Military Review English Edition July-August 2015 | Page 12

of uncertainty and chaos, and who are capable of visualizing, describing, directing, leading, and assessing operations in complex environments and against adaptive
enemies. This will not happen by accident. It requires
deliberate, purposeful, and sustained leader development programs, soundly based on our core values and
professional ethic. It also requires institutional processes that optimize the performance of Army professionals through rigorous education programs and a superior
talent management process. We must then forge these
leaders together into cohesive teams through the crucible of tough, realistic training that fully replicates the
complexity of the future operating environment.

The Army Leadership Foundation
Many commentators have noted the stark differences between the art and science of leadership.
Practitioners will tell you that leadership is an evolutionary process with desired skills evolving over time.
But amidst changing demands, our core values remain
constant. Our core values and qualities are central to
our professional ethic. Over the last four years, I have
consistently emphasized the importance of competent
leaders of character who are committed to the defense
of the Nation. Competence, commitment, and character are the bedrock principles that reinforce trust:
trust between soldiers; trust between leaders and the
led; trust among soldiers, leaders, and the institution;
and, trust between the Army as an institution and the
American public.2
At its core, the Army’s professional ethic is rooted in
the Constitution and the words duty, honor, and country. Our duty is to defend our country and to lead our
most precious resource, our soldiers. We must do so with
honor and integrity, many times under the most difficult
and chaotic of conditions. As soldiers join the military,
they raise their right hands and swear an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”3 Throughout
our Nation’s history, Americans have made tremendous
sacrifices to fulfill this commitment. The oath has served
as the foundation of leader development practices for
generations and will guide us through the myriad complexities that we will encounter in the future.
The Army Operating Concept is the intellectual
foundation for an evolutionary undertaking that will
drive change and enable solutions across the force.
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While some solutions may not yet exist, we begin today
by changing our mindset. If there is one overarching
requirement for the future force, it is that we must
remain laser-focused on developing leaders who are
skilled at optimizing the performance of individuals,
teams, and organizations. These Army leaders must
think critically and creatively, embrace innovation and
change, and foster focused collaboration to drive future
force development.
Leader development is the most important contributor to shaping the Army of the future. To put this into
perspective, many of tomorrow’s Army leaders—the
sergeants, lieutenants, and captains that will be making
their mark in the coming decade—are still in middle
school and high school, and today’s captains will lead
battalions and brigades in the next decade. We are
continuing to adapt our professional military education
and to develop the tactics, tools, and techniques they
will need. So, the most important task today is to form
the processes and management strategies to enable our
leaders of tomorrow to thrive in the uncertain, ambiguous, and complex world they will undoubtedly face.

The Army Leader Development
Strategy

The Army Leader Development Strategy (ALDS)
2013, provides a roadmap to develop Army leaders for
the challenges our Nation faces.4 Leader development
is a deliberate, continuous, and progressive process
that grows soldiers and Army civilians into competent,
committed professional leaders of character. The ALDS
identifies the competencies and attributes expected of
every leader—active and reserve officers, warrant officers, and noncommissioned officers (NCOs), as well as
civilians—through the Army Leadership Requirements
Model.5 Leader development is achieved through the
career-long synthesis of training, education, and experience. It is fostered in the institutional (schools and
courses), operational (duty assignments), and self-development (selected activities) domains, supported by
peer and developmental relationships. This strategy
must begin by attracting those with leadership potential; by identifying and assessing unique talents, skills,
attributes, and behaviors early on; and then by providing a career-long synthesis of training, education, and
experience acquired in our institutions and operational
units. We must foster talent to ensure that the Army
July-August 2015  MILITARY REVIEW