Leadership Lessons from West Point
It’s no secret. I’m getting old(er). Every month there’s another gray hair in the goatee. Every year there are a couple of extra pounds. Nothing makes that fact hit home more than a class reunion.
I spent the last few days back at alma mater dear, The United States Military Academy at West Point. As cadets, we had a few well-founded perspectives on West Point. It’s the most beautiful place you’ll ever hate. It’s a good place to be… from. The best view of West Point is in your rear-view mirror.
Fifteen years after throwing my hat in the air and receiving my diploma, I’ve had the benefit of time to reflect on my experiences at my rockbound highland home. As I’ve grown wiser (and older and fatter and grayer) I’ve come to appreciate the timeless nature of some of the things they teach there.
One of my favorites is the “official version” of the leadership principles (as opposed to my unofficial version). These eleven principles span military, business, and organizational leadership. They’re straight-forward and require little explanation. They are:
1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement
2. Be technically and tactically proficient
3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions
4. Set the example
5. Know your people and look out for their well-being
6. Keep your people informed
7. Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and accomplished
8. Develop a sense of responsibility in your subordinates
9. Train your people as a team
10. Make sound and timely decisions
11. Employ your unit in accordance with its capabilities
Simple, right? One of my favorite books, Ed Ruggero’s The Leader’s Compass eloquently explains these concepts in the appendix (and the main part of the book is more than pretty darn good too – grab a copy).
These concepts translate across time, organizations, and beliefs. Print this out. Keep a copy handy. They’re worth knowing. I’ll use these eleven principles in future posts and relate stories around them so get to know them – they’ll be back.
– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC
Hi Mike,
Whether the leadership principles will change from (a) one country to other country? (b) one society to other society?
If not so, why the companies from one country will have different set of practices when they start operating in other country.
In some of the companies, even the quality of management and business too changes.
I am looking for an article from you regarding these aspects.
Thanks,
@Anonymous – great questions. Candidly, my global experiences have not been as deep as yours likely have. From what I have seen though, many of these principles apply – the difference is in the tactics used to employ them. For example, being decisive in the US takes on one form as decisions are carried out. In consensus-based cultures, there's still value to leaders driving the decision making – they simply drive it using a different process.
Quality variances seem obvious. Some countries have dramatically different talent pools to pull from which results in variances in the quality of management. Additionally, a top-tier company is likely to have a better talent pool than a second or third tier player just by virtue of their position in the market.
At a practical level, I encourage you to look at each of these principles and accept that they apply in all scenarios then figure out how you would execute on implementing it given the country and culture-based aspects of the tactics you would need to employ. I hope this perspective is helpful.
I need to improve on my leadership qualitiies and i would also like to improve in ways to handle situation either hard or soft. i want to be able to make decision if not immediately when it happens but make one that is if not popular but correct and logical