From The Los Angeles Times Management Conference

APPLYING COMBAT LEADERSHIP TO BUSINESS

By Dr. Bill Cohen

You may think that combat and your work have little in common. However, there are more common elements than you think.

Much of your work involves risk, uncertainty, and limited resources. In the newspaper business, there is always competition. So in both battle and your business, there is a significant payoff for success and significant penalty for failure.

Despite the danger, severe stress and poor environmental conditions, successful combat leaders get their subordinates to perform at peak productivity without the traditional motivators of high pay, fringe benefits or job security.

How do they do this? I analyzed 2,000 years of military history and found that the essence of combat leadership is very simple. It is setting certain priorities. In every case of successful combat leadership, the leader put the mission first. Then, he put the welfare of his followers. The leader kept his own welfare last.

I found three other actions that are most important along with priorities to ensure good followership. Let's take a look at each.

No one likes to be told that they did something wrong. So, to get good followership, praise someone in public, but criticize in private. Equally important, praise can take the sting out of criticism.

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee understood the importance of giving praise along with criticism. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Lee's cavalry commander, Jeb Stuart, failed to provide needed intelligence. Stuart was an exceptional cavalry commander and Lee didn't want to lose him. But he had to make certain that Stuart would not repeat his actions. Gen. Stuart was only 30 and very temperamental. If Lee was not careful in his criticism, Stuart might quit the army.

Here's how he did it. After condemning Stuart's failure in no uncertain terms, Lee said: "There has been a mistake. It will not happen again. I know your quality.

You are a good soldier. You are as good a cavalry officer as I have known, and your service to this army has been invaluable. I have learned to rely on your information; all your reports are always accurate. But no report is useful if it does not reach us. And that is what I wanted you to know. Now, let us talk no more of this." (1)

If you want others to follow you, praise in public, criticize in private.

And, combine your criticism with praise. I don't care who you are. You can't lead from behind a desk.

In the four months before and Allied invasion of Europe during World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower visited 26 divisions, 24 airfields, five warships, and numerous military bases, depots, hospitals and many other military installations. All of his senior subordinates maintained similar visiting schedules.

He said, "There is among the mass of individuals who carry the rifles in war, a great amount of ingenuity and initiative. If men can naturally and without restraint talk to their officers, the products of their resourcefulness become available to all." (2)

When you go out and see and are seen by those you lead, you greatly increase the effectiveness of communications. You find out what's right and what's wrong in your organization. You can correct things instantly. You can dramatize your ideas to your followers. The word will get around... fast.

If you watch sports, you know that competition makes the sport exciting and fun.

Sports are not work; they are play. As a result, while work tires us, we can play at sports almost until we drop. In this lies a secret which you can use to make work fun. All you have to do is make striving a game.

One example is how "Captain Eddie" used competition to help shoot down planes in World War I.

Combat losses in World War I were heavy. Many pilots were killed in non-combat crashes due to maintenance problems. The pilots felt that they were not getting the best equipment. Morale was extremely low. One day the squadron commander was killed. Eddie Rickenbacker, the leading "ace," was made commander.

"First I called the pilots together," he said. "I pointed out that our airplanes were the same as other squadrons at the front including the French. I asked them whether they felt that the French were better pilots.

"When they indicated that they felt that the 94th Aero Squadron had the best pilots at the front, I challenged them to prove it by a competition with other fighter squadrons. It was simple to keep score. Whichever squadron shot the most planes down was the winner."

He challenged his ground crews the same way. Under Rickenbacker the 26th Aero Squadron became the highest scoring American squadron in the war.

If you want people to follow you, get your priorities right. Praise as well as criticize. See and be seen. Make striving a game. Your subordinates will follow you and make you and your organization a winner.

1—Quoted from Michael Shaara, "The Killer Angels" (New York: Ballantine Books, 1974) pp. 265-266. Used with permission. 2—Edgar f. Puryear, "19 Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership" (Presidio Press. Presidio, California, !971) pp. 229 230