Ww1 Leadership Analysis

I am addressing this, my second personal message to the Canadian Forces, specifically to those of you who are faced with the great challenge of leadership, namely the group from master corporals to general officers, inclusive.

I have not chosen this subject lightly. To me, leadership is the key to success in military operations, in peace and in war, as it has always been through the centuries. Yet it is a subject that doesn't get the attention it deserves today. My purpose with this letter is to stimulate some thoughts, and to put leadership in the forefront of your minds, where it belongs. I want you to read carefully and seriously what I have to say.

Back in 1959, when I was a colonel and the Commandant of the Royal Canadian School
It is sometimes forgotten, however, that courage of a different sort may be called for in peacetime, and that this "quiet" courage is no less important than the battlefield kind. We have not been actively engaged in combat now for a long time, yet all of us in positions of responsibility are faced with making decisions that may call for a large measure of moral courage. Too often in peacetime it takes courage to "rock the boat", and I must admit that our peacetime system sometimes seems to have a built-in bias against those who have the courage to speak out against what they honestly believe to be wrong. Perhaps this is the root cause of a malaise that is common today throughout our society, but whose impact we feel especially keenly in the armed forces. I am talking about indecision. It is my belief that indecision in the face of a difficult problem reflects a lack of courage. It is the easy way out, but it is usually
The job of leading demands that you acknowledge good work and be critical of bad work on the part of your subordinates. How you do this can have an important bearing on your effectiveness as a leader. The key here is moderation. Excessive praise and excessive rebuke are each detrimental in their own way. I am not saying that rewards or punishment are to be avoided; I simply mean that they must be metered out fairly and intelligently. One thing that annoys me particularly is the current trend in the Forces to heap praise upon people who are simply doing the good job that is expected of them. The danger is obvious (as it is in the opposite case of over punishment). It's like fighting a battle; if you commit all your resources to a routine action there's nothing left for the unforeseen. You must keep something in reserve, and this is no less true when it comes to awarding praise or