Military Leadership Tips Gleaned from the Business WorldSeptember 17, 2010
 Earlier this summer, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, then the top military commander in Afghanistan, and his aides triggered a media storm by off-handedly leveling some scathing criticism about how civilian leaders in Washington, DC, were handling the conflict in Afghanistan. The public relations crisis led to the general’s firing. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Hein for a lack of leadership in keeping the Joint Strike Fighter development on time and on budget. And just last week, the new top military commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, was propelled into the fray surrounding a Florida pastor's threat to burn the Koran on 9/11. Petraeus joined a chorus of U.S. leaders in warning the pastor of the danger to the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan if he followed through with his threat. As the commanding officer in Afghanistan, Petraeus's voice apparently carried the weight needed to change the pastor's mind. These examples underscore how in today’s world, top military brass must tap the same leadership skills valued in business, such as the ability: to manage crises and expectations using public relations; to get more out of people and programs as resources dwindle; and to manage interpersonal rivalries and conflicting visions. Michael Useem, director of Wharton's Center for Leadership and Change Management, suggested two business-related qualities that all military leaders should add to their arsenal. First, at a time of declining or flattening defense budgets, military leaders will have to do more with less. This is the same predicament most businesses face regularly. To best confront the belt-tightening, he suggests that "they all have the functional capabilities that define general management." In other words, military leaders today should be proficient in accounting, finance and marketing in addition to their military skills. The other skill that would be useful, though challenging to exercise in a military environment, is the ability to work with far more ambiguous authority and flatter hierarchies. This is the approach many organizations use today as they move away from a vertical reporting structure with a clear chain of command. Instead, many companies are working in groups that have no clear leader or leadership structure. "These are actually factors that the armed services are concerned with and worried about," said Useem. "Not that business has all the answers and the Armed Services do not, but for the past five to 10 years, leading with ambiguous authority has become very important in businesses." |
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