The Reagan Way: Using Leadership Skills for Strategic Success

Abstract

In spite of many critics who belittled his style and his presidency, Ronald Reagan is increasingly viewed as a heroic President who fulfilled his vision of restoring peace and prosperity at home and freedom abroad. The thesis of this paper is that Reagan used certain key leadership skills to succeed as President that may be used as a model by other strategic leaders. In examining Reagan's leadership skills, the competencies of strategic leaders identified in the U.S. Army War College Strategic Leadership Primer are used to examine Reagan's "Be" or disposition competencies focused on leader values and attributes; "Know" disposition competencies, focused on leader conceptual, technical, and interpersonal skills; and "Do" action competencies, focused on leader actions, including influencing, operating, and improving. Reagan's competency as a strategic leader revolved around his leadership competencies of a compelling vision, policy direction and leadership, and an extraordinary ability to communicate his vision, influence, and persuade. These skills can serve as a general guide and model for other strategic leaders who are skillful enough to develop and use them.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 10, 2000
Accession Number
ADA374950

Entities

People

  • William E. Coburn

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Air Force
  • Alzheimer Disease
  • Cold War
  • Economic Policy
  • Federal Budgets
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Personality
  • Public Policy
  • Security
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).