Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Does this quote from Jim Collins describe most of today’s senior Army leaders?

“The moment a leader allows himself to become the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse.”

Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 9.50.39 AM
Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 9.50.39 AM

“The moment a leader allows himself to become the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse.”

“The moment a leader allows himself to become the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse.”

That’s from Jim Collins’ Good to Great. When I read it, I thought, “Whoa, that describes a lot of senior Army leaders I’ve met. In fact, that’s almost a definition of toxic leadership.” I don’t like that thought. As a patriot, it worries me. As a taxpayer, it bothers me. Nonetheless, I think it is true, and I fear it will get us in trouble one day.

Am I wrong? I hope so.

By the way, Collins adds that, “leadership is about vision. But leadership is equally about creating a climate where the truth is heard and the brutal facts confronted.”

He also observes that, “One of the primary ways to de-motivate people is to ignore the brutal facts of reality.”

What works for good companies also seems to me the thing that works for good military units: “disciplined action, following from disciplined people who exercise disciplined thought.” Of the three, the last is I think the most difficult to find.

Photo Credit: HELENE C. STIKKEL/Wikimedia Commons

 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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