Memorial Day Kindles Lessons From Ex-Military Leaders
Memorial Day commemorations reminded me that serving as a wartime leader must be one of the most difficult things anyone can do—the ultimate crisis leadership. In 2019, Forbes published an article with eight leadership lessons from senior military leaders, their education based on lessons learned by the generations of leaders who preceded them.
The contributors included a former Secretary of the Air Force, four former Army generals (two served as the Army’s surgeon general), and three retired Navy admirals. These were the headlines:
Embrace change by asking questions with an open mind.
Leaders lead with empathy.
Leaders are connectors.
Don’t take purpose for granted.
Inclusiveness is key to solving complex problems.
Leadership is focusing not just on results, but how you get those results.
A strong culture requires a servant’s heart, good bedside manner, and the Socratic method.
Building a team requires trust and communication.
Interestingly, most of their thoughts align with concepts of conscious leadership that I embrace, so here are those eight lessons in the terms I’d use:
Make sure everyone’s voice is heard—sometimes a reluctant voice has the most powerful message.
Try to engage with other’s emotions, thoughts, and/or feelings—which could include not putting a spotlight on that reluctant speaker in No. 1, but finding a way to comfortably hear their message.
Bringing the right elements together is why, so often, the whole exceeds the sum of its parts.
Make sure everyone is focused on both the mission and the others on the team and their strengths.
Everyone has a unique set of skills, knowledge, and experience, so harness that collection to discover the things that someone working alone might miss.
Hitting a short-term goal by sacrificing long-term success is a poor exchange.
Be kind, be caring, be willing to question everything to discover the innate truth.
Be confident in your teammates—they were chosen because of their skills, so let them use them.
One last Memorial Day thought: There’s a meme that returns at this time of year that sticks with me. It shows two beach scenes. One is a recent photo of a crowded vacation beach. The other is World War II photo of soldiers on an invasion beach. They’re captioned, “Your day at the beach was brought to you by their day at the beach.”