Leadership Lessons from

Military Leadership

Leadership: Vision, Meaning and Reality

Introduction

Leadership is one whos leads people, the notional meaning, that we know today in the business

and the political sense draws heavily from military leadership. In fact there are no such areas

including business, sports, politics and etc that have not been in a way or the other influenced

by military leadership. And at the forefront of all military literature is the Art of War by Sun Tzu,
the greatest philosopher of his time had conlcuded entire art of warfare in his thirteen chapters.

This treatise on military warfare finds applications in such diverse fields and therefore it is to the

best interest of an organisation to keep abreast of military leadership and more importantly draw
lessons out of it.

War is not confined to human behaviour alone but also to a great extent on the prevailing situations.

Many primates and ants in fact display such behaviour where groups of the same species fight another

group usually for control of resources (AntColonies.net, 2004). The ants are able to recognise friend or

foe based on the differences between the intensity of the odour between the two warring groups.

However this similarity between humans and ants or other species is overshadowed by a huge

amount of dissimilarity in the level of engagement and destructive power. Humans have

developed over time and gained control over their surroundings. The destructive power of war

has increased many folds and humans have gained the ability to methodically strategize over

war. At this stage Military Leadership is of paramount importance because it is the only way to

cater to a multitude of challenges that face every army. The armed forces must be kept

disciplined. Various disciplines/functions of the armed forces must be coordinated. The armed

forces personnel are often as in the case of India multi cultural which itself poses a challenge.

Leadership in the Armed Forces

The leadership style used in the Armed Forces is mostly transformational in nature rather than

a transactional one. This may be seen as contrary to the popular assumptions that the Armed

Forces having a rigid and authoritarian hierarchical structure, is likely to have a mostly

transactional leadership. However, apart from focusing more on a series of "transactions", a

transactional leader is interested in looking out for himself / herself. He / She primarily use
rewards and punishments to control his / her subordinates. Although the Armed Forces is
perceived to use a reward and punishment scheme, it remains to be seen what can possibly be

a suitable reward or a punishment for Armed Forces personnel. When serving in crisis

conditions where leadership influences the physical well being or survival of both the leader

and the led—in extreme contexts—transactional sources of motivation (e.g. pay, rewards, or

threat of punishment) become insufficient. After all, why should a person be motivated by

rewards when he might not live to enjoy them? Why would a person fear administrative

punishment when compliance might lead to injury or death? (Kolditz, 2009). No amount of

reward can compensate for his / her life and no amount of punishment can. Therefore, the

Armed Forces adopt a mix of transformational leadership and charismatic leadership.

The leader of the team in the Armed Forces assumes responsibility for the development and

growth within the ranks. The leader is responsible for the life and welfare of the team members

both in war or peace. The team members are also responsible for one another. It cares for the

members’ families, especially when the servicemen are deployed. This develops a high level of

trust and confidence among the team. Such a level of trust and integrity can rarely be seen in

any other field.

There is high also a level specialization within the Armed Forces and these specialized

functional teams are tightly integrated with one another. There is, as a result, a high amount of

dependence and trust.

Whenever a team leader is assigned responsibility he is given complete authority.

In all services, military leadership qualities are formed in a progressive and sequential series of

carefully planned training, educational, and experiential events—far more time-consuming and
expensive than similar training in industry or government (Kolditz, 2009). Military leaders tend

to hold high level of authority and responsibility even at lower levels.

There exists elaborate feedback mechanism in the Armed Forces, through which each and

every aspect of the subordinate’s position is fed back to the higher authorities. This

information is used in planning out missions or the individual’s growth. In fact planning forms

an important part of military leadership. It is indispensable. The leaders must plan every
operation in minute details, and therefore knows his team members (including each and every

one’s strengths and weaknesses), the terrain and the environment extremely well. This makes

the leader extremely observant and alert. When I had gone to interview the said participants of

the AFP, I couldn’t help noticing how everything was neat, prim and proper, unlike many of the

Dorms of the PGP participants. This speaks volumes on the lifestyle of the Armed Forces

personnel and their attention to details.

Something that no other organization can hope to replicate is that military leadership is based

on a concept of duty, service, and self-sacrifice. Military leaders take responsibility for every

order they give, maintain the highest ethical and moral standards, and care for their

subordinates. Business leaders on the other hand usually place their well being higher than the

organisation that they serve, higher than their followers.

Military leaders are meticulously selected on the basis of their knowledge, aptitude and

attitude towards the Services and also attributes of devotion to duty and deep sense of

commitment. The 'Never Say Die' spirit amongst these officers tested under the most trying

circumstances in high risk environment scenario of three dimensional battlefields of land, sea

and air, stretches them to the limit of human endeavour. (Chatterji, 2010)

Conclusion

Military leadership has been an inspiration for other leadership forms and will continue to

inspire us in the future. There are many leadership lessons to be learnt from military leadership

but some of the most important ones are as follows:

Responsibility and Authority

One must provide a certain amount of authority while delegating responsibility. While one

cannot expect to delegate 100% authority as in the military services, a higher level of authority

delegated will ensure that the subordinate will be able to complete the task. This will also be a

signal of trust (positive stroke) for the subordinate that can potentially reduce the distance
between the leader and the subordinate. Therefore responsibility and authority must go hand

in hand.

Team Bonding

A good leader must ensure that the team bonds well. A team that bonds well is any day

preferable to another that does not. A team that bonds well and works together as a team can

cooperate, work efficiently, and help each other out.

Planning

A good leader must put planning high on his/her agenda. A leader cannot lead his/her followers

into total uncertainty. There have been many instances in the business world where products

have been launched without adequate market research and planning. Most of them have

bombed in the market, risking their jobs and the jobs of their subordinates.

Morality, Ethics, Honesty & Integrity

A good leader must promote morality, ethics, honesty and integrity among the followers. To do

so, he/she must lead by example and follow the same principles as his/her followers.

Know your subordinates

A good leader knows his/her followers and understands their strengths and weaknesses. This

enables affective allocation of resources and work, so that the final output as a whole is the
best in every respect. It also enables the leader and the concerned follower to plan on

overcoming the weakness(es) of the follower.

Take Responsibility

A good leader assumes responsibility for the welfare of the followers. He/She also assumes

responsibility for the decisions in the team. This inspires confidence in the followers.

Share your goals

A good leader shares his/her goals with the team members. This ensures that the team is up to

the task and has certain expectations about the final outcome of the endeavor. While the task
is shared or delegated it also enables the subordinates to plan better instead of shooting in the

dark.

Develop synergy and trust

As in the military services, a team in the corporate world is expected to be multi cultural and

multi functional. It is up to the leader to synergize among these teams and develop an

environment of trust in the team.

In conclusion, we must recognize the fact that the Armed Forces as an organisation does not

have to worry about finances. This however, in no way diminishes the relevance of the lessons

that can be learnt from military leadership.

References

1. AntColonies.net. (2004). How ants carry on war. Retrieved 2 26, 2010, from

AntColonies.net: http://www.antcolonies.net/howantscarryonwar.html

2. Chatterji, M. G. (2010). From the DGR's Desk. Retrieved 03 2010, 04, from Armed Forces

Programme, IIM Ahmedabad: http://afpiima.com/dgr.html

3. Kolditz, C. T. (2009, 02 06). Why the Military Produces Great Leaders. Retrieved 03 02,

2010, from Harvard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/frontline-

leadership/2009/02/why-the-military-produces-grea.html