Leadership Styles 10/4/17

Leadership Styles* During the Mission Command Workshop next week attendees will see excerpts from the film "12'O Clock High." Many of you know that MG Hughes is a fan of the film because it portrays many of the styles of leadership Daniel Goleman describes in his book "Leadership that Gets Results." The last two weeks we covered visionary and coaching but the others are; affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and coercive. In the film the protagonist BG Savage, played by Gregory Peck, primarily uses the coercive style to "shock" the 918th Bomber Group away from a focus on themselves and back to the mission; fighting the Luftwaffe. However, he also affectively uses the pacesetting, authoritative and visionary styles to win over many of the formal and informal leaders within the organization. Many of you may remember the film from CGSCOC or ILE, it was part of the leadership block, however that instruction stopped short of all the lessons the film can teach. The film effectively portrays how a leader can use many different styles of leadership to powerfully influence followers and achieve stunning results. Though much in this old B&W film is from another time/place the lessons it teaches are just as vital to leaders today. The ability to use a variety of styles can empower leaders to accomplish great things. Army Leadership Doctrine: ADRP 6-22, Mission Command Philosophy is an extension of the Army Operating Concept and is focused on the leader. Leadership is key to all the Army does. Paragraphs 1-1 to 1-31 describe the elements of leadership that form the foundation of the Army model. This model is only unique in the sense that it is specifically focused on the Army context, however the principals of good leadership apply in all settings. The movie "12 O'clock High" is available on youtube, itunes, Amazon and many other sources. *This is a personal reflection based on my own experience. Please feel free to respond to with your own observations. ** For a religious thought consider Matthew 20:25 (a short article about this verse is at http://www.lifeway.com/pastors/2016/05/11/3-essential-leadership-lessons-from-jesus/). For a human/spiritual perspective (non-theistic) once more let me mention "A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World" by Daniel Goleman.