakabe, U.S. Air Force/Released)
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“Sir, you humiliated us.” – A Commander’s Lesson in Leadership

Guest author Captain Joel Martinez shares his story of humility in command

Reading a post on The Military Leader one day, a question reminded me of a critical leadership lesson I learned from my time in command. It read, “When was the last time you heard a unit commander ask for feedback, consider the input, publicly admit he’s wrong, and change his opinion?”

Given that I have a vivid example of being humbled while in command, I felt compelled to share my story.

Leadership

The 1st Cavalry Division Soldiers trying out for the 2nd Battalion, 38th Cavalry Regiment, Long range Surveillance, Airborne unit here at Fort Hood, Texas gut out the last mile of a two and a half mile buddy run, July 27.
U.S. Army photo by Spc. Adam Turner, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs.
This is a guest post by Army Military Intelligence Officer, Captain Joel Martinez. He commanded the 66th Military Intelligence Company of the 3d Cavalry Regiment and now passes on his lessons as an Observer/Coach Trainer at the National Training Center.
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Forging Adaptive Leaders Through Crucible Training

by Chris Ingram

Are your teams capable of adapting to a rapidly changing environment? Do you have the best people in positions of leadership to deal with chaos? There are two ways we find out: in combat, or before. To answer these critical questions about our teams and our leaders, we often use a historically successful model: the crucible training event.

To do this, at the Company, Battalion, Brigade, or even Division level, crucible training must be well-defined, include the proper mix of participants, and evaluate the right set of skills in a way the challenges individuals and grows adaptive teams.

This is a guest post by Army Infantry Officer, Medium blogger, and Military Writer’s Guild member, Christopher Ingram. Connect with him on Twitter @chrisgingram.

training

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18 Ways to Mitigate Off-Duty Risk

Last week’s post, “The Leader’s Role in Preventing Off-Duty Risk,” tackled the varying perspectives surrounding the issue of how far leaders should involve themselves in subordinate lives to prevent off-duty risk. Too much involvement, and resentment and mistrust develop. Too little involvement, and potentially destructive problems grow unnoticed. Leaders hold passionate opinions on all sides of the discussion, but it’s a safe conclusion that this area is truly the art of leadership.

Today’s post is all about The How, the methods that leaders on every side of the discussion can use to achieve their intent. The mindful leader will devote time, organizational energy, and cognitive space to figuring out how to engage his or her people in this critical area of leadership.

Risk

ROTC cadets take a break from Leader Development and Assessment Course training to engage in a question and answer session with Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of U.S. Army Accessions Command and Training and Doctrine Command’s deputy commanding general for initial military training, July 19, at Fort Lewis, Wash. Link to photo.
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How Do You Spot a Leader?

The leader must behave differently than those they lead. They are in position because their ability surpasses those around them and they can be counted on to make a difference. Leaders display elevated influence.

Now look inward, and analyze your own leadership traits in light of these questions:

If an outsider were to look in on your organization without explanation or even the capability to hear what was going on…would they be able to tell that you are the leader? What traits would they be looking for to explain who is in charge?

Leader

Soldiers from the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, race for first place during an annual Physical Training Competition on Fort Riley, Kansas. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Robert DeDeaux, 1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Inf. Div. Public Affairs. Link to photo.