New Book Review: "Leading the Charge"
Recently posted Amazon Vine book review for Leading the Charge: Leadership Lessons from the Battlefield to the Boardroom, by General Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, reposted here:
The authors walk the reader through, provide insights to, and discuss possible solutions to some of the many pressing leadership challenges of the new century, with much focus placed on the changes that have taken place in the world following the end of the Cold War twenty years ago. From the perspective of Tony Zinni, who has leadership in the realms of military, diplomacy, and business, the manner in which systems and organizations operate has changed, and due to a variety of factors a new and different archetype of leader needs to emerge in order to be effective.
Zinni explains that much of the substance for this book had its origins attempting to answer questions from book tour audiences for his earlier work called "The Battle for Peace". In that book, Zinni explained how the world had changed since 1989. It was frequently inquired whether a different type of leaderhip is now needed, and after initially answering to the effect that "the principles of good leadership are timeless and continue to apply", he realized that "these people are telling [him] something, not asking [him] something…they're out there in the trenches where they're seeing failing or ineffective leadership, and they're wondering if this is just a bad patch of bad leaders or something more serious".
According to Zinni, "eleven new or newly molded qualities are the core elements modern leaders need if they are going to create a culture of leadership and be successful in today's challenging world", and discussions on each of these form the bulk of the text: (1) have self-knowledge, (2) possess ethical sense, (3) listen to, understand, and relate to the newly led of this generation, (4) understand the environment, (5) understand and control their organization, (6) operate at a fast pace, (7) be more curious, broadly knowledgeable, and widely educated than leaders of the past, (8) communicate articulately, (9) develop different and stronger decision-making skills than their predecessors, (10) lead in times of crisis and change, and (11) think and act strategically.
One of the strengths of this book is the ease with which Zinni is apparently able to traverse his varied experiences of the last few decades in order to apply what he has learned to what he sets out to communicate. He seems more at ease discussing his military experience, but he is able to successfully demonstrate to the reader the eleven qualities of modern leaders within the corporate domain as well, focusing to a great extent on his time as an executive at DynCorp International.
The author writes that "in most leadership books written today by prominent leaders, academics, or self-help gurus, we see similar lists of qualities or principles", for example, "the secret to success lies in following the author's 'Seven Ls of Leadership' or 'Five Pillars of Successful Leadership'", and "it would be hard to argue with the theory, but something is missing". Further, he has "no doubt that scientific studies can accurately reflect the reality of leadership" and he does not "object to efforts to teach leadership techniques or to develop good people with desireable attributes" for such training "can enhance a leader's leadership skills, and we can certainly use more good people". However, he explains that "we must never forget that character development, leadership education, and technical training, however useful, are no substitutes for the real experience of leading" and on this note, "leadership experiences left unexamined are useless and wasted".
On his chapter on the need for self-knowledge, Zinni writes that "loyalty in and of itself is not a core value. It must always be a value secondary to integrity and honesty. The whistleblower who stands on principle should be honored and valued far more than the individual who remains blindly loyal in the face of immoral, unethical, or criminal behavior. Too often the merely loyal get respect and rewards while the honorable whistleblower gets cast out into the darkness. That's the flaw in the idea that if you're disloyal, you've committed the ultimate sin. No. If you're dishonest and you lack integrity, you've committed the ultimate sin. Loyalty can't stand on its own. From integrity, honor, and honesty, loyalty will follow, as will many other values, such as trust. But you can't say 'My principle core value is loyalty to the leadership and the institution'".
One of the most effective chapters in this book presents the author's views on how listen to, understand, and relate to the newly led of this generation: "I don't believe you can be an effective leader if you don't care about your people. You must value them as family. You must have a genuine interest in their well-being and in who they are and what makes them tick. This is truer than ever before. It is difficult to relate to emerging generations with vastly different outlooks and perceptions from ours, but it's critical to try to do so if we are to maximize the great potential they possess. The new generation of successful leaders gets this, and it is paying off for them."
In his chapter on understanding the environment, the author discusses the "classic error of believing that knowing a lot means you control a lot. We collect massive amounts of information. Great! But what counts is what we do with it. [He has] sat through hundreds of exhausting op center briefs filled with thousands of PowerPoint slides attempting to satisfy commanders' insatiable demands for more stats and data. All too often, commanders come to believe that command of the data equates with command of the environment. A potentially deadly mistake." In discussing his experience as a young officer in Vietnam, his mentioning of how "all the impressive stats and color-coded maps didn't match the reality [he] was experiencing" reminded me of one of my past project managers who tweaked and tweaked the algorithms behind his spreadsheet until the cells turned their portion of the executive dashboard green.
In the last chapter, on strategy, the author writes that if he were to "advise a young aspiring leader about making himself more effective and attractive to his bosses, [he] would recommend demonstrating his ability to think and analyze over a very wide range. He should be able to clearly describe his environment, to see and articulate future positions for his enterprise in that environment, and to set a course for his enterprise to achieve success". And within just a few short paragraphs of his afterword, Zinni lays out his summary of advice to young professionals seeking to lead. If the potential reader does not have time to review the entire text, reading these last portions of the book are highly recommended. Overall, this book is very well written, and suggested for anyone seeking leadership advice from someone who has been (literally) in the trenches.