Hindsight Serving Foresight: The Role of History in Strategic Leadership

摘要

This paper explores the uses of retrospective analyses in the professionaldevelopment of strategic leaders. Heretofore, the Army and other military services have stressed the employment of historical analysis to gain operational and tactical lessons learned. Even though the Army has a long tradition of drawing upon the past to gain perspectives on current issues, the process has yet to reveal guidelines and theories with respect to strategic thinking. Undoubtedly, history empowers analysis, but most publications of leadership development focus on behavior rather than the cognitive processes of the human mind. New theoretical and practical approaches to the uses of the past are needed to sharpen the decisions of strategic leaders.