What Do You Expect From a General Officer?

Congratulations on your promotion. I think that the biggest thing that any leader can do is exhibit loyalty down the chain of command as well as up it. Some years after getting out of the Marines it finally hit me what Sun Tzu meant when he said "Treat your soldiers as your children and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Treat them as your own beloved sons and they will follow you unto death. " If I had been smart enough to understand that when I was in, maybe I could have been a better Marine.

Congratulations on your promotion to flag rank, sir. The very fact that you are soliciting input from Rally Point shows one of the leadership traits that I admire most in a general officer.

In my experience leaders, in or out of the military, are those who do not micromanage, listen to input from subordinates, as referred above, setting the example as mentioned by some others like running PT with your soldiers, being visible and leading from the front, having a sense of humor, and being inspirational. Also be fair, firm, consistent, yet supportive to soldiers who are struggling with professional or personal issues.

I'm sure you heard these principles many times and practice them as well as many other principles. These are the ones that seem most important to me, sir.

Once again congratulations; thanks for your service and for reaching out on Rally Point, sir!

I like GOs who "know themselves" and "know the processes." Specifically, knowing oneself helps the staff -- are you into the nitnoid details or a big picture guy who doesn't want to deal with them? If the former, what steps can you take to provide mission command vice micromanaging? If the latter, what steps are you taking to sit down and let your staff talk details when they need details?

Knowing the processes: just because a general (or a commander at any level) says, "make it so!" doesn't mean solutions happen overnight. Usually, the bigger the change, the longer the process -- GOs who are annoyed that their guidance hasn't been acted upon are certainly within rights to do so ... but if they don't understand the process requirements, their staff stops telling them the truth about how things are going.

Lastly, have consistent messages. Please don't tell a crowd (GO/subordinate/ adjacent/supported units) what they want to hear. That leads to groups having different messages, and then working against each other -- but all in pursuit of your guidance. Again, here, this creates loss of faith in the leader (Leader is going to tell us whatever we want, but s/he'll change the tune as soon as an opposite argument is presented).

Integrity, willingness to do the right thing despite the consequences. Someone who trusts their subordinates to do their job, but also constantly observes the command to ensure poor leadership and roadblocks are not getting in the way of the mission. Someone who puts the welfare of their servicemembers first, will listen and take to heart the ideas and opinions from the lowest levels, and who holds people accountable for their actions.

BG (Join to see) Sir, The only thing I need to know from you is what you need from me. A clear end goal that the lowest enlisted can get behind. Not the details, just the goal. When I was in Iraq Gen Petraeus said were were going to stand up the Iraqi Police so that they could police their own people and bring stability back to Iraq. It was a great goal and I got behind it whole heartily.

Continue to drive in that direction and work hard toward canvassing the Soldiers and families for concerns. Always get back with those you have canvass via star notes, feedback, etc. Ensure your personal staff performs to your standards, high standards that represent professionalism, intense coordination and preparatory work for your visits regionally, nationally and internationally. Build a strong cohort of fellow GOs, engage them professionally and socially, solicit their input and sage advice. Have fun

Sir,
I have worked for two GO's and I learned something quickly. Soldiers of every rank are terrified of y'all. I mean they act like you are a unicorn with magic powers that has to get what he wants. I had a job that involed me to say no to the GO. But after the first terrifying time of saying it, I learned that he appreciated the fact that I said it.

So basically my advice would be to listen to your Soldiers. You obviously don't have to do everything they recommend. But you will have several experts giving you advise that when followed will make the mission happen. You will have the other side as well. You will have yes men. Who want to get what you say done even if it is totally unachieveable.

Sir, as a PAO, my expectations come from the perspective of the Special Staff. I expect a GO to listen to me and not presume they know what the PAO does. If the PAO offers resistance to your idea, it is with good reason. Public Affairs mistakes often have high visibility consequences. Finally, I expect a GO to know that "No Comment" is not an acceptable response to the media.

I hope this helps.

Sir: As we all came through the ranks, especially as officers, we learned that there are no casual conversations when talking with General Officers....because basically their time is to valuable and to limited in a 24 hour period, for a casual conversation. If you want feedback from the soldiers, you'll probably need to do it in a very small setting....say squad or section level, and you'll need to start off the conversation by discussing the topic you are looking for feedback on and then ask some pointed questions from each of the soldiers. An example: You discuss with the small group some of the changes that may occur with the Army's Retirement Program......then you ask a couple soldiers, what things they might change in the retirement program if they were the decision maker.....what things appeal to them with the new retirement plan?......what things don't? But most importantly, the soldiers need to understand that you are genuine in your line of questioning and that your intent in getting their feedback is because you are going to do something with it....and they need to know what that something is.....improve life support, provide understanding of the soldiers plight to higher level decision makers, or just to better understand what motivates soldiers and what may stress them.

Having worked directly for several GOs in the past.....one of the biggest things is that you have to be "seen" by the troops! For a GO, its very easy to get bogged down in the bureacracy of leadership and tied up with decision making responsiblities on a day-to-day basis, but you need to set aside time on your calendar to get out from behind the computer or briefings in the conference room and go walk through the halls, through the "cube farms", in the motor-pools, etc... and be "seen" and engaged with the team. When I worked for Marine Corps Systems Command many years ago, I turned to walk out of my cubical and nearly knocked over the CG, MG Mutter, as she was taking a Friday afternoon walk about through the Headquarters. She took the time to talk with me about my job and what I thought some of the challenges were associated with my job in working to support Marines in the field....she took 15 minutes having a one-on-one discussion with me.....that's a considerable amount of time when you consider her work day.....and I appreciated her more for taking that time to engage me and hear what I had to say.

Good luck Sir, hope this was helpful.

Sir I can't begin to say how awesome it is that you are soliciting these comments. Your openess is appreciated. Working at Division I tend to run into the CG and the DCG on a near daily basis. One thing I've noticed is the fact that they acknowledge the people they come across. It goes a long way into making them seem more approachable. The private you acknowledge will see that he or she is noticed.

-V/r