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Last month, we examined the argument in a lecture by Admiral James Stockdale titled “Education for Leadership and Survival: The Role of the Pressure Cooker.” For him, the most challenging pressure cooker of his life was nearly eight years as a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton. Part of the reason Admiral Stockdale and…
In 1981, Admiral James Stockdale delivered the Andrew R. Cecil Lecture on Morals in a Free Society. The lecture is titled “Education for Leadership and Survival: The Role of the Pressure Cooker,” and was published in The Ethics of Citizenship by the University of Texas at Dallas (no publication date given). Admiral Stockdale’s purpose is to examine…
For the past twelve months, we have looked at the eleven principles of Marine Corps leadership and the fourteen traits of a leader. Part of the purpose in this endeavor has been to show how the traits of a leader can be developed by anyone, whether military or not, and how leaders so defined…
The Marine Corps recognizes eleven principles of leadership and fourteen traits of leaders. In this and coming editions of “Front and Center,” we will present these principles and traits, discussing them as the Marine Corps understands them, and considering them in a broader perspective as they apply more generally to Americans whether or not they…
Last month, we considered the first principle of leadership recognized by the Marine Corps: Know yourself and seek self-improvement. We considered also the first trait of a leader: Justice. This month, we will examine the second principle, which is to be technically and tactically proficient, and the important trait of judgment. The Marine Corps’ understanding of technical and tactical proficiency holds…
In an essay titled “On Remembering Who We Are,” the late Melvin Bradford observed the following: “Yet as [Michael] Oakeshott insists, moral conduct is an art, insofar as it concerns the relations of men—an art learned by apprenticeship. And society is the necessary context of that learning.” The point that is made here is meant to…
Last month, we considered the Marine Corps leadership principle of knowing one’s people and looking out for their welfare. The next principle, keep your Marine personnel informed, is an extension of this, and it presents to us the interesting task of defining what is meant by being “informed.” In the discipline of biomedical ethics, the…
In his excellent book Memoirs of a Superfluous Man, Albert Jay Nock discusses in part his impatience with what he calls “social legislation” aimed at improving society presumably by improving human beings through the force of law. In an interesting discussion of a long-time friend who had been active in the effort to compel human beings to…
Marine Corps recruits at Parris Island, South Carolina have the interesting experience of a pattern guiding the way drill instructors train them. In an ordinary day at that extraordinary place recruits will learn several skills. The pattern begins with one or more drill instructors explaining the task to the recruits and repeating themselves when necessary…
When pianists learn a challenging piece of music, they often will learn the music for each hand separately and then, when the left and right hands have control of their parts, put the two together training to perform the piece as it is meant to be done. The structure of this process is found in…
Upon hearing the Marine leadership principle of making sound and timely decisions, one might reasonably respond, “Right, but how?” We get a sense of how to understand what it means to take decisions that are “sound” from the description of this principle, and we find, interestingly, that demonstrating this leadership principle seems to be rather…
