Leader-Development: Are We Keeping Pace

摘要

This paper provides analysis, discussion, and recommendations about our current leader- development systems and structure. The complex security environment will force our leaders to operate and win in extremely turbulent and ambiguous situations around the world. The Army recognizes that intellectual change must precede physical change, not only on the current battlefields, but also in the institutional domains. We are an Army at war with a new strategic reality that is driving a simultaneous transformation of our force structure, hardware, technologies, and most importantly, Army culture. The leader development pillar of transformation is arguably the most crucial because it deals with the centerpiece of our Army: its people. This paper discusses the adaptability and self-awareness qualities that our current veterans have displayed and how this is critical for shaping our future leaders. Furthermore, input from surveys, studies, and various discussions cover data pertaining to leader-development trends during combat and peace. The unpredictable security environment dictates that leaders must be exposed to a strategic education earlier in their careers. This paper also emphasizes the concept of lifelong learning and teaching leaders not what to think, but how to think. This philosophy leads to discussions and recommendations in the three leader-development domains institutional, operational, and self-development. The paper concludes with some of the following recommendations: send selected officers to advanced schooling; assign a proportion of OIF/OEF veterans to the schoolhouses; incorporate increased critical thinking and rapid decision making scenarios in the schoolhouses; leader-focus on developing others; create positive command climates; and integrate 360-degree assessments at various times in their career.