Dr B's Thoughts on Leadership
Weekly Reflections on Leadership, Officership, Character Development, and the Army Profession
Mis compañeros,
Buenos días. I have been blessed throughout my life and had some great experiences. I learned early in life that we don’t learn purely through engagements, reading, and experiences, but rather we learn through REFLECTING on those events in our lives. The Army sees it that way as well - hence we conduct After Action Reviews (AARs) as a deliberate process of reflection and growth after every training event and operation.
Why this, why now
My reflections started being very personal - written in a journal, then as I continued in the Army I wrote in little green notebooks which was great for me, but hard to share lessons with others. Many years ago while serving as an officer deployed to Iraq with the 3rd “Sledgehammer” Brigade / 3rd Infantry Division I started sharing my weekly reflections with my immediate team regarding what I was learning to get them thinking about topics related to leadership, officership, character growth, and the Army Profession. After roughly 20 years of sharing my reflections primarily as an email, I am transitioning to substack to make it a little easier to share and maybe open them to new audiences while increasing the scope of our professional community.
A Professional Community
The goal for sharing these is to expand a professional community of learners. What kind of community? Ideally an honorable community, committed to a culture of continuous learning and growth as individuals and as teams.
I use a definition of success coined by Coach John Wooden in 1934: “Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
Our ability to define success for ourselves helps us to understand what habits will lead us towards having the self satisfaction of knowing we are doing everything in our power to become the best we are capable of becoming. That best usually involves being better than we were yesterday and seeking continuous growth and improvement.
There are things we have control over and there are intentional / deliberate habits we can establish related to those areas of our lives we can control to make our lives and the lives of those around us more fulfilling, positive, and uplifting. We can define success for ourselves and then measure our own performance against that personal definition.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” - Squire Bill Widener
This line was made famous by President Theodore Roosevelt, but he was actually quoting a Virginian soldier and community leader named Squire Bill Widener. Published in Roosevelt’s 1913 autobiography, this succinct quote summarizes the former President’s philosophy on life: that devotion to the pursuit of mere pleasure and success is hollow in comparison to a life lived dutifully for the people right in front of you. “Why, the greatest happiness,” Roosevelt wrote, “is the happiness that comes as a by-product of striving to do what must be done.”
This requires us to be life-long learners.
Everyone makes a difference. The choice we have is whether we want to make a positive difference or a negative one.
Surround yourself with fantastic teachers: listen, learn and grow.
Always be learning - enroll in the college of books. Attend 3 to 4 hours a day. No classroom. No tests. No degree, just personal intellectual growth.
Be the empty glass. Always be the student.
Education is about so much more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. Good teachers help students learn how to think critically, read broadly, and dig deeper to understand the complexities of our world. Learning comes in many forms, and it is not bound to any particular age group or demographic.
LTG Harold ‘ Hal’ Moore stated the following about the expectations for Army Officers:“(1) They must be competent, (2) They must exercise good judgment, and (3) They must have character. By itself, competence is meaningless without character and good judgment.”
― LTG (R) Harold G. Moore, Hal Moore on Leadership
Developing competence is what enables us to make thoughtful decisions (exercising judgement) about our own lives, and to maintain an open mind about other cultures, contexts, and ways of thinking. On a societal level, education encourages dialogue and problem-solving by equipping members of a community with the tools and skillset to imagine new possibilities.
“We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, The Purpose of Education
My point today is that we must be constantly seeking to improve not just in knowledge or skills, but in our competence and character leading towards the practical wisdom required for good judgment and a better community.
Learning from Coach John Wooden (who also taught English):
“Early on I came to believe that you should learn as if you were going to live forever, and live as if you were going to die tomorrow. What does this mean? In the simplest way, I would explain it like this.
Always be learning, acquiring knowledge, and seeking wisdom with a sense that you are immortal and that you will need much knowledge and wisdom for that long journey ahead. Know that when you are through learning, you are through. But I want to live that life as if I were going to die tomorrow: with relish, immediacy, and the right priorities. I also will not waste even a minute.”
Such a simple way to live. First, learn as if you’re going to live forever. Acquire as much knowledge and wisdom as you possibly can. Get a little bit better every single day.
Second, live as if you are going to die tomorrow. Give today all you’ve got. Put in all of your effort. Use yourself up fully. Make today your masterpiece. Have fun. Be enthusiastic about what you’re doing and have your priorities in order. Above all, do not waste even a minute.
Do great things today and always - I invite you to subscribe to my weekly Thoughts on Leadership newsletter as part of your commitment to a culture of continuous growth.