Army Officer There are many problems and challenges today that take place at all levels of leadership in the army, ranging from quality of life issues, to the high operational tempo and others. As this occurs, military officers continue to find that their leadership skills require improvement. Understanding and subsequent application of leadership practices (especially military leadership), is crucial not only to success of a military officer as an individual, but to the army in general. In such a way, learning and enhancing leadership skills should be the task of of primary importance. The Leadership Secrets of Collin Powell written by Oren Harari is, obviously, the best reading for military officers, as it can be used as a comprehensive guide to assist all militaries in the army in development of their skills, knowledge and attitudes about leadership. Although this book is by no means exhaustive, it still can serve as a good start point for a wide circle of readers to consistently enhance their professional knowledge of leadership.
Oren Harari reveals the secrets of leadership by the example of Collin Powell, describing traits of the effective leader and examining leadership challenges. In The Leadership Secrets of Collin Powell Oren Harari shows the essentials of the effective leader, claiming that the person should learn and practice leadership day-to-day in order to achieve results. Being the leader in the army is very important, as leaders are those making progress and changing peoples lives. Effective military leader is able to influence other people. He can encourage people to achieve results, by demonstrating standards and quality of work beyond the expectations. Great leaders, as it is said by Collin Powell, accomplish more than the science of management says is possible.
The Essay on Why I Want to Be an Army Officer
When I first enlisted, I did not know where my military career would take me. Back at that time, I thought that I may only complete my initial enlistment and move on to other professional pursuits. However, over the past nine years I have come to embrace all that the United States military stands for. I believe that service as an Army officer is a distinguished honor that is surrounded with a rich ...
The leadership for them is not title, rank, privilege, or money, but a responsibility. Effective military leaders understand that leadership is not about the popularity contest. The leaders job (especially in the army) is not to be a good organizer, but to be a good disorganizer….Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes…” (Harari) In such a way, the leadership for the military leader is to allow and value diversity of approach and thought. military leadership and leadership development are the most crucial concepts for army officers, because the military and leadership are virtually inseparable. Leaders are able to set personal examples. They inspire shared vision, and encourage initiative, loyalty, and achievement through effective management of people. Leaders enable others to act (Malone 32).
They move programs ahead and push them to the new perspectives of success. Effective military leaders are change agents. They have inclination toward progress and transformation. Although it might seem that military leaders are completely different from the leaders of other kind, Oren Harari still considers that all of them have much in common. Effective leaders are not always charismatic or flashy. Instead, the most important leadership traits are energy, integrity, honesty, and steadfastness, to mention a few. Successful leaders should embrace a mix of professional will and personal humility. People should respect and follow their leader, however, to have a respect, the leader should have impressive skills and experience (to be competent), should have values and stand for something (to have a character).
The effective military leader should be courageous, as he needs to take principled stands and never back down. Military leader should be loyal to his subordinates and to the mission (Kolenda 112), should exude optimism and confidence about the future and successful outcomes, should display sacrifice for the good of the task involved, should show selflessness and be empathetic toward people. All these traits are very important for the military officer, because the military officer acts in a rapidly changing environment of military conflict. As far as military conflict involves a condition of absolute violence, that is the unpredictable environment in which a military officer need function effectively, leadership traits facilitate this functioning (Malone 117).
The Business plan on Effective Leader Leadership Ernsberger Section
Leadership: It is not for the Faint of Heart This article is actually a speech that was given by Mark Ernsberger who is also President and CEO of Farr Associates. This organization is a "leadership and organizational consulting firm." His speech was articulate, easy to follow, and well organized. In his speech, Ernsberger describes the qualities and skills he believes are essential to becoming an ...
Teaching how to lead, to draw on others, to find the comfort zone, to customize, and to follow own insights and instincts. Thorough understanding of the leadership practices and principles together with well-shaped leadership skills will provide the basis for directing others. Applied military leadership is action. The leadership vision encourages the military officer to seek responsibility and to take responsibility for actions.
To put it differently, it implies taking the initiative and acting right in the absence of orders, giving correct instructions to subordinates and to continuously inspecting the accomplishment of the task (Kolenda 58).
Effective military leader is able to ensure effective and prompt performance of duty in response to orders. The leader is able to influence the values and beliefs of the soldiers by setting own example, by conducting training, and rewarding behavior supporting professional norms and values. Oren Harari teaches all those simple truths and illustrates them by real-life situations from Collin Powells life. While reading The Leadership Secrets of Collin Powell, the reader gains understanding of leadership competencies, such as teaching and counseling, supervision, decision making, soldier team development, planning, communications, professional ethics, and use of available systems. The author introduces the idea that applying leadership skills in the military, the leader will be able to ensure good discipline in the army, as he will be able to establish and strengthen the norms contributing to discipline (Kolenda 59), to set high but realistic goals in everything that has relation to the success of the leaders unit both in training and war. Being an effective military leader, the officer will be able to analyze the situation when the goals are not accomplished, and to select appropriate course of action to correct the situation.
The Essay on Alexander The Great Military Leader
Alexander the Great was a great military leader for many reasons. His life was filled with events that would provide him with valuable experience. The people with whom he was close while growing up urged him to try his hardest, and this also contributed to his great leadership. In the following paper, I will explain how Alexander? s parents and education, among other things, helped him to gain the ...
All these truths are illustrated by Colin Powell’s leadership tenets. While reading the book, the reader understands that the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell can be called one of the best and the most effective leaders. Discovering Powells emphasis on integrity, loyalty, high energy drive, and the drive to get the things done, the reader understands that leaders are made, not born, and that leadership obviously can be learned. Thorough understanding of leadership techniques combined with insight into well-honed leadership skills make the book a winning combination. This book definitely adds to the military officers’ knowledge, which is the basis of skill development.
The reading will help them to expand their knowledge and skills in the most critical core capability, namely military leadership. Using Collin Powell as an example, Oren Harari encourages military officers to think about leadership in one’s personal self-development program, inspiring the thought that only through a consistent and life-long study of leadership theory and practice military officer can learn effective leadership skills to meet his or her primary obligation, namely, to be the effective leaders and, by continually improving ones professional skills, knowledge and attitudes as leaders, to be the best and most valuable asset possible to the military forces. Works Cited Harari, Oren. The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell. McGraw-Hill, 2002. Kolenda, Christopher. Leadership: The Warriors Art.
Carlisle: The Army War College Foundation Press, 2001 . Malone, Dandridge. Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach. Novato: Presidio Press, 1983..
