One of my father’s greatest aspirations for himself, those he loves, and certainly those he commanded during his military career was for each of us to be good leaders. By that he doesn’t necessarily mean that we should all be bosses or we should seek to be the only power in a situation. He raised me to understand that leadership means being an individual who sets a good example. Someone who learns from what has happened in history and who is highly attuned to what is happening in the present. Leaders take a measure of their surroundings and of events beyond those surroundings, making informed choices with that knowledge. They plan and intend for those choices to benefit their team and others seeking the same goals. When one is really exemplary, that leader’s presence is felt even though he or she may not be standing right next to you. Leadership has to do with imprinting who you are on others so they can follow suit when the time comes for them to make wise choices too.
My father was inspired by many wonderful leaders throughout his career. He encountered some while in the field and had the occasion to meet others during his time at the Pentagon. A particularly proud moment for him was meeting General French of the VII Corps. The general paid my dad an eagerly received compliment during a chance meeting one day. My father was getting ready to return to Vietnam on assignment when French stopped him and asked, “Are you the Signal Corps operations officer?” My dad replied, “Yes,” and told the general that he had also done some work for the Civil Corps division. French said, “We have never had communications like this before. Keep up the good work.” My father thanked him, told him he was on his way back to Vietnam, and saluted him before boarding his waiting plane. My father was stationed for twenty-three months in Stuttgart, Germany, between his two tours of duty in Vietnam. As an example of the kinds of strides he made for the Corps there, he once caught some serious errors in the placement of signals on a collapsed bridge near a major waterway during a practice maneuver that could have proven catastrophic if those signals had been positioned that way in a live combat situation. When he pointed the errors out and acted quickly to rectify the problem, he impressed the higher-ups. The wrong placement had either escaped the notice of those running the exercises or was not thought through correctly. While the general was not present for the exercise, it was comfort and encouragement for my dad to know that the general was receiving reports and that corrections in the field could be relayed and made so none of our troops would be endangered by our Signal Corps’ own omissions or errors. My father has said at that time the VII Corps group was as good a general’s group as he’d ever known because the general was a very hands-on kind of person. He knew the performance of his major units for sure.
My father also admired one of his contemporaries: Colin Powell, whom we all know went on to become a four-star general, the twelfth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secretary of state, and an overall statesman. As my father has said, “It was the perception of everyone around him that General Powell would never go into a situation undermanned. He carefully assessed what he needed and secured the resources that would best support his people and his mission. He is someone who understood force-structure. He honed in on the demands of whatever region or terrain we were in at the time, and assembled the best assets for the operation. Then he maintained that force structure in such a way as to keep it primed and ready for use whenever it was needed.” My father respected him for this and much more.
GENERALLY SPEAKING
Every amazing parent I know hopes to raise their children to make good decisions in their absence. Imprinting them with the capability to do this is true leadership. All the great bosses I’ve worked for have also wanted to impart wisdom to their staff for the same reason—so that we would make smart choices when they weren’t around or when they delegated responsibility to us. Imprinting our employees with the capability to do this is also true leadership. Thinking like a general—aka modeling successful behavior—is on my list of rules to live by because sometimes, when we are faced with challenges, we need to look around and draw from the examples of others even more practiced at being successful than we are. These people are the generals in our lives. We are all lucky to have them in our midst, but we also must remember that we are each capable of being a general ourselves.
TAKING CHARGE
When I was seven years old I rode around all of Fort Leavenworth on my purple bicycle. I still needed training wheels and an adult at my side, but good luck trying to keep up with me! My teddy bear Jennie sat in the front basket as we made our way past the museum, the chapels, and the vast burial grounds—one of the twelve original national cemeteries established by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. More than thirty thousand veterans and their loved ones are buried there. Among them are Captain Thomas Ward Custer—a double Congressional Medal of Honor recipient—and Major General Edward Hatch, an officer with the Union Army during the Civil War who later became the first commander of the 9th US Cavalry Regiment. As some of you history buffs may know, that was the first regiment of black enlisted men. The second such regiment, the 10th Cavalry, was constituted at Leavenworth in 1866. In that big cemetery you can also find the oldest known US military grave, that of Captain James Allen, of the 1st US Dragoons. And, of course, after some movement, the remains of Brigadier General Henry Leavenworth, the fort’s namesake, have been laid to rest there as well.
The place is steeped in history and is the ideal setting to groom promising young men and women into future top military brass. In fact, we were stationed in Leavenworth, Kansas, because my father was one of those future leaders studying at the US Army Command and General Staff College, originally known as the School of Application for Infantry and Cavalry when it was established by General William T. Sherman in 1881. Among the school’s many famous graduates were General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General George S. Patton.
It was common for me to see high-ranking officers being driven around in jeeps during the day and just as common for me to hear my dad talking about the traits that distinguished them from others at our dinner table each night. My father would say every great general knows the job and role of each rank he leads. That’s how he gains their respect. He looks them in the eye and says, “I get you,” and he means it. It’s why when he then says, “Now go follow my orders,” they do.
My dad would also tell my mother and me, “Generals like accountability. They don’t shrink from it.” One of the generals he taught me about was Henry Leavenworth, the man who not only built our post, but several others throughout the western United States. He was known for having led infantrymen into decisive battles in the War of 1812 and beyond.
Recalling these mealtime lessons led me in more recent years to enjoy reading about different military leaders and to speak about them when I give motivational talks to the public or to employees of large corporations. I now tell audiences that generals such as Leavenworth knew that our biggest advantage in almost every situation is to have a weapon no one can see—a toughness of mind that the enemy cannot track or predict. Such generals are able to spot the strength of their own forces and delegate accordingly so their time and energy is better spent strategizing. They are aware that, over time, stress and emotional drama weakens one’s ability to focus and win, so they remove those obstacles from their lives as best they can. In more current terms, I tell audiences that thinking like a general is all about protecting your personal bandwidth—your brain and your physical energy combined. This is important because generals need to learn more than they think they will ever have to know, so that extra knowledge gives them an edge over their adversaries when the time arises.
It was during dinners at Fort Leavenworth and while riding around its beautiful grounds, soaking in all the lore about our military leaders, that this rule first took shape. My parents’ words and actions, coupled with these warriors’ stories, had imprinted the value of being a leader on me and I knew it had to be distilled down into a message we could all remember.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
When contemplating how to best illustrate examples of applied leadership in this chapter, I realized that I should probably show you rather than tell you how great generals think. So I invited one of the most impressive people I know to help me. General Jack Keane is a retired four-star general and former vice chief of staff of the United States Army. He was a key architect of the surge strategy that changed the way the United States fought the war in Iraq. He is also a national security strategist serving as chairman of the board at the Institute for the Study of War. Many of you know him as a media consultant and frequent contributor to Fox News, which is how I was fortunate enough to meet him. He graciously agreed to be interviewed for this book and I am grateful that he did. My seven-year-old self only imagined conversations with generals in her head. This talk was very real and was intended to focus on the ways lessons from his career could help you on your journey to success, whatever your field may be.
I was curious about when and why General Keane joined the Army, so that is where the conversation began.
“I came into the military at age twenty-three,” he told me. “I really should have joined at twenty-one but it took me six years to get through Fordham University. My father passed away right after my sophomore year, so I had to leave twice and come back. Fordham staff wanted me to attend night school, but I found out I could only stay in ROTC if I was a day student. We were a working-class family, so I took classes whenever I could, held a part-time job initially, and then during my last two years, I worked 4:00 P.M. to midnight in the Wall Street area.”
Knowing what I did about a leader’s determined disposition, it didn’t surprise me that General Keane marked his foray into service by overcoming obstacles. I also came to understand that core values were imprinted on him by family at a young age too.
He told me, “My father was a World War II marine and all the men in the family that I grew up with who were military-age served during the war. Every service was represented. No one had been an officer—or for that matter, no one was a college graduate. And no one had ever made it a career. But there was a powerful sense—and I don’t think this was unique to them—of serving the country in times of need. To a person, they knew they had participated in something that was truly crucial to the country. There’s never been an event like World War II in the history of mankind. One hundred million people were killed as a result of that experience in the Pacific and in the Atlantic. So it was something that defined the world at the time and the men in my family participated in it. It was something of a defining lifetime experience for many of those men. So not that we spent a lot of time talking about it, but there was always a prevalent attitude that encouraged doing what was right for the country.”
What he said next was fascinating to me.
“I also had sixteen years of a Catholic education, culminating at Fordham, which is a Jesuit school. I often joke with my military friends—officers who are largely non-Catholic—that after sixteen years of Catholic education, the transition to the Army was a smooth one. While Fordham was an intellectual crucible, because it follows the rigorous Jesuit curriculum and methodology, there was always an undercurrent of service to others in that Jesuit experience, so I think that was a factor in terms of its impact on me as well.
“I was drawn to the military because the idea of serving the country had tremendous appeal to me, but I didn’t know for certain whether I had the aptitude for it. Nobody truly does unless you submit yourself to it and find out. I also think that a military profession—if you are pursuing it—is kind of akin to a vocation, particularly for those who are in the fighting organizations, because the characteristics it demands are pretty similar to a vocation: Self-sacrifice, service to others, dedication, and discipline.”
He paused, then continued.
“I always thought that serving America as a soldier most of my adult years really defined my life and helped develop the person that I became. I must add that I was also honored and humbled to spend a life among true heroes—people for whom death was always a silent companion.”
I found this answer to be packed with so much meaning in the context of what we have already discussed in this book. Being mentally and spiritually ready enables us to physically take chances to meet our goals. I also think General Keane’s answer reflects the fact that so many successful people think of the work they do as having a larger purpose in life.
Next, I decided to ask him about his decision-making process. All of us will be tasked with making important choices in our lifetime and since generals must do so under even more extreme conditions than we may ever face, I thought his insight could help guide us.
“Well, not too surprisingly,” he said, “the decision-making process around challenging, complicated issues always involves tough choices because there are no easy options. Every option is fraught with something that is negative about it. All that said, you do the best that you can based on judgment and experience. But what I found every bit as important as the decision itself was that once I made the decision I never questioned it. I got behind it with all the force and passion of my personality and also with sheer leadership drive, so that the entire enterprise would indeed be committed.
“The reality is, once you make a decision, what you’re really looking for is excellent execution. I found, at least in my experience, that execution is so crucial, it compensates at times for a less than satisfactory decision—or even for a decision that is off the mark.”
I wanted to understand this better and knew you would want to as well, so I asked how he arrived at this strategy.
“My approach, I think, had more to do with who I am and with just learning from your mistakes,” he explained. “I also found that in the decision-making process it’s best not to procrastinate over the difficulty of the decision because it’s not going to get any easier. The negative aspects of all the options are not really going to change very much. Particularly in the world that we’re involved in with the military, if your staff or other commanders are bringing you options that are well thought out—and I’m assuming that they are—usually the sooner you make a decision, the better. The process does demand a degree of decisiveness. That allows the entire team—the organization—to be able to prepare, rehearse, and devote a large amount of their time to getting ready as opposed to devoting most of their time to just making the decision.”
Because the general has worked outside of the military for a number of years now, I asked if he could tell us what skills or attributes a general possesses that could benefit a civilian striving for success in their career. It is a complicated question, so he responded with a few welcome answers.
“I think success begins with knowing yourself and being honest with yourself about your own limitations and weaknesses. That’s where I would start.
“Second, you need to have absolute competence in your craft.
“And I think a third attribute is having passion for what you do because passion is very contagious and it can help motivate and inspire others.”
He continued, “In the military what makes us different—not necessarily special, but different—is that the mission always comes first and we have to accomplish it despite the obstacles and the impediments that are present. So I find that there’s another attribute that stands out among all others, as it applies to the military or a civilian profession: Perseverance.
“You know for us, no matter how challenging the mission is, we have to have the tough-mindedness to succeed even at the expense of our troops and ourselves. There is no second place. It truly is who we are. I will say that when I’m critical of other leaders it’s usually because they don’t persevere through all the obstacles and impediments. Perseverance is essential to succeed consistently.”
While I was aware of the general’s impeccable record, I wondered if there were any examples of wartime mistakes he felt he had made, and if so, how he dealt with those mistakes. I appreciated his forthright answer.
“Well, let me tell you about one where we were actually involved in combat,” he began. “It’s during the Vietnam War and I’m a platoon leader in what they call airborne infantry—a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. So we were infantry paratroopers. And I have very good soldiers and very good sergeants. At times they were so brave I had to hold them back so that we wouldn’t overextend ourselves. But nonetheless, I’m in this unit x number of weeks—I forget exactly how long but it was several weeks—and my routine would be to try to ambush as many nights as I possibly could in a seven-day week. In other words, we would lay in wait for the enemy to come down a trail and we would ambush that enemy at night. We’d surprise them. We had a couple of successes in those weeks. Most of the time you stay there and nobody comes so you have to have the discipline to continue to do this. But one night when the enemy did come, we had an awful experience. While we took the enemy by surprise, myself and a couple of leaders were in what we call the kill zone—where the enemy soldiers are now laying—when all of a sudden a grenade went off. I thought initially that it came from the enemy—that they were coming to reinforce the soldiers that we had just fought. But it turned out it was from one of my soldiers who was providing rear security for the ambush position—a soldier who was farther back from where we were. It was absolutely inexplicable that something like that could happen. It wounded a couple of my soldiers, who required medical evacuation. Because that was unacceptable to me, I told my commanders that I was going to train on this for a week.”
I had never heard of such a thing, so I stopped him mid-answer. “How could you do this while you were still in the field?” I asked.
“Well, that’s exactly what they wanted to know. They said, ‘What do you mean train?’ I said, ‘I’m going to find a spot and I’m going to simulate a situation where the enemy is there and I’m going to actually conduct live fire exercises like I would do back at Fort Bragg or some other military base.’ They asked, ‘You’re going to do that in a combat zone?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I’m going to do that in a combat zone.’ I told them that after we did that, I would not stay there because we would have given our positions away. So I practiced that for a week and then I ambushed for twenty-six straight nights after that practice with considerable improvement and success. I learned something in doing that—in having the perseverance to really get it right.”
My natural follow-up was: “What drives that kind of perfectionism?”
“When you’re leading people in combat you can’t help but feel the responsibility—the accountability—you have for their lives,” he told me. “And you know full well that they’re depending on you to get it right for them. Getting it right is making sure they’re properly prepared. If the preparation is right, usually the execution is right. And that execution wasn’t right because the preparation wasn’t right. So that’s what I fixed. And I think it helped me with so many other things that challenged me.”
With a show of leadership like that I couldn’t help but ask if the general thought leaders are born or made.
“I think both answers are correct,” he said. “There are some natural-born leaders, but for most of us it’s a journey of continued growth and development. I was in a leadership laboratory my whole professional life, spanning over forty years including the precommissioning experience. It began in ROTC with learning how to lead your peers. Then it continued as a platoon leader of forty, a company commander of one hundred and fifty, a battalion commander of seven hundred, a brigade commander of five thousand, a division commander of twenty thousand, a corps commander of ninety-six thousand, and then as a four-star general, an army of more than a million troops. That’s an extraordinary journey where the entire experience is so much about your own personal growth and development as a leader. And I was sharing all those experiences with other leaders who were my peers, my superiors, and my subordinates, as I was learning so much from all of them.”
Given all of this growth and development, I was intrigued to know if the general thought that joining the military changed his life trajectory. And if so, how? As with all of the other answers, he responded thoughtfully.
“Well, joining the military profession strengthened the values that I received from my parents and also from my Catholic education experience. Despite the fact that I was in the business school, one of my favorite courses at the university was philosophy. We not only had to minor in that subject but we had to wear black robes to those classes too. By way of explanation, my first Jesuit teacher said, ‘When you come to an intellectual banquet, you come properly attired.’ We were, after all, studying the great philosophers such as St. Thomas Aquinas. But what you’re really doing when you study philosophy is exploring the meaning of life in its most profound understanding of it. We also had to take four years of theology. And, trust me, there was nothing rote about it. But those two courses together were incredibly thought provoking. They expanded my understanding of life. I only mention it in this context because when I got in the Army and I was exposed to war and what that truly means, I found it to be the most human of all experiences. All of your senses, in terms of what is happening to you as a human being, are so raw and so intense as a person—at least they were for me—that it gave me such an appreciation for the meaning and value of life. I intellectualized all of that in my Jesuit educational experience and then I went out and lived it with such intensity and passion in my everyday life. I don’t know—I can’t say what it would have been like if I was doing something else, because obviously I didn’t do something else, but I think the military had a profound impact on who I am, and on my Terry and our kids as well.”
With the mention of his wife and children, I wondered how the military affected the general’s life in other ways, so I asked that too. His answer stirred memories of the dedication I saw run in whole military families, especially in some of the wives who were leaders themselves.
“Well, serving in the military for as long as I did was a defining life experience. I truly loved getting up every day to do it and I felt absolutely blessed to share that entire experience with my wife, Terry, who I married in college. We were able to raise two children who shared in the experience as well.
“It’s very difficult, I think, to meet the sacrifices that a military profession demands of a family if the two adults in the family are not almost equally committed to the life. I was absolutely blessed because Terry loved army life every bit as much as I did. It was her life too. She was extraordinarily devoted to our soldiers, their families, and their welfare. You know, the army really got two people for the price of one because from the time I was a battalion commander—a lieutenant colonel at around thirty-eight years of age—she was intimately involved in helping the organization be better. And then when she became a general officer’s wife, as I commanded a major organization, every day her calendar was chock-full of meetings and experiences. She was actively involved with all the functions on military bases that touched the lives of our families, the soldiers, and us. An officer’s wife didn’t have to do that. Some didn’t want to do that, and that is okay. And it certainly wasn’t easy, especially when you have to move as much as the Army can require you to do. We moved twenty-seven times and she was in charge of it all! And not only that, she shared the same enthusiasm for it. We always, always looked forward to the next assignment.”
I was already amazed by their dedication when the general recalled one more detail about his time in the armed services that really impressed me. I don’t know many other people who could make this same claim. He said, “Terry was the only person who knew this, but when I retired and I had to make a speech, I was looking for a way to convince the people in the audience and the troops on the parade field of how much I was committed to military life, how much passion I had for them, and how much love I had for the experience. I told them the truth: That in all my thirty-eight years I never called in sick—not once. I had a good immune system to be sure, but I also loved getting up every day and getting the job done. Obviously, there were times when I wasn’t feeling that well, but the draw to what I was doing was more powerful than staying at home and attending to myself. That attendance record epitomized how strong my feelings were about the life I was leading.”
The commitment level General Keane exhibited is extraordinary. I mean, think about it: How many days of work have you missed over the course of your career? It led me to ask if he suspected generals tend to think similarly or differently than many of the leaders in industry, politics, and other pursuits outside of the military.
He paused for a moment and said, “That’s an interesting question. Let me just answer it this way. Since I retired I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with leaders in other professions—people in the fields of business, education, medicine, and science. What I’ve observed is that the leaders in those professions have similar challenges to what I experienced. You know, they have to cope with crisis; they are challenged by organizational effectiveness; they have to try to build a competent team; they invariably get involved in very difficult personnel decisions. All of those are things that I have dealt with on a regular basis. The one difference, however, is that the stakes are higher in the military profession in terms of protecting the American people and the national interest. While leaders in other professions also fight to preserve life—they’re certainly doing that in the medical profession—one of our most challenging human experiences in the military profession is the obligation to take lives, and at times in large numbers. This is such a demanding human experience that it requires strong values and a sound moral underpinning that are so central to our American democracy. I think to bear that challenge and to execute it properly can only be done when you actually and ironically have respect for human life. What I’m trying to say is that most of this is not all that different; many organizations have similar characteristics. What we all do is build effective teams. But the nature of our work in the military does separate us from all other professions. It doesn’t make us any more special, but it is different.”
We had time for only one more question, so I asked the general what he thought was missing in the lives of American people today that a military perspective could help with?
“First of all, it’s important to note that the military is a microcosm of America. I mean we are racially, religiously, culturally, economically, and geographically diverse, but for us to be effective, we have to build strong unit cohesion,” he told me. “We have to make certain that our teams are very capable. To do that, every single member of the team has to submit to something larger than self. That’s the military’s key to success. Despite all the differences that we may have, the only way we can succeed as a military organization is to be bound to each other. Our concern for each other has to trump our concern for ourselves. The team and its performance are more important than ourselves.”
Just as I was about to ask for an example, he offered one.
“You know, I was watching the president speak before the American legion the other day when he brought this recipient of the Medal of Honor with him onstage. This man did something that few others have done before him. He threw himself on a grenade to save his teammates. He happened to survive it. Most don’t. But that act is an example of the kind of commitment to others we try to create in our organization. It’s not that to be in a military organization you have to perform such enormous feats of courage. No, that’s not true at all. In fact, we don’t think we’re capable of achieving that. People who do this kind of thing are extraordinary. Nonetheless, an act like that captures and exemplifies what we’re trying to achieve. So here a grenade is tossed at this man’s team and he throws himself instinctively on that grenade without considering the consequences because he knows the team is likely to survive as a result of his action. He doesn’t know whether he’s going to survive or not, but he knows the team will. And that’s the ultimate in terms of unit cohesion and submitting to something larger than oneself. This ideal is crucial to us.
“The other thing I want to say is that the only way you can get people who are as diverse as our folks in the military to perform to such a high standard is to eventually have enormous respect for each other and to actually appreciate the differences. And there’s another thing that goes on that we never really talk about, but all of us who’ve lived it from time to time know it’s there: There’s a lot of love in these organizations. Most of these alpha males are not going to talk about that. Our alpha females are kind of the same way so that discussion is not going to happen. But it’s there.”
I certainly can attest to what the general was saying here. As a brat, I witnessed the kind of deep bonds that formed between service members and certainly between our families.
“What I see happening in America though is that there’s a growing lack of respect and civility for each other, which translates into how we’re treating each other,” he continued. “People in the military don’t act like that. If they do, they’re not going to stay very long. We’re going to try to find ways to bring them around if we can, or we will get rid of them. I mean, if we have a bigot on our hands, which we really don’t get much of anymore—but if we do and we can’t bring that person around—that person’s going to be separated from the military. With some people, you know, it’s always about themselves—constantly. Those people are so detrimental to our organization that even though they may have mental capacity or some other strong skill sets, if their attitude or behavior doesn’t change, we’ll get rid of them. We won’t give them a dishonorable discharge or anything like that, but we will separate them because it’s so important to us. So I think one of the things happening in America is we seem to respect each other less. We seem to be more uncivil. We seem to be emphasizing our differences in our country more, becoming less tolerant of those differences. That’s something that would destroy a military organization and I do think it is weakening America as a nation.”
As hard a truth as that may be to hear, General Keane’s answer to this question is a call to action to ensure our society’s continued success as well as our own. The rules in this book are a similar call to action.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to have spoken with the general. The history of leadership is more than facts and dates; it’s personal stories of confidence and perseverance, inspiration, training, readiness, sound strategy, wise allocation of resources, and facing failure as responsibly as victory. General Keane has endured some of the same life challenges as the rest of us—and then some, for sure. His observations along the way prove that leadership is not a destination; it’s a process. It’s living life as an example, like the child who chooses to be a peacemaker instead of a bully in the schoolyard or the worker who chooses to be a change-maker instead of a critic. In time, those who make choices with forethought and integrity will find themselves in a position of power, motivating others to collectively strive toward the achievement of important goals. They will make mistakes. They will win and they will lose. They will lead some on missions who will flourish under their guidance and they will be saddened to see others fall by the wayside because of these others’ own unattended demons. But with steady and determined effort, they will continue to grow, develop, and evolve as leaders. You can continue to grow and evolve as leaders.
EARNING YOUR STRIPES AND STARS
It takes years of experience and education to truly think like the best leaders in our armed services, but I’m certain that General Keane’s words and a few of the following exercises will get you started.
Take a moment to assess your responses to various situations. Are you someone who stands back for a second to look at the bigger picture? Do you gather the facts before acting? Or are you someone who rushes in impulsively and thinks about the repercussions of that action later?
The best generals are several steps ahead of events—and certainly of their enemy—because they are observant at all times and think through possibilities in advance, so whatever actions they take are premeditated.
Practice your observation skills whenever you enter a room, a new situation, and even places you have been many, many times before. You will be surprised at how much you miss in your own environment day to day. Do this on an ongoing basis to sharpen this skill. And heed all the advice given in the rule “Wear Camo.” Recon is a reflex action for most generals and knowing the best strategy to bring to wherever they may be is their strong suit.
When you face a challenge, what is your usual mode of attack? Do you remember the rule “Devise Your Mission”? Do you just cry, “War!” or do you enter the theater with a calculated, well-drawn plan that you are prepared and committed to execute with everything you’ve got?
By the way, how much have you considered diplomacy? Or the element of surprise? Your plan should have taken into account all the options in advance including plan Bs.
How well do you know your own weaknesses and strengths? Before you delegate anything, also be aware of the weaknesses and strength of those you are relying on for help. How ready and practiced are the special forces you recruited into your life after reading Rule #1? Remember to learn everything you can about your support team, including what they need from you in order to succeed. Then spend your every waking hour growing, developing, and learning more. When you and your forces train mentally, physically, and spiritually for all possible events, then you are more apt to be ready for the unforeseen ones too.
Does all of this sound familiar? It should. “Think Like a General” involves all the tenets of this book, including those not recapped here.
One final word on the subject: Paola Harrell told me about a time when her husband was concerned about his next promotion. He had been working toward his third star and he didn’t know when or if it would happen. She was attending an event one evening with him when they saw a four-star general they hadn’t seen in a while. His name was General William Livsey. He was someone the Harrells had admired for a long time and were grateful to for his support during Ernest’s career. When this general sat down next to Paola at that event, he made a dollar bet with her that Ernest would indeed get his promotion. He knew the capabilities of her husband from the first time he met Ernest at Fort Benning. That was where Ernest had his battalion command. Even though General Livsey had assumed responsibilities in Korea since that time—he was commander in chief of the United Nations Command, commander in chief of the ROK-United States Combined Forces, and commander general of the Eighth United States Army—he still kept an eye on Ernest from afar. The evening of that dollar bet, the general asked, “Are you worried too, Paola?” She said, “Yes, I am.” Then he told her, “Look at my shoulders. What do you see?” She replied, “Four stars.” He then said in a reassuring way, “Generals make generals.” He was good to his word. Ernest was promoted shortly thereafter and didn’t disappoint his mentor either.
Bear this story in mind when you succeed. As you are working to be the best leader possible, be sure to bring others who are leaders up along with you. It’s what generals do. Generals make generals.