As a newly commissioned officer in the ADF, I was full of untested confidence.
Quickly I realised that I had begun a life long journey to become a leader that others would want to follow.
I have never stopped learning and studying the demanding and sometimes torturous path of improving my leadership skills.
There are mountains of books on leadership, dozens of theories, well researched and academically valid, and hundreds of high profile leadership courses.
Despite that, we are still faced with a leadership deficit – self-centred, under-developed leaders, disengaged members, toxic behaviour at all levels and failed strategies.
One of the best leadership lessons I ever received came from my Warrant Officer, a senior non-commissioned officer and a 23 year veteran of Korea and Vietnam. He was old enough to be my father.
We had just finished a difficult day on a tactical exercise and the two of us were sitting around the fire.
Earlier we had succeeded in achieving our objective for the day, but at one stage I had become angry with a group of soldiers and ‘pulled rank’ to get them to complete their task. They had complied, for fear of military discipline.
My Warrant Officer asked me “Sir, how do you think it went today?”
I said “We did it and I’m proud of them.”
He asked “If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?”
I thought for a moment and said “Not much really”.
He smiled and asked “Yes, and do you think the men appreciated your leadership?”
I remembered my angry moment and suddenly felt unsure.
“Give me your message” I responded, waiting for an admonishment from a man whom I deeply admired and respected.
He began “Sir, we have the finest soldiers on the planet and they deserve the best leadership we can give them.”
He paused. I remained silent, waiting.
He asked “Did you need to ‘pull rank’ today?”
Feeling defensive I said “Well, we made it happen didn’t we?”
Calmly looking into the fire he said “Yes Sir, we did, and how do you think they feel about your manner?”
I responded “I know they didn’t like it, but they did it.”
He asked “What would have happened if you had reminded them how much they’d already achieved, how close we were to the objective and just needed that extra effort and they’d nail it?”
I was silent.
He went on, noticing my reflection “Sir, I’ve learned that leaders need heart, guts and smarts. Heart to show they care; guts to do the difficult and dangerous and smarts to deal with the chaos. The smarts include staying calm and centred whilst s--t happens, because if you aren’t calm and centred you can’t access your smarts and you could lose your men.”
I’ve never forgotten that lesson and will always strive to practice it.
What do you think?
