TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01 - TRADOC - U.S. Army

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01Chapter 9Leadership9-1. IntroductionLeadership weaves throughout this concept both explicitly and implicitly. FM 6-22 describesleadership in detail and from many perspectives. Rather than restate this information, thischapter assumes that the essence of leadership is immutable, and that the characteristics the Armywishes to develop in leaders at all levels will not change significantly. The future will changeand leadership challenges will change. This chapter highlights considerations introduced earlierin the concept that will help the Army to better prepare leaders for tomorrow.9-2. Changes That Challenge LeadershipChapter 2 describes a complex future of persistent conflict. This creates a quantitativeincrease in the demands on future leaders. One aspect of complexity is the flow of information.Whereas the field commanders of the nineteenth century could often see the entire battlefield,today individual Soldiers from the lowest to the highest echelon can have visibility of entiretheaters of operation. Moreover, even with increased visibility, future concepts call fordistributed, noncontiguous operations over expanded distances creating situations of increaseduncertainty for units out of contact with each other. This potential will only increase withconsequences that can be both good and bad from a leadership perspective. The good is obvious.Knowing more and sharing a common operating picture reduces uncertainty, increases situationalawareness and understanding, and enables mission command and self-synchronization.Inundation by too much information, on the other hand, can cause confusion, uncertainty, andinduce self-doubt. Developing means to manage knowledge and get the right information to theright people has both technical and human solutions. Leaders must be aware that informationsystems cannot fully represent the ground truth and that digital displays are no substitute forleaders on the ground. Successful leaders somehow know what is critical to pay attention to andwhat to leave alone. This skill or talent rises from experience more than any other source,suggesting that one of the critical issues in leader development in the future will be creatingopportunities for leaders to cope with complex information and high pressure rapiddecisionmaking in order to develop an experiential basis for dealing with increasingly complexchallenges.Joint and Army concepts state that warriors of the future will need to be masters of transition.They must be able to switch from major combat to humanitarian assistance, and everything inbetween, repeatedly, and instantaneously. COIN operations, in particular, require flexibility andadaptability. Soldiers will face life and death decisions with little time to reflect. Their challengeelicits a visceral response, reactive, and groomed by training and unit battle drills not unlike thepolice firing range where the officer moves through a series of potential targets and must engagethe criminals while sparing the innocents. Leaders face similar challenges though the personalface-to-face occasions decrease as they move up the chain of command. A commander at thecompany level might have a platoon in direct combat calling for his direct and immediateattention while another deals with a humanitarian crisis, and yet another is disarming IEDs. This185