In today’s environment, the Army needs leaders who can lead a complex organization, through complex issues, to get at a complex problem that may not have a right answer. Strategic leaders are asked to lead in an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. T. Owen Jacobs wrote about these in Strategic Leadership; The Competitive Edge and thus coined the term VUCA. “I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that we face the most daunting strategic environment in generations.” The US Army War College (USAWC) is the institution that is tasked with training today’s strategic leaders.
The Army War College was established in 1901 by Secretary of War Elihu Root to train staff officers by General Order 155. It was created out …show more content…
“Senior leaders provide credible and informed advice to senior military and civilian leaders. Professional judgment in matters of advice and communication stem from a full understanding of the environment through scanning, cultural awareness, ethical reasoning, and understanding the implications of the advice given.” In our readings for the Gulf War case study, I was assigned to the group that read General H. Norman Schwarzkopf’s autobiography. Like myself, he was selected to attend the AWC without ever serving at the strategic level. After graduating the AWC and being passed over for promotion to Colonel, he realized his need to broaden his assignments outside the tactical/operational level and volunteered for an assignment at the Pentagon to gain the skills and competencies required of him as a strategic leader. He made a calculated decision that he needed to broaden his assignments, leave the familiarity of what he was comfortable with and enter the world where profession and bureaucracy can sometimes collide. Later he stated, “I worked hard and gained a reputation as a team player that knew how to get things done in the bureaucracy – something of which I wasn’t entirely proud.” It was during this time that Schwarzkopf honed his skills that lead him to be an effective communicator. At the strategic level, it is also imperative that senior leaders be able to …show more content…
Strategic planners are what I would call the backbone or the hands and feet in the strategic process. Strategic planners find themselves navigating the, sometimes treacherous, waters between the military profession and that of a bureaucracy. Snider describes them as the two natures of the Army. “Maintaining an appropriate balance between the Army’s two natures is thus ever elusive; at any time, bureaucracy can come predominate over the profession.” Strategic planners are now working at the level where the military objectives are closely tied to the political objectives. The strategic planning process for a military objective can only go as far as the political objectives will allow. Strategic leaders must have the proper skills to help navigate this new arena. “Powell’s subsequent service under Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger and National Security Advisor Frank Carlucci prepared him well to serve as National Security Advisor to President Reagan during the last two years of Reagan’s second term and then as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. Powell was in the vanguard of a new type of senior officer, once who could transcend and nimbly navigate the military and civilian political worlds much
The Army War College was established in 1901 by Secretary of War Elihu Root to train staff officers by General Order 155. It was created out …show more content…
“Senior leaders provide credible and informed advice to senior military and civilian leaders. Professional judgment in matters of advice and communication stem from a full understanding of the environment through scanning, cultural awareness, ethical reasoning, and understanding the implications of the advice given.” In our readings for the Gulf War case study, I was assigned to the group that read General H. Norman Schwarzkopf’s autobiography. Like myself, he was selected to attend the AWC without ever serving at the strategic level. After graduating the AWC and being passed over for promotion to Colonel, he realized his need to broaden his assignments outside the tactical/operational level and volunteered for an assignment at the Pentagon to gain the skills and competencies required of him as a strategic leader. He made a calculated decision that he needed to broaden his assignments, leave the familiarity of what he was comfortable with and enter the world where profession and bureaucracy can sometimes collide. Later he stated, “I worked hard and gained a reputation as a team player that knew how to get things done in the bureaucracy – something of which I wasn’t entirely proud.” It was during this time that Schwarzkopf honed his skills that lead him to be an effective communicator. At the strategic level, it is also imperative that senior leaders be able to …show more content…
Strategic planners are what I would call the backbone or the hands and feet in the strategic process. Strategic planners find themselves navigating the, sometimes treacherous, waters between the military profession and that of a bureaucracy. Snider describes them as the two natures of the Army. “Maintaining an appropriate balance between the Army’s two natures is thus ever elusive; at any time, bureaucracy can come predominate over the profession.” Strategic planners are now working at the level where the military objectives are closely tied to the political objectives. The strategic planning process for a military objective can only go as far as the political objectives will allow. Strategic leaders must have the proper skills to help navigate this new arena. “Powell’s subsequent service under Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger and National Security Advisor Frank Carlucci prepared him well to serve as National Security Advisor to President Reagan during the last two years of Reagan’s second term and then as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. Powell was in the vanguard of a new type of senior officer, once who could transcend and nimbly navigate the military and civilian political worlds much