Tactical Leadership

This book is for warrior leaders. Those who have been given the great privilege of leading our nation’s Armed Forces. This book is an attempt to not only define the essence of leadership, especially the kind that is required at the tactical level, but to enable us as leaders to become decisive and make a positive impact. Learning is being able to profit from experience. The best way to learn about leadership is to study the examples provided by history. We can learn from weak leaders as much as we can from great leaders. To that end, this book draws from numerous battles and engagements in an effort to gain ‘theoretical experience,’ a sort of imaginative practical application. Whereas ‘theoretical’ concerns itself with the theory of a subject rather than its ‘experiential’ and practical application, we, by means of our conceptual and imaginative abilities, may gain theoretical experience as though having ‘been there and done that’ ourselves.

As Liddell Hart once aptly put it, “With two thousand years of examples behind us, we have no excuse for not fighting well.” With this in mind, using various examples drawn from history, this volume is designed to apportion practical tools of leadership to the leaders of America’s Armed Forces. One might ask: What benefit does a study of historical figures afford to the study of leadership? In a word, much in every way, as John Jessup observes, “Despite vast changes in technology since World War II, the combat leader may still learn much from the study of past battles and campaigns. Weather, terrain, and intelligence of friendly and enemy dispositions, for instance, are as important today as in the days of Alexander, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon; human reactions in combat remain relatively constant.” Thus, as Napoleon once said, “Read and reread the deeds of the great commanders, it is the only way to learn the art of war.”

This book consists of seven parts. My agenda will be to gain a thorough understanding of leadership in all its facets. Beginning with definitions, my method will be to explore the various attributes and skills associated with leadership, making certain distinctions between it and management with an emphasis on tactics. This will be the focus of chapters one to three. Chapters four through fifteen flesh out these ideas through the lens of military history. Then in chapters sixteen through twenty-two, my intent will be to focus on leadership through instruction and counseling, finishing the discussion with a method on how to use history so as to avoid its catastrophes and failings of others. Finally, several appendices provide the leader with creeds and principles for which to guide action.

In preparing this book I have been overwhelmed by the generous scale of assistance and inspiration I have received. My friends have graced me with sound advice and technical expertise....