1 Ll 8 RARY tc~ USA CGSC FT LEAVENWORlHJAN
JUL 1 81988
ACCESSim~NO -~~ PORfGSTR ---~~
MILITARY GENIUS
Developing the Intellect and Temperament To Ensure Combat Success
by
Major Harrison Gray Otis
The MacArthur Military Leadership Writing Competition
Command and General Staff Col lege Fort Leavenworth Kansas
13 April 1988
Introduction
For four days the American tank officer had been beaten
In his role as the opposing forces or Red Force commander
perhaps lt was expected that he should lose His combat tanks
were inferior in both quality and quantity to the Blue Force
Time and time again they had out-gunned and out-maneuvered his
Red Force
During the last day of the exercise Blue Force was
directed to conduct a river crossing and seize a bridge-head
Once more the Red Force commander could see that his badly
outnumbered tanks would be ovewhelmed The morale of his
soldiers already low would be shattered
Mentally he reviewed the situation and the topography In
front of his position was the river and the bridge the Blue
Force would have to cross to assault his position His Red
Force tanks were concealed in a deep forested area near the
bank of the river To his rear several hundred meters the
forest yielded to a narrow band of open farm land followed by
another large stand of trees
For the first time the Red Force commander began to see
this terrain as his ally and with a burst of insight he
quickly dispatched a series of orders to reposition his forces
As the last Red Force tanks pulled out to their new
positions the Blue Force appeared quickly crossed the
river and gave chase to the withdrawing Red Force
Obviously Blue Force had caught the opposing force in a
vulnerable position and their commander ordered a rapid pursuit
to make the victory complete
Breaking through the forest and into the farmland the
lead Blue Force tank saw the last opposing force tank retreat
down the road and into the opposite stand of trees Quickly
Blue Force closed the gap between the lead tank and the
retreating Red Force
The Blue Force column was rapidly approaching the
opposite side of the farmland when the first shots were fired
From hidden positions in the treeline to their rear Red
Force gunners killed several of the Blue Force tanks As
the lead Blue Force tanks turned to help the rear of their
column they in turn were brought under fire by additional Red
Force tanks concealed in the stand of trees they had never
reached Surrounded by the Red Force alI Blue Force tanks
were knocked out of action In just a few minutes 1
In a single moment of insight the Red Force commander
had correctly grasped the important terrain features
determined how the enemy would act and visua l ized how he could
position hls forces to ensure victory His ability to envision
the battle and his decisive action quite literally determined
the outcome of the engagement
Essential to his success and the success of al 1 mi I ltary
leaders In combat are those qualities of lnteJ lect and
temperament which determine the outcome of conflicts These
attributes have been referred to as the basis for the
development of what is referred to as military genius
Genius has been defined by Carl von Clausewitz in On War as
11 bullbullbull a very highly developed mental aptitude for a particular
occupationz It is this type of genius that we wil 1 probe to
determine its character and to assess the abi 1ity to d~velop it
in ourselves It is assumed therefore that military genius
is not appl cable only to a few great combat commanders but
that it can be found at all levels of command and ln all of the
combat combat suport and combat service support branches of
the service The purpose of this paper is to explore the means
of developing professional mi lltary genius
Clausewitz noted that those possessed of this genius always
demonstrated two indispensible qualities first an
Intellect that even in the darkest hour retains some
gllmmerings of the inner light which leads to truth and
second the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may
lead3 The first is a quality of the intellect which
Clausewitz called by the French coup doeil or inward eye
The ~econd 1~ a qual lty of temperament summed up by Clausewltz
in one word determination
Clausewltz 1 s Inward eye perhaps most closely approximates
the English deflnltlon of the word lntultlon 1 the faculty1
of knowing without the use of rational processes sharp
insight+ He wrote The man responsible for evaluating the
whole must bring to hls task the quality of intuition that
perceives the truth at every point Otherwise a chaos of
opinions would arise and fatally entangle Judgement What
this task requires in the way of heightened Intellectual gifts
is a sense of unity and a power of judgement raised to a
marvelous pitch of vision which easily grasps and dismisses a
thousand remote possibilities 5 It would be misleading
however to equate this inner light or 1 COUP d 1 oeil 1 with mere
intuition Clausewitz labors to describe this quality of
intellect using phrases such as 1 the quick recognition of
truth 1 ltessentilal facts and ideasgt a 1 comprehensive mlnd 1
and a Skil led intelligence 1 bull In my opinion this is a leader1
of ins 1gh t I ~
The second quality of mi I itary genius determination is
also further defined by Clausewitz He describes as essential
the courage to accept responsibility courage in the face
of a mora 1 danger 7 The i ndi v 1 dua 1 of courageous
determination possesses a presence of mind that deals with the
random unpredictable occurrences of armed confl let and a
~trength of wll 1 which overcome~ any adversity or catastrophic
turn of events To Clausewltz this requires staunchness
character calmness self-control and emotional balance in the
midst of exceptional stress Thls is the decisively
determined leader who wi 11 follow the inner 1ight resolute in
his conviction of final victory
These qualities first of insight to visualize to form a
clear almost spontaneous mental picture of what must be
accomplished and second of determination to decisively act
with courage and a strength of will that assures success are
depleted in many historical accounts of great military leaders
For example in Sun Tzus The Art of War the commentator Tu
Mu states If wise a commander is able to recognize changing
circumstances and acts expedientlyA Early ln Greek history
Xenophon in his Anabasis or the March up Country describes the
tragic assassination of the entire senior leadership of his
lOOOO ~man army Xenophon quickly grasped the essential
actions that had to be accompished in order to save the Greek
force from complete annihilation In numerous incidents which
followed Xenophon quickly perceived the maneuvers of his
enemies and correctly took immediate steps to avoid defeat and
achieve victory At the same time he always retained a
strategic vlslon that guided his decisions toward the Greek
mi li tary objective 10
This sense of lnslght and determination ls exempl lfled by
several American generals in World War II One example is
found ln the German counteroffensive of December 1944 the
Battle of the Bulge which caught US forces total Jy
unprepared The early German success seemed to be the
catastrophic event that Hitler hoped would break up the
Anglo-American al lance Despite the initial losses suffered by
the Americans General Omar Bradley quickly grasped that this
battle was a great opportunity for the al 1 les to seal off and
utterly destroy a significant portion of Germans remaining
mi I itary force
Bradley correctly assessed that the enemy had little
reserve strength and that an encirclement of the entire German
Army west of the Rhine River would hasten the collapse of
Germany and the end of the war Together with other key
generals notably General George S Patton Bradley set In
motion a massive attack into the German Southern flank
Unfortunate l y an attack from the north into the waist of the
bulge to complete the encirclement was not brought to full
fruition This was largely due to an attitude of pessimism
displayed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Whereas Bradley
saw an opportunity for offensive action and military success
Montgomery could only see that the allies had suffered a major
defeat Instead of a bold counter-attack at the enemy s point
of vulnerabil i ty the Field Marshal advocated a cautious
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
Introduction
For four days the American tank officer had been beaten
In his role as the opposing forces or Red Force commander
perhaps lt was expected that he should lose His combat tanks
were inferior in both quality and quantity to the Blue Force
Time and time again they had out-gunned and out-maneuvered his
Red Force
During the last day of the exercise Blue Force was
directed to conduct a river crossing and seize a bridge-head
Once more the Red Force commander could see that his badly
outnumbered tanks would be ovewhelmed The morale of his
soldiers already low would be shattered
Mentally he reviewed the situation and the topography In
front of his position was the river and the bridge the Blue
Force would have to cross to assault his position His Red
Force tanks were concealed in a deep forested area near the
bank of the river To his rear several hundred meters the
forest yielded to a narrow band of open farm land followed by
another large stand of trees
For the first time the Red Force commander began to see
this terrain as his ally and with a burst of insight he
quickly dispatched a series of orders to reposition his forces
As the last Red Force tanks pulled out to their new
positions the Blue Force appeared quickly crossed the
river and gave chase to the withdrawing Red Force
Obviously Blue Force had caught the opposing force in a
vulnerable position and their commander ordered a rapid pursuit
to make the victory complete
Breaking through the forest and into the farmland the
lead Blue Force tank saw the last opposing force tank retreat
down the road and into the opposite stand of trees Quickly
Blue Force closed the gap between the lead tank and the
retreating Red Force
The Blue Force column was rapidly approaching the
opposite side of the farmland when the first shots were fired
From hidden positions in the treeline to their rear Red
Force gunners killed several of the Blue Force tanks As
the lead Blue Force tanks turned to help the rear of their
column they in turn were brought under fire by additional Red
Force tanks concealed in the stand of trees they had never
reached Surrounded by the Red Force alI Blue Force tanks
were knocked out of action In just a few minutes 1
In a single moment of insight the Red Force commander
had correctly grasped the important terrain features
determined how the enemy would act and visua l ized how he could
position hls forces to ensure victory His ability to envision
the battle and his decisive action quite literally determined
the outcome of the engagement
Essential to his success and the success of al 1 mi I ltary
leaders In combat are those qualities of lnteJ lect and
temperament which determine the outcome of conflicts These
attributes have been referred to as the basis for the
development of what is referred to as military genius
Genius has been defined by Carl von Clausewitz in On War as
11 bullbullbull a very highly developed mental aptitude for a particular
occupationz It is this type of genius that we wil 1 probe to
determine its character and to assess the abi 1ity to d~velop it
in ourselves It is assumed therefore that military genius
is not appl cable only to a few great combat commanders but
that it can be found at all levels of command and ln all of the
combat combat suport and combat service support branches of
the service The purpose of this paper is to explore the means
of developing professional mi lltary genius
Clausewitz noted that those possessed of this genius always
demonstrated two indispensible qualities first an
Intellect that even in the darkest hour retains some
gllmmerings of the inner light which leads to truth and
second the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may
lead3 The first is a quality of the intellect which
Clausewitz called by the French coup doeil or inward eye
The ~econd 1~ a qual lty of temperament summed up by Clausewltz
in one word determination
Clausewltz 1 s Inward eye perhaps most closely approximates
the English deflnltlon of the word lntultlon 1 the faculty1
of knowing without the use of rational processes sharp
insight+ He wrote The man responsible for evaluating the
whole must bring to hls task the quality of intuition that
perceives the truth at every point Otherwise a chaos of
opinions would arise and fatally entangle Judgement What
this task requires in the way of heightened Intellectual gifts
is a sense of unity and a power of judgement raised to a
marvelous pitch of vision which easily grasps and dismisses a
thousand remote possibilities 5 It would be misleading
however to equate this inner light or 1 COUP d 1 oeil 1 with mere
intuition Clausewitz labors to describe this quality of
intellect using phrases such as 1 the quick recognition of
truth 1 ltessentilal facts and ideasgt a 1 comprehensive mlnd 1
and a Skil led intelligence 1 bull In my opinion this is a leader1
of ins 1gh t I ~
The second quality of mi I itary genius determination is
also further defined by Clausewitz He describes as essential
the courage to accept responsibility courage in the face
of a mora 1 danger 7 The i ndi v 1 dua 1 of courageous
determination possesses a presence of mind that deals with the
random unpredictable occurrences of armed confl let and a
~trength of wll 1 which overcome~ any adversity or catastrophic
turn of events To Clausewltz this requires staunchness
character calmness self-control and emotional balance in the
midst of exceptional stress Thls is the decisively
determined leader who wi 11 follow the inner 1ight resolute in
his conviction of final victory
These qualities first of insight to visualize to form a
clear almost spontaneous mental picture of what must be
accomplished and second of determination to decisively act
with courage and a strength of will that assures success are
depleted in many historical accounts of great military leaders
For example in Sun Tzus The Art of War the commentator Tu
Mu states If wise a commander is able to recognize changing
circumstances and acts expedientlyA Early ln Greek history
Xenophon in his Anabasis or the March up Country describes the
tragic assassination of the entire senior leadership of his
lOOOO ~man army Xenophon quickly grasped the essential
actions that had to be accompished in order to save the Greek
force from complete annihilation In numerous incidents which
followed Xenophon quickly perceived the maneuvers of his
enemies and correctly took immediate steps to avoid defeat and
achieve victory At the same time he always retained a
strategic vlslon that guided his decisions toward the Greek
mi li tary objective 10
This sense of lnslght and determination ls exempl lfled by
several American generals in World War II One example is
found ln the German counteroffensive of December 1944 the
Battle of the Bulge which caught US forces total Jy
unprepared The early German success seemed to be the
catastrophic event that Hitler hoped would break up the
Anglo-American al lance Despite the initial losses suffered by
the Americans General Omar Bradley quickly grasped that this
battle was a great opportunity for the al 1 les to seal off and
utterly destroy a significant portion of Germans remaining
mi I itary force
Bradley correctly assessed that the enemy had little
reserve strength and that an encirclement of the entire German
Army west of the Rhine River would hasten the collapse of
Germany and the end of the war Together with other key
generals notably General George S Patton Bradley set In
motion a massive attack into the German Southern flank
Unfortunate l y an attack from the north into the waist of the
bulge to complete the encirclement was not brought to full
fruition This was largely due to an attitude of pessimism
displayed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Whereas Bradley
saw an opportunity for offensive action and military success
Montgomery could only see that the allies had suffered a major
defeat Instead of a bold counter-attack at the enemy s point
of vulnerabil i ty the Field Marshal advocated a cautious
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
river and gave chase to the withdrawing Red Force
Obviously Blue Force had caught the opposing force in a
vulnerable position and their commander ordered a rapid pursuit
to make the victory complete
Breaking through the forest and into the farmland the
lead Blue Force tank saw the last opposing force tank retreat
down the road and into the opposite stand of trees Quickly
Blue Force closed the gap between the lead tank and the
retreating Red Force
The Blue Force column was rapidly approaching the
opposite side of the farmland when the first shots were fired
From hidden positions in the treeline to their rear Red
Force gunners killed several of the Blue Force tanks As
the lead Blue Force tanks turned to help the rear of their
column they in turn were brought under fire by additional Red
Force tanks concealed in the stand of trees they had never
reached Surrounded by the Red Force alI Blue Force tanks
were knocked out of action In just a few minutes 1
In a single moment of insight the Red Force commander
had correctly grasped the important terrain features
determined how the enemy would act and visua l ized how he could
position hls forces to ensure victory His ability to envision
the battle and his decisive action quite literally determined
the outcome of the engagement
Essential to his success and the success of al 1 mi I ltary
leaders In combat are those qualities of lnteJ lect and
temperament which determine the outcome of conflicts These
attributes have been referred to as the basis for the
development of what is referred to as military genius
Genius has been defined by Carl von Clausewitz in On War as
11 bullbullbull a very highly developed mental aptitude for a particular
occupationz It is this type of genius that we wil 1 probe to
determine its character and to assess the abi 1ity to d~velop it
in ourselves It is assumed therefore that military genius
is not appl cable only to a few great combat commanders but
that it can be found at all levels of command and ln all of the
combat combat suport and combat service support branches of
the service The purpose of this paper is to explore the means
of developing professional mi lltary genius
Clausewitz noted that those possessed of this genius always
demonstrated two indispensible qualities first an
Intellect that even in the darkest hour retains some
gllmmerings of the inner light which leads to truth and
second the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may
lead3 The first is a quality of the intellect which
Clausewitz called by the French coup doeil or inward eye
The ~econd 1~ a qual lty of temperament summed up by Clausewltz
in one word determination
Clausewltz 1 s Inward eye perhaps most closely approximates
the English deflnltlon of the word lntultlon 1 the faculty1
of knowing without the use of rational processes sharp
insight+ He wrote The man responsible for evaluating the
whole must bring to hls task the quality of intuition that
perceives the truth at every point Otherwise a chaos of
opinions would arise and fatally entangle Judgement What
this task requires in the way of heightened Intellectual gifts
is a sense of unity and a power of judgement raised to a
marvelous pitch of vision which easily grasps and dismisses a
thousand remote possibilities 5 It would be misleading
however to equate this inner light or 1 COUP d 1 oeil 1 with mere
intuition Clausewitz labors to describe this quality of
intellect using phrases such as 1 the quick recognition of
truth 1 ltessentilal facts and ideasgt a 1 comprehensive mlnd 1
and a Skil led intelligence 1 bull In my opinion this is a leader1
of ins 1gh t I ~
The second quality of mi I itary genius determination is
also further defined by Clausewitz He describes as essential
the courage to accept responsibility courage in the face
of a mora 1 danger 7 The i ndi v 1 dua 1 of courageous
determination possesses a presence of mind that deals with the
random unpredictable occurrences of armed confl let and a
~trength of wll 1 which overcome~ any adversity or catastrophic
turn of events To Clausewltz this requires staunchness
character calmness self-control and emotional balance in the
midst of exceptional stress Thls is the decisively
determined leader who wi 11 follow the inner 1ight resolute in
his conviction of final victory
These qualities first of insight to visualize to form a
clear almost spontaneous mental picture of what must be
accomplished and second of determination to decisively act
with courage and a strength of will that assures success are
depleted in many historical accounts of great military leaders
For example in Sun Tzus The Art of War the commentator Tu
Mu states If wise a commander is able to recognize changing
circumstances and acts expedientlyA Early ln Greek history
Xenophon in his Anabasis or the March up Country describes the
tragic assassination of the entire senior leadership of his
lOOOO ~man army Xenophon quickly grasped the essential
actions that had to be accompished in order to save the Greek
force from complete annihilation In numerous incidents which
followed Xenophon quickly perceived the maneuvers of his
enemies and correctly took immediate steps to avoid defeat and
achieve victory At the same time he always retained a
strategic vlslon that guided his decisions toward the Greek
mi li tary objective 10
This sense of lnslght and determination ls exempl lfled by
several American generals in World War II One example is
found ln the German counteroffensive of December 1944 the
Battle of the Bulge which caught US forces total Jy
unprepared The early German success seemed to be the
catastrophic event that Hitler hoped would break up the
Anglo-American al lance Despite the initial losses suffered by
the Americans General Omar Bradley quickly grasped that this
battle was a great opportunity for the al 1 les to seal off and
utterly destroy a significant portion of Germans remaining
mi I itary force
Bradley correctly assessed that the enemy had little
reserve strength and that an encirclement of the entire German
Army west of the Rhine River would hasten the collapse of
Germany and the end of the war Together with other key
generals notably General George S Patton Bradley set In
motion a massive attack into the German Southern flank
Unfortunate l y an attack from the north into the waist of the
bulge to complete the encirclement was not brought to full
fruition This was largely due to an attitude of pessimism
displayed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Whereas Bradley
saw an opportunity for offensive action and military success
Montgomery could only see that the allies had suffered a major
defeat Instead of a bold counter-attack at the enemy s point
of vulnerabil i ty the Field Marshal advocated a cautious
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
Essential to his success and the success of al 1 mi I ltary
leaders In combat are those qualities of lnteJ lect and
temperament which determine the outcome of conflicts These
attributes have been referred to as the basis for the
development of what is referred to as military genius
Genius has been defined by Carl von Clausewitz in On War as
11 bullbullbull a very highly developed mental aptitude for a particular
occupationz It is this type of genius that we wil 1 probe to
determine its character and to assess the abi 1ity to d~velop it
in ourselves It is assumed therefore that military genius
is not appl cable only to a few great combat commanders but
that it can be found at all levels of command and ln all of the
combat combat suport and combat service support branches of
the service The purpose of this paper is to explore the means
of developing professional mi lltary genius
Clausewitz noted that those possessed of this genius always
demonstrated two indispensible qualities first an
Intellect that even in the darkest hour retains some
gllmmerings of the inner light which leads to truth and
second the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may
lead3 The first is a quality of the intellect which
Clausewitz called by the French coup doeil or inward eye
The ~econd 1~ a qual lty of temperament summed up by Clausewltz
in one word determination
Clausewltz 1 s Inward eye perhaps most closely approximates
the English deflnltlon of the word lntultlon 1 the faculty1
of knowing without the use of rational processes sharp
insight+ He wrote The man responsible for evaluating the
whole must bring to hls task the quality of intuition that
perceives the truth at every point Otherwise a chaos of
opinions would arise and fatally entangle Judgement What
this task requires in the way of heightened Intellectual gifts
is a sense of unity and a power of judgement raised to a
marvelous pitch of vision which easily grasps and dismisses a
thousand remote possibilities 5 It would be misleading
however to equate this inner light or 1 COUP d 1 oeil 1 with mere
intuition Clausewitz labors to describe this quality of
intellect using phrases such as 1 the quick recognition of
truth 1 ltessentilal facts and ideasgt a 1 comprehensive mlnd 1
and a Skil led intelligence 1 bull In my opinion this is a leader1
of ins 1gh t I ~
The second quality of mi I itary genius determination is
also further defined by Clausewitz He describes as essential
the courage to accept responsibility courage in the face
of a mora 1 danger 7 The i ndi v 1 dua 1 of courageous
determination possesses a presence of mind that deals with the
random unpredictable occurrences of armed confl let and a
~trength of wll 1 which overcome~ any adversity or catastrophic
turn of events To Clausewltz this requires staunchness
character calmness self-control and emotional balance in the
midst of exceptional stress Thls is the decisively
determined leader who wi 11 follow the inner 1ight resolute in
his conviction of final victory
These qualities first of insight to visualize to form a
clear almost spontaneous mental picture of what must be
accomplished and second of determination to decisively act
with courage and a strength of will that assures success are
depleted in many historical accounts of great military leaders
For example in Sun Tzus The Art of War the commentator Tu
Mu states If wise a commander is able to recognize changing
circumstances and acts expedientlyA Early ln Greek history
Xenophon in his Anabasis or the March up Country describes the
tragic assassination of the entire senior leadership of his
lOOOO ~man army Xenophon quickly grasped the essential
actions that had to be accompished in order to save the Greek
force from complete annihilation In numerous incidents which
followed Xenophon quickly perceived the maneuvers of his
enemies and correctly took immediate steps to avoid defeat and
achieve victory At the same time he always retained a
strategic vlslon that guided his decisions toward the Greek
mi li tary objective 10
This sense of lnslght and determination ls exempl lfled by
several American generals in World War II One example is
found ln the German counteroffensive of December 1944 the
Battle of the Bulge which caught US forces total Jy
unprepared The early German success seemed to be the
catastrophic event that Hitler hoped would break up the
Anglo-American al lance Despite the initial losses suffered by
the Americans General Omar Bradley quickly grasped that this
battle was a great opportunity for the al 1 les to seal off and
utterly destroy a significant portion of Germans remaining
mi I itary force
Bradley correctly assessed that the enemy had little
reserve strength and that an encirclement of the entire German
Army west of the Rhine River would hasten the collapse of
Germany and the end of the war Together with other key
generals notably General George S Patton Bradley set In
motion a massive attack into the German Southern flank
Unfortunate l y an attack from the north into the waist of the
bulge to complete the encirclement was not brought to full
fruition This was largely due to an attitude of pessimism
displayed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Whereas Bradley
saw an opportunity for offensive action and military success
Montgomery could only see that the allies had suffered a major
defeat Instead of a bold counter-attack at the enemy s point
of vulnerabil i ty the Field Marshal advocated a cautious
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
The ~econd 1~ a qual lty of temperament summed up by Clausewltz
in one word determination
Clausewltz 1 s Inward eye perhaps most closely approximates
the English deflnltlon of the word lntultlon 1 the faculty1
of knowing without the use of rational processes sharp
insight+ He wrote The man responsible for evaluating the
whole must bring to hls task the quality of intuition that
perceives the truth at every point Otherwise a chaos of
opinions would arise and fatally entangle Judgement What
this task requires in the way of heightened Intellectual gifts
is a sense of unity and a power of judgement raised to a
marvelous pitch of vision which easily grasps and dismisses a
thousand remote possibilities 5 It would be misleading
however to equate this inner light or 1 COUP d 1 oeil 1 with mere
intuition Clausewitz labors to describe this quality of
intellect using phrases such as 1 the quick recognition of
truth 1 ltessentilal facts and ideasgt a 1 comprehensive mlnd 1
and a Skil led intelligence 1 bull In my opinion this is a leader1
of ins 1gh t I ~
The second quality of mi I itary genius determination is
also further defined by Clausewitz He describes as essential
the courage to accept responsibility courage in the face
of a mora 1 danger 7 The i ndi v 1 dua 1 of courageous
determination possesses a presence of mind that deals with the
random unpredictable occurrences of armed confl let and a
~trength of wll 1 which overcome~ any adversity or catastrophic
turn of events To Clausewltz this requires staunchness
character calmness self-control and emotional balance in the
midst of exceptional stress Thls is the decisively
determined leader who wi 11 follow the inner 1ight resolute in
his conviction of final victory
These qualities first of insight to visualize to form a
clear almost spontaneous mental picture of what must be
accomplished and second of determination to decisively act
with courage and a strength of will that assures success are
depleted in many historical accounts of great military leaders
For example in Sun Tzus The Art of War the commentator Tu
Mu states If wise a commander is able to recognize changing
circumstances and acts expedientlyA Early ln Greek history
Xenophon in his Anabasis or the March up Country describes the
tragic assassination of the entire senior leadership of his
lOOOO ~man army Xenophon quickly grasped the essential
actions that had to be accompished in order to save the Greek
force from complete annihilation In numerous incidents which
followed Xenophon quickly perceived the maneuvers of his
enemies and correctly took immediate steps to avoid defeat and
achieve victory At the same time he always retained a
strategic vlslon that guided his decisions toward the Greek
mi li tary objective 10
This sense of lnslght and determination ls exempl lfled by
several American generals in World War II One example is
found ln the German counteroffensive of December 1944 the
Battle of the Bulge which caught US forces total Jy
unprepared The early German success seemed to be the
catastrophic event that Hitler hoped would break up the
Anglo-American al lance Despite the initial losses suffered by
the Americans General Omar Bradley quickly grasped that this
battle was a great opportunity for the al 1 les to seal off and
utterly destroy a significant portion of Germans remaining
mi I itary force
Bradley correctly assessed that the enemy had little
reserve strength and that an encirclement of the entire German
Army west of the Rhine River would hasten the collapse of
Germany and the end of the war Together with other key
generals notably General George S Patton Bradley set In
motion a massive attack into the German Southern flank
Unfortunate l y an attack from the north into the waist of the
bulge to complete the encirclement was not brought to full
fruition This was largely due to an attitude of pessimism
displayed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Whereas Bradley
saw an opportunity for offensive action and military success
Montgomery could only see that the allies had suffered a major
defeat Instead of a bold counter-attack at the enemy s point
of vulnerabil i ty the Field Marshal advocated a cautious
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
~trength of wll 1 which overcome~ any adversity or catastrophic
turn of events To Clausewltz this requires staunchness
character calmness self-control and emotional balance in the
midst of exceptional stress Thls is the decisively
determined leader who wi 11 follow the inner 1ight resolute in
his conviction of final victory
These qualities first of insight to visualize to form a
clear almost spontaneous mental picture of what must be
accomplished and second of determination to decisively act
with courage and a strength of will that assures success are
depleted in many historical accounts of great military leaders
For example in Sun Tzus The Art of War the commentator Tu
Mu states If wise a commander is able to recognize changing
circumstances and acts expedientlyA Early ln Greek history
Xenophon in his Anabasis or the March up Country describes the
tragic assassination of the entire senior leadership of his
lOOOO ~man army Xenophon quickly grasped the essential
actions that had to be accompished in order to save the Greek
force from complete annihilation In numerous incidents which
followed Xenophon quickly perceived the maneuvers of his
enemies and correctly took immediate steps to avoid defeat and
achieve victory At the same time he always retained a
strategic vlslon that guided his decisions toward the Greek
mi li tary objective 10
This sense of lnslght and determination ls exempl lfled by
several American generals in World War II One example is
found ln the German counteroffensive of December 1944 the
Battle of the Bulge which caught US forces total Jy
unprepared The early German success seemed to be the
catastrophic event that Hitler hoped would break up the
Anglo-American al lance Despite the initial losses suffered by
the Americans General Omar Bradley quickly grasped that this
battle was a great opportunity for the al 1 les to seal off and
utterly destroy a significant portion of Germans remaining
mi I itary force
Bradley correctly assessed that the enemy had little
reserve strength and that an encirclement of the entire German
Army west of the Rhine River would hasten the collapse of
Germany and the end of the war Together with other key
generals notably General George S Patton Bradley set In
motion a massive attack into the German Southern flank
Unfortunate l y an attack from the north into the waist of the
bulge to complete the encirclement was not brought to full
fruition This was largely due to an attitude of pessimism
displayed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Whereas Bradley
saw an opportunity for offensive action and military success
Montgomery could only see that the allies had suffered a major
defeat Instead of a bold counter-attack at the enemy s point
of vulnerabil i ty the Field Marshal advocated a cautious
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
This sense of lnslght and determination ls exempl lfled by
several American generals in World War II One example is
found ln the German counteroffensive of December 1944 the
Battle of the Bulge which caught US forces total Jy
unprepared The early German success seemed to be the
catastrophic event that Hitler hoped would break up the
Anglo-American al lance Despite the initial losses suffered by
the Americans General Omar Bradley quickly grasped that this
battle was a great opportunity for the al 1 les to seal off and
utterly destroy a significant portion of Germans remaining
mi I itary force
Bradley correctly assessed that the enemy had little
reserve strength and that an encirclement of the entire German
Army west of the Rhine River would hasten the collapse of
Germany and the end of the war Together with other key
generals notably General George S Patton Bradley set In
motion a massive attack into the German Southern flank
Unfortunate l y an attack from the north into the waist of the
bulge to complete the encirclement was not brought to full
fruition This was largely due to an attitude of pessimism
displayed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Whereas Bradley
saw an opportunity for offensive action and military success
Montgomery could only see that the allies had suffered a major
defeat Instead of a bold counter-attack at the enemy s point
of vulnerabil i ty the Field Marshal advocated a cautious
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
defense At the conclusion of the battle an encirclement was
in fact completed but it had been accomplished too late The
bulk of the German Army slipped out of the trap and fought
again 11
This example typifies a difference between superior
commanders and their less noteworthy contemporaries The great
commanders quite literally see things differently and then act
according to their insights Perhaps the most masterful
example of this abi I ity to visualize was Napoleon Bonaparte
More than once he faced forces on two fronts which were
numerical Jy superior to his own Driven by his inner _light and
by a fierce determination to create success Napolean
repeatedly turned eminent disasters into astonishing victories
Writing about the defeat of General Schwarzenberg Clausewitz
noted Napoleons rapid and accurate appraisal of the situation
his boldness in executing rapid movements and his resolute
attacks at the decisive points In Napoleons mind the
outcome was known before the battle commenced His single army
seque~tlal ly and decisively defeated two superior forces 1l
Other military theorists al Jude to these qualities of
superior mi lltary commanders For example Jomoni states that
without vision coolness and ski 11 the best strategic plan
would tall in the face of the enemy~ Ardant Du P1cq understood
that the conduct of war rests not merely on weapons and
technical formations but most essentially on the commander and
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
the troops He counsel led the commander to seek a knowledge of
self of his soldiers and of the enemy~ B H Llddel I Hart in
advocating the indirect approach emphasized the need to
anticipate the enemys moves to psychologically entrap the
enemy ln his own expectations and then to surprise him with an
unexpected strike at his center of gravity In this Llddel 1
Hart promotes the concept of the commander who can imagine the
mind of his enemy and sees from the perspective of his
adversary what he sees5 J F C Fuller author of
Generalship quotes Baron von der Goltz One of the most
important talents of a general we would cal 1 that of a creative
mind to spy out the soul of ones adversary and to act ln a
manner in which will astonish him this is generalship~
To quickly grasp an ever dynamic situation to as
Calusewitz states scent out the truth within the realm of
wars uncertaintly to perceive the essential ingredients
of victory and then to decisively and courageously determine
the correct courses of action these are the hallmarks of al 1
great military commanders Based on these qualities of
lntel lect great commanders possess an inner confidence and
resolve that sustains them even in the face of almost certain
defeat In a very real sense these commanders cannot fall
If beaten by conditions completely beyond their control they
most often rise again to fight and win
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
If leaders of insight and determination are critical to
success In battle what if anything can we do to develop
these qualities of intellect and temperament~ Many individuals
believe these attributes to be inherent or natural gifts
Recent research however suggests that we can significantly
improve our natural abilities and foster them in others if we
are wi I ling to make the necessary effortm Of course not
everyone wil I become a Bonaparte or a Patton but
professionally we owe it to ourselves and to our country to
develop our potential to the fullest extent
I bel leve we can draw a highly useful para lel from pi lots
who fly high performance fighter aircraft Flying in time and
three-dimentional space at speeds greater than sound pilots
are surrounded by electronic Instrumentation and a deluge of
data To be successful In combat pi lots must absorb only that
information which is critical to the engagement and then
visualize their performance in the context of what the enemy Is
doing and what he will do They may sound like a highly
analytical process but In reality pl lots report that ln combat
they dont have the time to think Rather they feel or
see their way through what ls to take place a mental
projection of the future coupled with decisive action to
control maneuver and fight the aircraft AlI else Is
excluded from a pilot s senses as his mind balances the need
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
for diagnostic Information with the imperative to lntuitlvely
fly by the seat of hls pants
It is wel 1 known that the success of US pl lots ln
air-to-air engagements dramatically declined in the interval
between the Korean War and the war in Vietnam From a ki I 1
ratio of 12 to 1 ln Korea the ratio dropped to 3 to 1 ln
Vietnam Research showed that pilots who survived their first
five air-to-alr engagements were likely to obtain high kil 1
ratios in future encounters The Air Force and Navy recognized
that combat experience held one key to dog-fighting success
Both services initiated simulation training so that pilots
would gain the experience of those critical first five missions
prior to entering actual combat Not surprisingly these and
other efforts soon produced kil I ratios equalt to or better
than those of the Korean War
Todays pilots learn in the classroom gain experience in
sophisticated simulators engage in actual flying combat
situations against the best US pilots who act as aggressors
return to the classroom to have their successes and failures
analyzed and then repeat the cycle They do this repeatedly
until as Air Force Colonel George Lewis Jr puts it they are
11absolutely convinced that they are bullbullbull the best the bravest
the toughest--and the smartest 11 lq
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
The point to learn from this is that good alr-to-alr
combat pi lots are developed not born And while there are
some i n d i v i du a 1 s w i t h natura 1 f 1 y i n g t a I en t s v i r t u a 1 I y a 1 1
pilots can greatly Improve similar qualities of insight and
determination with training and most critically with
experience
In fact experience is the basic foundation of proficiency
in any skill science or art This is perhaps self-evident
but what is less apparent is that the quality of the experience
is of paramount importance in individual development and
accomplishment Two examples serve to illustrate this The
first example is negative and the second is positive
Recently I was comparing styles of leadership with a
visiting European officer He had just returned from a TDY
trip to Fort Hood and had been quite impressed with the large
scale of almost everything the number of qual lty troops the
amount of equipment and the great training areas Then ln a
sudden turn of the discussion he remarked that the greatest
problem that he saw with American officers was what he referred
to as management by mushroom Briefly paraphrased
management by mushroom is when an officer ls fertilized and
watered and nourished and promoted Then the officer makes a
mistake and like the mushroom he ls cut off and eaten up
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
The NTC ls indeed an excel lent vehicle for training and
developing leaders It ls a highly sophisticated simulation
that has some similarities to the Air Force and Navy simulated
combat training programs For example in comparing lt to the
Navys Top Gun program NTC offers excel lent simulation through
Individual soldier and vehicle laser firing devices the
Multiuple Integrated Laser Engagement System ltMILESgt The
integrated use of MILES other sensors recording media
computer graphics capabilities and highly skll led trainers and
evaluators provide outstanding training opportunities to learn
from the successes and problems of stressful simulated
battlefield conditions
In contrast to the Top Gun School however the number of
simulations a battalion commander can participate in are
limited In some ways NTC is also a far more complex
environment And most importantly to the extent NTC is used
to negatively evaluate officers performance there is a
propo~tional decrease in its value as a means for gaining
critical experience If there is an artifical pressure to
perform in conformity to a zero defects standard creative
initiative wi 11 be sacrificed and officers will be forced to
learn how to pass the NTC career test And if a battalion
commander s career is at stake solely due to a number of
mistakes made at NTC or one of the other training centers then
the Army runs the risk of eliminating potentially excellent
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
combat leaders from future service It wa3 precisely this
perspective that most alarmed the European officer who had
visited Fort Hood Management by mushroom 1 where It exists
should be eliminated
The second example of the importance of experience in
developing leadership comes from a dynamic leader who
consistently achieved outstanding performance from his
subordinates I got to know him soon after he had taken over a
unit with a reputation of having a laissez-faire mentality
The new chief was a dynamo of actlvlty and he soon parcel led
out a number of demanding assignments to al 1 of his key
subordinates One of them recalled receiving a particularly
tough job to do and wondered if he would measure up to the
challenge As the project progressed this subordinate on two
occasions checked back with the chief for additional guidance
and in both cases he was given just a few minutes for his
super i or to clarify a point or two Several days later the
officer completed the assignment and filed the after-action
report It was at this point that the chief provided the
subordinate with his first real feedback concerning his
performance
The chief expressed his complete satisfaction ln the
finished assignment and then noted that the subordlnate 1 S work
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
wa3 outstanding - 3lml Jar to the way he would have done lt
himself In the future the subordinate was told he could be
entrusted with any challenge the unit would face From that
time on thls officer performed his duties in an outstanding
manner Not coincldentl ly other officers had siml Jar
experiences and they also began to turn in consistently
superior results It was not self-evident at the time
however that the new chief had challenged his subordinates to
the highest extent of their individual abilities and then with
an adequate amount of guidance left them free to succeed
largely on their own And when they did succeed they owned
that success- it was theirs and they had earned lt The
immediate result was a sense of self-assurance that was
experienced both individually and throughout the unit
It is perhaps a truism that a successful experience
produces assurance and confidence In this unit since
virtually every individual was succeeding to some degree there
seemed to be little competition Cooperat i on actually
increased as individuals began to recognize that their
accomplishments were interdependently l i nked to unit
achievement When this occurred most officers for the first
time started to see and comprehend the big picture The
combination of successful experience self-assurance and
comprehension led to new and even higher levels of performance
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
From this point on most officers in the unit refused to
believe that anything less than the best was acceptable
Someone expressed the comment that if the unlt had been at war
the idea of defeat would have been unimaginable A cohesive
team had been forged that was unstoppable The atmosphere on
the Job was almost electric but there was little frenetic
movement or helter-skelter behavior The unit worked with
determination and with a quiet Intensity It was at this point
that a distinct change occurred Individuals operating in this
environment free of unnecessary restraints could visualize
new opportunities and options Intuitively they could see
what had been obscure And with these added insights there
was an almost fierce determination to follow through to
excellence I believe that the positive experience
self-assurance and comprehension of the ful i situation led
directly to Clausewitzs inward eye of insight and to decisive
determination ltSee Figure 1gt
When the chief was about to leave for a new assignment
asked him to explain the secret of his success His answer was
that as a leader he had three tasks to accomplish First to
recognize that each individual brings unique talents to the
unit Second to employ those talents and challenge each
individual to the greatest extent of his or her abilities
Third to provide additional support guidance backing and
I
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
FOUNDATIONS OF GENIUS
INSIGHT
Intuitive grasp Decisive and resolute of uncertainties unshakeable in purpose imagnatlve intelligence courageous
An understanding of the big picture
~ SELF ASSURANCE
Confident in the face of the unknown
0 Tried tested capable
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
horsepower when needed In hl~ opinion alI of the other
factors of success would naturally fol low21
This pattern of success and excellence is consistently
repeated by outstanding leaders For example in May 1966 one
of the foremost combat commanders of World War II and the
Korean War General Matthew B Ridgeway addressed the Command
and General Staff Col lege on the topic of leadership Through
out his speech General Ridgeway emphasized the Important role
of leaders in developing toe climate that will ensure their
subordinates development earned success self-confidence
foresight and vision His thoughts largely parallel the
leadership approach of the previous example One paragraph
perhaps best typifies his concept of leadership
Every man is entitled to go into battle with
the best chance of survival your forethought as a
leader can provide What best helps you discharge
this responsibility Sharing things with your
men always being where the crisis is or seems
most likely to develop always thinking of what
help you can give your commanders who are
executing your orders doing your utmost to see
that the best in rations shelter first aid and
evacuation facilities are available being
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
generous with praise swift and fair with
punishment when you have your facts Intolerant of
demonstrated failure in leadership on which lives
depend yet making ful 1 allowances for human
weaknesses and the stresses and strains of battle
on individuals~
Embodied in these words is the quiet splrlt of battlefield
leadership success These are the thoughts of an officer who
most of us would willingly follow into battle Experienced
self-assured and comprehending Matthew Ridgeway was an
insightful and determined commander who bred those same
qualities of intellect and temperament in his subordinates
Those of us who are ln the military frequently see post
cemeteries with rows of markers that attest to the men and
women who have sacrificed for their country and the ideals of
freedom justice and liberty In the United States we have
been especially fortunate to have had the service of leaders
who have possessed the intellect and temperament to insure
battlefield success From history we learn of these great
soldiers their heroic deeds and their insight and
determination that would not fail even in the darkest hour
If for no other reason do we not owe a debt to those who
have gone before us to carry on their examp l es of leadership
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
Do we not owe tho~e who ~erve with u~ our leadership in
training them to succeed as experienced self-confident and
farsighted leaders who wil I develop the lnsight and
determination essential to victory in battle We have the
means to achieve these ends now - they are not dependent upon
new technology or next years budget And regardless of the
weapons we possess or the funds which may be available no
success wil 1 compensate for our failure to develop these
leadership qual itles of intellect and temperament in ourselves
and in our subordinates
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
END NOTES
1 MAJ Mike Marker private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas January 1988
2 Carl von Clausewitz On War trans Michael Howard and Peter Peret ltPrinceton NJ Princeton University Press 1976gt p 102
3 Ibid p 102
4 Wl II lam Morris Tbe American Herltaae Dictionary of the English Language ltBoston MA Houghton Mifflin Company 1976gt p 74
5 Clausewitz p 112
6 Ibid p 102
7 Ibid p 102
8 Ibid p 105
9 Samuel B Griffith Syn Tzy Tbe Art of War ltLondon GB Oxford University Press 1971gt p 65
10 Wilt D Rouse trans The March Up Countrv A Translation of Xenophon s Anabas1 s ltAnn Arbor MI The Un 1 vers ity of M 1 ch 1gao Press 1964gt
11 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair A Generals Life ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1983gt pp 350-392
12 Clausewitz p 102
13 Antoine Henri Jomini The Art of War p 158
14 Ardant Du Pique Battle Stydies Ancient and Modern trans Colonel John N Greely and Major Robert C Cotton ltHarrisburg PA The Military Service Publishing Company 1946gt
15 B H Liddell Hart Strategy rev 2nd ed ltLondon GB Faber and Faber Ltd 1954gt p 146
16 JFC Fuller Generalship ltHarrisburg PA Military Service Publishing Company 1936gt p 32
17 Clausewitz 109
18 Betty Edwards Drawing on the Artist Within ltNew York NY Simon and Schuster Inc 1986gt p xiii
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47
19 Michael Aatchell bullThe Militarys New Starsbull US News and World Report 104 lt18 April 1988) p 35
20 Lieutenant Colonel Josef Weingast Austrian Armed Forces private interview Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas February 1988
21 George Putnam private Interview St Louis Missouri January 1987
22 Matthew B Ridgeway bullLeadershipbull Military Reylew ltOctober 1966gt p 47