Army Leadership

Army Leadership

According to ADP 6-22, leadership is “The process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization.” There is no on/off switch moment with leadership. Anyone can be a leader. People are not born with all the necessary skills and never stop improving as a leader. Leadership is a growth and development of yourself while also setting your followers up to learn the right way to lead when their time comes. Leadership is balanced, fair, and clear.

Anyone can be a leader. The army defines a leader as “Anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals. Army leaders motivate people both inside and outside the chain of command to pursue actions, focus thinking and shape decisions for the greater good of the organization.” For this to be true, a soldier must be consciously or subconsciously willing to step up in dire situations and place his soldiers’ well-being before his own. A leader needs to lead from the front and needs to be able and willing to get his hands dirty alongside his men.

Authority does not give you leadership skills. Additionally, one does not need to be in a position of power or authority to be a leader. Leadership comes from a person’s experiences and the way they were led themselves. Those experiences will mold a person and the decisions they make to guide and motivate others in any given situation. A leader can be found often when the organization that he or she is part of is lacking good leadership from the start. That person will step up and fill the gap and will ultimately improve the organization by accomplishing the mission.

Leadership is a growing process. A leader will continue to improve with time and experience. The ability to make clear and balanced decision is not always the easy decision to make. Impartial decisions can often be the harder of two options and...