A lot of great information in that article. Throughout my career I broke it down to 3 basic rules of leadership:
1. Get the job done;
2. Take care of the welfare of your men;
3. Do #1 without sacrificing #2.
Not every situation is the same and flexibility on how you accomplish your goals is important. It doesn't take long for your men to realize that you are there for them and I have been rewarded by accomplishing my/our goals and building great teams. If you realize that the only way you look good is by the hard work of your men as a team, you will do well.
I am a firm believer of mentoring my leaders, from new Capt's to Sgt's, and they in turn mentor their subordinates. Lead from the front and don't have your men do anything you wont do yourself... they watch, they talk among themselves, they can figure out if you are a good leader or not, and if you are then you will have their complete support.
A year after I retired, I was in Tim Horton's having a coffee on base after a spending a year in Afghanistan working as a contractor and a few of my old team members came in. We chatted and they emphatically asked me to come back to rejoin and come back to the unit to straighten things out. I asked them why would they need an old WO back there, they told me that I was Fair and Firm, a great leader that got his hands dirty and had a sense of humor and was able to accomplish just about anything. The new leadership was lacking to put it mildly.
As much as it was nice to hear that, my time was over and I had passed on the torch. As I flew back to Afghanistan I thought about it and gave me great pleasure that I had done a good job, was a good leader, and was looked up to by my men.
Cheers
Pop
