More Than Just ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ By Dave Crosbie In my last week of Sub-Unit Command, I was having a coffee with a friend. We were discussing the crux of good leadership at any level and mused that it probably boiled down to ‘don’t be a dick’. Whilst this thoughtful, lucid observation does have…
(Re)Serve to Lead: Advice on Leading a Reserve Subunit By Chris, Mike and Chris Much ink has been spilled around Regular subunit command in this journal, but none about Reserve subunit command. Reserve subunit commanders (henceforth referred to Officers Commanding – OCs) who are about to take over subunits deserve some advice written specifically for…
Imagine, Align, Communicate: How To Provide Vision By Major Paul Cooper “We need to destroy – not attack, not damage, not surround – I want you to destroy the Republican Guard. When you’re done with them, I don’t want them to be an effective fighting force anymore. I don’t want them to exist as a…
The Modern Regimental Sergeant Major By WO1 Lee Jones I write this as I reach the end of my non-commissioned career, finishing my time as RSM of the 1st Battalion, The Rifles. Before I left, I wanted to share my thoughts on what I think it means to be an RSM these days. Gone are…
Learning to Lead – The Hard Way By LCpl David Griffiths It is easy to write about leadership. Putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard is the easy part. It takes no real effort and can be done from bed. The real difficulty lies in practicing leadership. I have learnt this the hard way.…
Get off Their Backs! A JNCO’s Guide to Avoiding Micromanagement By Ben Hayden I walked down the stairs to the company offices ready for the obligatory 1030 post-phys roll call. At 1020 I was welcomed by the sight of 72 Guardsmen, stood in the rain in three ranks, nearly ten minutes early on a wet…
Conflicted: Why Arguing is the Right Thing to do. Interviewed by The Army Leader For years Ian Leslie was fascinated by the question of why public and private disagreements go so badly, so often. In public, they descend into acrimony or get stuck in a grinding neutral gear. In private, disagreements should shatter groupthink or…
The Pleasure of Command: Reflecting on the Sub-Unit Command Series By Matt Paterson The introduction to The Army Leader Sub-Unit Command Series makes several things clear. It is a privilege with unprecedented freedom and autonomy; it is the culmination of your experience to-date; and it is the peak of team leadership. However, it can also…
Peak Performance Under Pressure by Dr Stephen Hearns Reviewed by Dan Spiers In June 2020 the British Army’s Centre of Army Leadership published Leading Through Crisis: A Practitioner’s Guide. It was written after the Centre provided mentors and leadership advice to the NHS and local government during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis. Peak Performance…
Locked Up Potential: Thief, Prisoner, Soldier, Priest By The Army Leader Team Does the leadership style or the lessons learned in one institution translate from that organisation to the next? Paul Cowley MBE is a man whose life has been spent working in and around different institutions; he served time in a young offenders’ prison…