Begin now, not tomorrow, not next week. But today to seize the moment and make this day count. Remember, yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.
-Ellen Kreidman
Great results are not achieved by cold, passive, unresponsive soldiers. They don't go very far and they stop as soon as they can. Leadership not only demands but receives the willing, unhesitating, unfaltering obedience and loyalty of other men, and a devotion that will cause them, when the time comes, to follow their uncrowned king to hell and back again, if necessary.
You will ask yourselves; "Of what does leadership consist? What must I do to become a leader? What are the attributes of leadership, and how can I cultivate them?"
Self confidence, moral ascendancy, self sacrifice, paternalism, fairness, initiative, decision, dignity, courage.
Self-confidence results, first, from exact knowledge, second, the ability to impart that knowledge; and third, the feeling of superiority over others that naturally follows.
You may bluff all of your men some of the time, but you can't do it all the time. Men will not have confidence in an officer unless he knows his business, and he must know it from the ground up.
He should be at least as good a shot as any man in his company.
If the officer does not know, and demonstrates the fact that he does not know, it it entirely human for the soldier to say to himself, "To hell with him. He doesn't know as much about this as I do," and calmly disregard the instructions received.
There is no substitute for accurate knowledge!
Become so well-informed that men will hunt you up to ask questions, that your brother officers will say to one another, "Ask Him he knows."
And not only should each officer know thoroughly the duties of his own grade, but he should study those of the two grades next above him. He prepares himself for duties that may fall to his lot anytime during the battle, and he further gains a broader viewpoint which enables him to appreciate the necessity for the issuance of orders and join more intelligently in their execution.
Not only must the officer know, but he must be able to put what he knows into grammatical interesting, forceful English. He must learn to stand on his feet and speak without embarrassment.
In British training camps students officers are required to deliver 10 minute talks on any subject they choose. That is excellent practice. For to speak clearly one must think clearly, and clear, logical thinking expresses itself in definite, positive orders.
While self-confidence is the result of knowing more than your men, moral ascendancy over them is based upon your belief that you are the better man to gain and maintain this ascendancy you must have self-control, physical vitality, and endurance and moral force. You must have yourself so well in hand that, even though in battle you be scared stiff, you will never show fear.
For if by so much as a hurried movement or trembling of the hands, or a change of expression or a hasty order hastily revoked you indicate your mental condition, it will be reflected in your men in a greater degree
-Ellen Kreidman
Great results are not achieved by cold, passive, unresponsive soldiers. They don't go very far and they stop as soon as they can. Leadership not only demands but receives the willing, unhesitating, unfaltering obedience and loyalty of other men, and a devotion that will cause them, when the time comes, to follow their uncrowned king to hell and back again, if necessary.
You will ask yourselves; "Of what does leadership consist? What must I do to become a leader? What are the attributes of leadership, and how can I cultivate them?"
Self confidence, moral ascendancy, self sacrifice, paternalism, fairness, initiative, decision, dignity, courage.
Self-confidence results, first, from exact knowledge, second, the ability to impart that knowledge; and third, the feeling of superiority over others that naturally follows.
You may bluff all of your men some of the time, but you can't do it all the time. Men will not have confidence in an officer unless he knows his business, and he must know it from the ground up.
He should be at least as good a shot as any man in his company.
If the officer does not know, and demonstrates the fact that he does not know, it it entirely human for the soldier to say to himself, "To hell with him. He doesn't know as much about this as I do," and calmly disregard the instructions received.
There is no substitute for accurate knowledge!
Become so well-informed that men will hunt you up to ask questions, that your brother officers will say to one another, "Ask Him he knows."
And not only should each officer know thoroughly the duties of his own grade, but he should study those of the two grades next above him. He prepares himself for duties that may fall to his lot anytime during the battle, and he further gains a broader viewpoint which enables him to appreciate the necessity for the issuance of orders and join more intelligently in their execution.
Not only must the officer know, but he must be able to put what he knows into grammatical interesting, forceful English. He must learn to stand on his feet and speak without embarrassment.
In British training camps students officers are required to deliver 10 minute talks on any subject they choose. That is excellent practice. For to speak clearly one must think clearly, and clear, logical thinking expresses itself in definite, positive orders.
While self-confidence is the result of knowing more than your men, moral ascendancy over them is based upon your belief that you are the better man to gain and maintain this ascendancy you must have self-control, physical vitality, and endurance and moral force. You must have yourself so well in hand that, even though in battle you be scared stiff, you will never show fear.
For if by so much as a hurried movement or trembling of the hands, or a change of expression or a hasty order hastily revoked you indicate your mental condition, it will be reflected in your men in a greater degree
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