Developing Operational Leadership For The Future
Abstract
The post-Cold War force reductions and efforts to integrate regional perspectives into US national security and military strategies resulted in a renewed focus on operational art and the need for operational leaders. While the services foresee the need for operational art they have not taken the necessary steps to effectively develop the operational leader. The reason for the lack of an effective operational leadership development process stems from three impediments: a lack of service doctrine which reflects the need for operational art, a peacetime environment that focuses more on "square filling" rather than developing operational leaders, and a military education system which does not adequately prepare leaders for the operational environment. To overcome these impediments, the services must first develop operational doctrine that clearly reflects the need for operational art. The Joint Staff can assist in this effort through their influence in the military education system. Secondly, the services must carefully select their future operational leaders. This selection process must occur early enough in an officer's career to develop operational leadership skills but not so early as to limit the opportunities for the officer to develop a strong foundation at the tactical level of warfare. Next, the services must improve the academic process by making professional military education a continuous process, developing a curriculum that is specifically focused on developing operational leadership skills, and changing the means of instructing operational art from an analysis- to a synthesis-based process. Finally, the services must carefully manage the careers of those selected future operational leaders so that academic, staff and command positions complement each other during the operational leadership development process.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 18, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA351704
Entities
People
- Dennis L. D'angelo
Organizations
- Naval War College