Know Your Role and don’t be a NOBA! In the Sub-Unit Command Series we’ve had advice from different ranks, branches and jobs in the British Army. I wanted to finish with some advice on sub-unit command of my own. My interest in leadership began shortly before I took command of my sub-unit. You would have…
Model Exercises and Mission Command By Des Fitzgerald In 2016 I was employed as a contractor on the British Army’s STRIKE concept experiment. The final element of the experiment was a three-week Virtual Environment exercise in the Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (CATT) for a STRIKE Company Group. There were a whole range of approved tactical…
When I’m in charge, I will do things differently By H Halawi Over the years I have been in various positions of responsibility and authority, as well as being on the receiving end of some good, as well as some not-so-good, leaders and managers. I remember always thinking to myself ‘if I was in charge…
What Got You Here Won’t Get You Further: On Success, Culture and Communication By Maj Will Meddings. If you are soon to take over your sub-unit, I expect you are feeling pretty good about yourself. I know I was. Over the 12 or so years leading up to company command I’d thought a great deal…
Don’t Begrudge The Toughest 20% – Advice on Company Command By Major Dave Godfrey The sum of your experiences, deployments and courses throughout your career go some way to prepare you for Company Command. However, the full spectrum of the task at hand is rarely apparent until a good proportion of the 2 years has…
My ‘Lessons Learnt’ – Four and a Half Thoughts on Sub-Unit Command by Maj Gen (Retd) Patrick Marriott I’ve recently written my first book, a book on leadership. It’s not that long; I wrote it for my children and it is privately published so that I could pass on some of the lessons I learned…
James Mattis’s Leadership Philosophy By The Army Leader You’d have to have been living in a hole to not have heard of James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis. The current Secretary of Defense and former United States Marine Corps General has a legendary reputation in the US armed forces. It’s a reputation built on stories of his no-nonsense combat and…
Counting the Costs of Winning: Doing the Right Thing, on a Difficult Day… When the Whole World is Watching By Martyn Cook. Leaders under pressure must keep themselves absolutely clean morally. The relativism of the social sciences will never do. They must lead by example, must be able to implant high-mindedness to their followers, and…
The Lord Down Here. Discipline Lessons from RSM John C Lord MVO MBE By Maj Will Meddings RSM John Lord MVO MBE is a legendary character but one that is less recognised these days than he should be. He achieved two notable firsts: the first RSM of 3 PARA (on its formation) and the first…
JP Morgan’s Guaranteed Formula For Success By The Army Leader Sometimes, in the Army and in our lives, we find ourselves confusing working long hours with working hard. And then we confuse working hard with achieving results. There’s no simple way to avoid this mistake. It requires us to constantly assess which task(s) will best…