Developing the Navy's Operational Leaders: A Critical Look

Abstract

Admiral Mullen's words accurately reflect the Navy's traditional pronouncement on leadership. Yet for most of the past century the Navy has struggled to define formally and institutionalize its development process for naval leaders. Just as the Navy accepts that "everything starts and ends with leadership," it comfortably assumes that leadership "just happens," as a natural derivative of operational assignments. More than ninety studies, reviews, and boards have examined the Navy's officer leadership, training, and education practices, in a continuing effort to produce an enduring and integrated system of officer development. Nevertheless, the Navy has been unable to reconcile the symbiotic relationship among training, education, and experience, and this inability has left it unprepared to meet the challenges inherent in the vision of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) to "develop 21st century leaders." The Navy's concept of an officer's development continuum traditionally culminated in promotion to flag rank and the command of battle groups-the pinnacle of naval leadership, exercised in a naval context. Today, operational leadership at flag rank demands much more. Twenty-first- century operational leadership is synonymous with joint leadership. Further, as aptly stated by Admiral Mullen, "The future of national and international security relies on the interoperability and cooperation among the services, the interagency, international partners and non-government organizations...But we are only as good as the contribution we make to the overall effort." The Navy's greatest challenge, and one of Admiral Mullen's enduring top three priorities in his tenure as CNO, is to cultivate leaders prepared to meet the challenges inherent in the twenty-first-century security environment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA519408

Entities

People

  • Christopher D. Hayes

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Distance Learning
  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Education
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Naval Operations
  • Naval Personnel
  • Naval Warfare
  • Navy
  • Personnel Management
  • Second World War
  • Students
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime and Naval Warfare Studies
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • Strategic Security Studies