Posted on Dec 22, 2014
What skills must the most senior military leaders have?
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A recent discussion about senior leaders from another thread with my good friend and mentor COL (Join to see) got me thinking. As we consider the most senior executives in the military or corporate America, what skills are most important to have at that level? When considering the service Chiefs or Senior Enlisted Advisors, they may be the best operational leaders ever, but what good does it do the entire force if they don’t have the strategic vision to look 5-10+ years into the horizon to anticipate the needs of the force? Even more importantly, what good is that vision if you can’t sell those ideas to the American public & key leaders such as the SECDEF, POTUS, and Congress in order to fund that vision? As it relates to corporate America, the pedigree of many CEOs is varied from a sales foundation, to engineering, to R&D, accounting, operations or other disciplines. In corporate America, as with many senior military leaders, they typically worry about the outward facing issues of a company while their senior operations folks worry about the day-to-day blocking and tackling (or “top down stuff”).
Given this background, what skills do you think are MOST necessary at the senior levels of the military, and do you think we do a good job of breeding leaders with those skills? Also, food for thought - what leaders do you think did the best job as strategic thinkers, and why?
Comment to vote on one of the following options!:
Given this background, what skills do you think are MOST necessary at the senior levels of the military, and do you think we do a good job of breeding leaders with those skills? Also, food for thought - what leaders do you think did the best job as strategic thinkers, and why?
Comment to vote on one of the following options!:
Posted in these groups: 
Leadership
Senior Leaders
Leadership Senior Leaders
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 16
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The ability to LISTEN. Once you cut off the input from others in your command, you are truly "An Army of One." We all know how short lived that slogan was.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
SFC Mark Merino, couldn't have said it better, how important is a two conversation with your subordinates. It speaks volumes and reap many awards(dialogue).
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1SG Michael Blount
SFC Mark Merino - If I may amplify -- don't listen to the commanders in your command; listen to the Soldiers
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SFC Richard Giles
SFC Mark Merino, In my opinion you are 110% correct. But if I can add something to your answer...... What you do with the info you received from listening is just as important as well. Strictly my opinion.
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The most important aspect in my view is a leader who can look forward including 2nd and 3rd order effects of a policy or decision. Now, I am former enlisted and a combat engineer, but with the exception of knowing what it is like to be an E-3, I need to put that in the past and let company and battalion commanders worry about the tactical level stuff. Otherwise, we get to the old syndrome of the general who hovers above the battlefield directing platoon firefights.
A senior leader rarely gets there without going through all the leadership steps successfully and gets an advanced education through one of the War Colleges at a minimum and typically has got another Masters on their own. However, it is the ability to take all the tactical and operational background and apply that to strategic problems in order for the senior leader to be effective.
Should we forward deploy troops to a theater to be ready and demonstrate commitment or keep them CONUS based to apply them to any problem? Should the military participate in humanitarian operations in order to expand their skillsets beyond warfighting or keep training at NTC/ Red Flag in order to master kinetic skills? How do we balance men vs. machines in budgets? Those are the hard questions that you need a senior leader who can see across their entire service and even the entire joint interagency environment to create the right solution. Remember that few senior leaders will be around long enough to actually see the fruits of their decisions so they must be done with the most altruistic intent.
A senior leader rarely gets there without going through all the leadership steps successfully and gets an advanced education through one of the War Colleges at a minimum and typically has got another Masters on their own. However, it is the ability to take all the tactical and operational background and apply that to strategic problems in order for the senior leader to be effective.
Should we forward deploy troops to a theater to be ready and demonstrate commitment or keep them CONUS based to apply them to any problem? Should the military participate in humanitarian operations in order to expand their skillsets beyond warfighting or keep training at NTC/ Red Flag in order to master kinetic skills? How do we balance men vs. machines in budgets? Those are the hard questions that you need a senior leader who can see across their entire service and even the entire joint interagency environment to create the right solution. Remember that few senior leaders will be around long enough to actually see the fruits of their decisions so they must be done with the most altruistic intent.
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COL (Join to see)
Very well put Sir. Beyond company command, prior enlisted service merely serves as reminder that your decisions have said effect on real troops who will carry out your orders. Do you have any input as to the which skills in specifc (aside from vision which you mentioned) are most critical for you in your current and future roles?
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MAJ (Join to see)
Sir: I didn't answer the survey question on this initial post, as the best answer would have been an "all of the above." Our senior leaders need to be well-rounded: tactical and operational experience; support and staff experience; and scholarly/academic experience. The academic experience perhaps is too often overlooked or undervalued until later in a career path, by officers, senior leaders, and the Services. As our senior-most leaders will be functioning at high levels in the Interagency, they need to have respectable academic backgrounds to be credible, and to process the politics and policies, and their 2nd and 3rd order effects. From what I've seen of our senior-most leaders, DoD seems to have gotten this part about right; as you mention, all senior leaders will have at least a masters degree from a war college, and most will have another masters degree on top of that. I'd suggest that increasing advanced civil schooling opportunities for more junior ranks (O-3 to O-5) could help provide our senior company grade and junior field grade officer populations the academic perspectives required for the Interagency environment, in which we more and more find ourselves operating.
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BG (Join to see)
@MAJ Rahman - Things I remember from being a PFC are how whispers from a General's lips can cause unattended consequences, such as showing up at the Parade Field six hours early as every level adds on their own safety buffer. Also, the time spent spit-shining boots - if that is how a senior leader judges their troops, then they aren't looking under the engine to understand how things are really running!
@MAJ Jager - On AD, the military will commonly send you to advanced schooling or you can arrange for a school local to CGSG/ILE to give you credit for that course and add on to earn your Masters. For RC, you may want to seek out an employer who will at least supplement if not wholly pay for an advanced degree. Of course, this is harder since you are also working, but it will prove your mettle as well as educate you. If you can't figure out that kind of time management, you are unlikely to survive a senior level command position.
@MAJ Jager - On AD, the military will commonly send you to advanced schooling or you can arrange for a school local to CGSG/ILE to give you credit for that course and add on to earn your Masters. For RC, you may want to seek out an employer who will at least supplement if not wholly pay for an advanced degree. Of course, this is harder since you are also working, but it will prove your mettle as well as educate you. If you can't figure out that kind of time management, you are unlikely to survive a senior level command position.
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While there is a need for Senior Level Commanders to be well rounded, they need a combat arms or other operational leadership experience.
I think we do a good job in most cases of selecting and promoting these leaders. There are always exceptions.
A large consideration is the ability to factor in what Senior Enlisted (Sergeant Major of the Army, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard) have to say and that must be coupled with what the Senior Warrant Officer Community presents as well.
Political considerations should be devoid from the thinking, planning, and execution of strategy. While this is at least somewhat naïve, the Service Secretary is the person with political interests in mind.
General Anthony Zinni, USMC Retired was a superb strategic thinker who was later a special envoy in the development of peace in the Middle East. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was also a superb strategic thinker who fashioned a coalition and gained the support of our allies in World War II. Finally, General Collin Powell was a superb strategic thinker who was later appointed Secretary of State. All of these General Officers have at least one trait in common, the knowledge and ability to work with others both internal and external to the United States Military.
I think we do a good job in most cases of selecting and promoting these leaders. There are always exceptions.
A large consideration is the ability to factor in what Senior Enlisted (Sergeant Major of the Army, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard) have to say and that must be coupled with what the Senior Warrant Officer Community presents as well.
Political considerations should be devoid from the thinking, planning, and execution of strategy. While this is at least somewhat naïve, the Service Secretary is the person with political interests in mind.
General Anthony Zinni, USMC Retired was a superb strategic thinker who was later a special envoy in the development of peace in the Middle East. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was also a superb strategic thinker who fashioned a coalition and gained the support of our allies in World War II. Finally, General Collin Powell was a superb strategic thinker who was later appointed Secretary of State. All of these General Officers have at least one trait in common, the knowledge and ability to work with others both internal and external to the United States Military.
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1SG Michael Blount
I would argue the most important skill should be communication. Tell the troops what you want done (not how), and we'll do it. That said, trusting troops to do the right thing ranks right up there with communication. If there's one thing I hate is being micromanaged by somebody miles away from events on the ground, looking at a events via Power Point
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