Resilient Effective Adaptable Leadership

Abstract

Perhaps the most challenging environment a military leader operates within occurs when foundational technologies are suddenly denied use, degraded in capability, or destroyed. The US military leadership culture must evolve to embody, enable, and achieve resilience of intent at a time, tempo, and level of effectiveness better than any adversary. This evolved leadership style acknowledges that it cannot prepare for everything, but through collaboration and rapid adaptation it will find solutions, maintain the advantage, and be able to effectively respond to almost anything. In many studies, the measure of organizational resilience is tied to its ability to continue without its established leader(s). What is more effective, more challenging, and more relevant is the capacity to continue resiliently toward mission accomplishment when resources and technology are suddenly disrupted, rendered ineffective, or removed from well-established processes altogether. Resilient intent provides an interesting and uncommon lens through which leaders can begin to view their organization. There are six common blind spots in modern military culture inhibiting the development of more effective leaders to achieve resiliency: trust, risk, investment of time, ownership, technology dependence, and personal adaptability. Appropriately, six primary questions can serve as catalysts for reflection and dialogue to aid the evolution of modern leadership culture to best prepare for surprise, disruption, and crisis.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1065062

Entities

People

  • Jonathan D. Sawtelle

Organizations

  • Air University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Command And Control
  • Doctrine
  • Electronic Mail
  • Employment
  • Health Services
  • Human Behavior
  • International Organizations
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Students
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).