"We were soldiers once..."

A few years ago (before the pandemic), I picked up and read a book about the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, the first major engagement between the U.S. Army and the People's Army of Vietnam in 1965.  The battle is also notable for being the first large-scale helicopter air assault and largely determined how both armies would fight during the rest of the Vietnam War.  The book is We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, which was co-written by Lt General Harold G. "Hal" Moore and war correspondent Joseph Galloway.  The book was subsequently made into a 2002 movie, "We Were Soldiers" starring Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, and Sam Elliott.  I really enjoyed the book, but for some reason I didn't watch the movie until the pandemic. 

Having read the book and now relatively recently watched the movie, I wanted to learn more about Lt General Moore.  I came across another book with a rather intriguing title, Hal Moore on Leadership: Winning When Outgunned and Outmanned co-written by Lt General Moore and Mike Guardia.  The book is part memoir and part leadership handbook, and it has become heavily dog-leafed!  I wanted to share a few observations and lessons that I've learned.

Definition of Leadership

Importantly, before talking about leadership, Moore and Guardia first define leadership in the opening pages of their book.  Leadership is about inspiring people to work hard and to execute tasks willingly.  In order to meet the challenge of leadership, leaders must demonstrate three characteristics.  First, the leader must be competent.  Second, the leader must exercise good judgement.  Third, the leader must have character.  Guardia writes, "By itself, competence is meaningless without character and good judgement.  If one were to look at the greatest leadership failures of the past 100 years, it would be clear that they were not failures of competence; they were failures of character and judgement."  He cites the Enron scandal as an example of these failures.

Lt General Moore also describes his four fundamental principles of leadership, stating "While learned in war, they apply in business, in government, in athletic competitions, in the home, in the family - anywhere."  Here they are:

1.  "Three strikes and you're not out."  He explained further that "If a leader thinks he might lose in whatever crisis or situation; then he has already lost.  He must exhibit a determination to prevail no matter what the odds or how difficult the situation.  He must have and display the will to prevail by his actions, his words, his tone of voice, his appearance, his demeanor, his countenance, and the look in his eyes.  He must never give off any hint or evidence that he is uncertain about a positive outcome."

2. "There's always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor.  And after that, there's one more thing."  In other words, keep going no matter what.  He also lists the three things that a leader is paid to do: (i) Get the job done and get it done well; (ii) Plan ahead - be proactive, not reactive; (iii) Exercise good, sound judgement in doing all of the above.

3. "When nothing is wrong, there's nothing wrong - EXCEPT there's nothing wrong.  That's when a leader has to be the most alert."  That sounds a lot like the HRO principle of "Preoccupation with Failure"!

4. "Trust your instincts."  According to Lt General Moore, he learned one rule of thumb during his time at West Point, "If there's doubt in your mind, there's no doubt at all."  He explains, "In other words, if you know in your heart that an action is wrong, don't do it."

Toxic Leaders

Something that Lt General Moore said in another chapter also resonated, "Throughout your life, you will probably serve under more bad leaders than good leaders.  The irony, however, is that you can learn as much from a bad leader as you can from a good leader.  Toxic leaders will set a perfect example of what not to be."  He then talks about some of the toxic leaders that he served under during his long and distinguished career.  Apparently there is something taught at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) called the "Definition of Discipline" which came from a speech delivered in 1879 by Major General John Schofield.  Army cadets are often forced to recite it verbatim from memory:

"The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling, but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself. While he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect towards others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself."

Lt General Moore goes on to list and describe the several different kinds of toxic leaders (which I will come back to in a future post).

"Forcing Power Down"

Lt General Moore also talks about how he handled his direct reports.  He said, "A leader should surround himself with persons who fit his requirements and standards - and then turn them loose to do their jobs."  That sounds a lot like the HRO principle of "Deference to Expertise"!  He goes on, "In the large staff organizations and field commands I led, my policy was always to push the power down! If a subordinate staff officer, commander, or staff section leader felt comfortable and qualified to make a decision, he could so with my authority and my responsibility."  In other words, he empowered his teams to make decisions on his behalf, but he would accept 100% of the responsibility for those decisions!  

Lt General apparently had a set of rules that he called the "Rule of Doubts" to assist with the process of delegating authority.  Here they are:

1. Every job has an implied or specified level of authority and responsibility.  Use formally written job descriptions and personal counseling when on-boarding to ensure each individual understands the scope.

2. When confronted with a decision, the individual asks themselves "Does making this decision fall within my level of authority?"  If so, the individual makes the decision.  If not, he passes it up the chain of command.

3. The next person in the chain of command reviews the issue and, if the decision should have been made at the lower level, he passes it back without action; forcing power down.

4. Likewise, if the lower level decision should have been made at a higher level, the superior explains the reasons why to the subordinate to refine the subordinate's understanding of the scope of his authority.

"Four-way Confidence"

A few months after returning from combat duty in Vietnam, Lt General Moore (who was a Colonel at the time) wrote a monograph on leadership during combat ("Lieutenant Leadership in Combat") which was included as an Appendix.  He talked about how leaders should develop their teams and writes, "Among other attributes, I feel soldiers of any rank must have confidence in four directions."  He calls it "four-way confidence":

1. Self-confidence: "The primary source is expert knowledge of his assigned duties and readiness, at any time, to take on the next higher job.  In addition to creating confidence through individual expertise, his superiors facilitate its development through trust and how they treat him."

2. Confidence in the tools necessary for the job: Here he is talking about confidence in the weapons of war, but I think this could certainly apply to any discipline.  "Developing this takes leader-controlled and leader-supervised training."  

3. Confidence in the team: "At whatever level, the leader must strive to develop an intense esprit de corps.  But never by running down other units."  In other words, do not build up team confidence by "trash-talking" about other parts of the organization!

4. Confidence in leadership: "He must know and utterly believe his leaders are competent professionals who know what they are doing and are not careless or casual in their outlook toward their responsibilities.  For a subordinate to be confident in his leader, the subordinate must know the leader is aware of and appreciates what the subordinate must face and the life he must lead in performing his job.  The leader must make every effort to get inside the heads of his men and see their problems and the world from their viewpoint."

Of course, Lt General Moore wrote this monograph at a time when there weren't any female soldiers, so we can forgive him for his use of the male pronouns.  And, while he was directing this last lesson towards combat leadership, I do think that it applies to leadership in general.

I want to leave this post with one last quote from Lt General Moore, as I think it is particularly important.  He wrote, "Fewer things will impact a team’s morale than a leader who does not recognize their accomplishments and hard work."  I believe that recognizing the team for a job well done is part of building and instilling confidence in the team and in the leader.  

There's a lot more to learn from Lt General Moore in this book.  However, this post is getting long enough as it is, so I will return to some more leadership lessons from Lt General Moore in a future post (or two!).