REFLECT
Communicate Your Staff Estimates in the Language of Risk
by Tom Gaines and Micah Stedman “Gentlemen, we have run out of money; now we have got to think.” – Winston Churchill Somewhere out there is the perfect unit. The commander’s intent is perfectly understood by every member of this...
Building Mutual Trust: Candor, Clarity, and Curiosity
by Ryan Cornell-d’Echert In our organizations, how comfortable are people admitting they do not know? How often do we respond with, “Sir, I don’t have that information. I’ll take it as a due-out,” or “Ma’am, we should have thought of that. We’ll...
A Brittle Force: Grappling with Surging Military Suicides
by Greg Wall and Jacob Mays As we near the end of the calendar year, it seems that 2023 is likely to go down as the deadliest year in history for self-directed violence in the US military. In 2022 the DoD reported the highest Q1 suicide rate since...
Social Media is an Essential Tool For Modern Army Leaders
By Michael Everett Leaders in the 2023 military need to interact on social media. Period. Whether you like it or not, modern leadership has spilled over into the digital domain. If you fight the social media current, you will almost certainly meet...
Prioritizing Realistic Tactical and Operational Training for Maintainers
by Melissa Anne Czarnogursky Behind every Army vehicle, weapon, night vision device and communication equipment is a maintainer ensuring our fighting force is prepared to execute complex operations on an ever-changing battlefield. Equipment...
Improve Your Reporting in Five Simple Steps
by Jacob Loftice Reporting drives military operations. It consists of developing and providing various information that guide leaders’ understanding of their formations’ capabilities, priorities, and assessed risk. Despite how common and important...
Welded Into a Fine Unit of Teamwork: The Role of Recreational Sports
By Shayne Harrell In December of 1946, my grandfather, Private First Class Peyton E. Harrell, received a letter of appreciation from Colonel Percy E. LeStourgeon, commander of the 349th Infantry Regiment. The letter recounts the outcome of the 88th...
Rowing Well, and Living Better: Leader Influence on Officer Retention
by M. Caleb Bloom The first time I heard the phrase, “Row well, and live,” I did not know what it meant. I was a First Lieutenant on a Battalion-level staff after finishing my time as a Platoon Leader. The Battalion was only a few months into a...
Security Force Assistance Brigades: In Competition, Crisis, and Conflict
by Brian M. Ducote, Jim Gallagher, and Jason Elmore The thought of U.S. Army advisors often conjures images of an American Soldier in a foreign land, standing side by side with an inexperienced recruit. The advisor demonstrates the finer points of...
Train Small to Win Big: Rethinking Our Training Plan for Lethality
By Jake Murphy It is all too easy to forget that higher echelons exist to set the conditions for small units, in both tactical and garrison environments. To combat this, it is critical to trust subordinate leaders to effectively lead their...
The Attributes of Effective Mentorship
By Jeroen Verhaeghe One of the key responsibilities of a leader in any military organization is the development of the next generation of leaders[i]. This responsibility is crucial because the military grows its leaders from within rather than...
I Don’t Even Know His Name
By Nick Alexander Authors note- This piece is about a young Afghan soldier struck in the chest plate of his body armour by a directional IED in late 2013. We crossed paths in a US Forward Surgical Team facility about one week prior to the end of...
An Anti-Fragile Approach to Leadership
By Lt Col Nate Bump Seeking timeless wisdom is a simple strategy to identify the leadership traits and behaviors necessary for effective military officers. This post will illustrate various timeless truths leaders must first avoid and then seek to...
Are You an Electable Leader?
By Sam Redding If your unit voted, would you be the leader? Given the recent election, I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What if organizations could vote to decide who is in charge? Let me preface this by saying, this post is not a call...
Take your Leadership to the End Zone
By David Lang Although coaches are commonly seen as leaders, not all leaders feel the need to be coaches. However, as we face the leadership challenges of the 21st Century, that perception is changing. In fact, on the international stage, acclaimed...
No Plays Off: It’s a Mindset
By George Fust Stop for a moment and think about the best athletes in your favorite sport. What attributes make them stand out? Persistence? Grit? Coaches can often be heard reminding players to “never take a play off.” These standout players...
Are You Consumed by Your Ego?
By Joe Byerly Within each of us is a voice. It’s size and influence varies between individuals and our environment, and our values shape its contours. This voice is our ego. In his book, Ego is the Enemy Ryan Holiday observes that ego is, “an...
The ‘Leader-Ships’ – Navigating Rough Waters
By Mike Karlson As the Army addresses and implements the findings of the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee, the conversation across our formations is centered on leadership. What went wrong? What kind of leadership is required to protect our...
Coach Wooden’s Advice for 2021
By Joe Byerly When Coach John Wooden arrived at UCLA in 1948, the athletic department promised him they would eventually get him a nice gym. But until then, he had to share a poorly lit, unventilated facility with the wrestling team, the...
Kettlebells Are Useless on the Moon
By Joe Byerly “Kettlebells are useless on the moon” I recently heard this phrase mentioned by Aubrey Marcus on his AMP podcast. I can’t remember the exact context, but it had to do with the fact that the moon has very little gravity so the...
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30 Under 30 Leader Developers
Special Announcement for Army Cadets and Officers The 2010 Center for Army Leadership Annual Survey of Army Leadership (CASAL) found that Army leaders lack skills in developing subordinate leaders. Specifically, it found that compared to ILE...
The Hidden Benefit of the Army’s New Commander Assessment Program
By Joe Byerly Last week I traveled to Fort Knox to attend the Battalion Commander Assessment Program (BCAP). Initially, I thought of BCAP as merely an assessment of my leadership preparedness for battalion command. And while that is certainly the...
Make Your LPDs Worth Your Leaders’ Time.
By: CSM Mike Burke and CSM Marcus Brister “Next week, we will have an LPD on NCOERs…” said the command sergeant major, receiving a combination of eye rolls and long exhales during the training meeting. True to form, the following week, an...
Call For Posts: What Broadening Opportunities are Available to me?
By Connor Collins We are excited to announce that we’re launching a NEW series called #BroadenMe. We’re seeking submissions for informative 1000-1600 word posts highlighting the various broadening opportunities and considerations an officer should...
How to Drain the Energy out of Organizations
By Joe Byerly Have you ever picked up your IPhone and noticed that the battery was almost dead even though you charged it all night? The most likely culprits for draining the life out of your phone are the applications operating in the background....
It’s Time to Update the Military Decision-Making Process
By Larry Kay Processes must adjust to the environment in which they will be utilized otherwise they risk providing solutions to yesterday’s problems. The military decision-making process (MDMP) has not been updated to reflect the contemporary...
We Need to Talk About the Burden of Command
By Jack Curtis I’ve held an incredible job for the past 15 months. Serving as the commanding officer of the finest jet squadron in the Navy has been nothing short of an absolute privilege. But, in a few days (and on schedule) I’ll relinquish...
Learning to Lead with Love
By Jason Reynado Let me make a bold proposition to you on the subject of leadership – I propose that love and leadership go hand in hand. A few months ago, the 2d Cavalry Regiment (2CR) had its Semi-Annual Training Brief (SATB) with 7th Army...
How to Know if Your Presence Matters
By Sean Finnan Several years ago, I came across this quote: “If your absence doesn’t affect them, your presence never mattered.” As I was nearing the end of my O-5 command, I began to reflect on what I was leaving behind. Would my absence affect...
We Need to Bridge the Gap Between the COIN Generation and the Next Generation
By Scott Kelly I commissioned in 2012, joining an Army in which my leaders had been engaged in counterinsurgency (COIN) fights in Iraq and Afghanistan for nearly a decade. As I left training and entered the operational force, I was hit with the...
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