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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
serve his nation and the army. In Marshall we have an example of a leader as
manager for a heroic purpose; his skillful use of communications was essen-
tial to his aims and those of our nation.
THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB
In 1939 General Marshall was appointed army chief of staff. It was the fulfill-
ment of a dream for a lifelong soldier who had devoted himself to the service
of his country. Marshall had had a slow rise through the ranks from second
lieutenant in the Philippines in 1902 through outposts in the American West,
service under General “Blackjack” Pershing in World War I in France, and
then service in Asia, including China. Now, as chief commander of air and
ground forces, it fell to Marshall to mobilize the American military for war
should it come.
The challenges that Marshall faced were enormous. While President
Franklin Roosevelt was a supporter of intervention, the American people for
the most part were not. Fortunately, Marshall had the organizational skills
necessary for the task. The army grew from a force of less than 500,000 at the
outbreak of war to 12.9 million at the end. Marshall mobilized American men,
women, and material. It was he who made certain that troops were equipped
for battle and that generals had the troops, supplies, and armaments that they
needed in order to wage war. 20

LEADER-TEACHER
It is said that the modern army took shape under Marshall’s guidance. He
served as an instructor at the War College for several years, and he also served
as chief instructional officer at Fort Benning, Georgia. Dispensing with text-
book planning, Marshall pushed for more realistic exercises, in which com-
manders would need to make decisions with only partial information, just as
on a real battlefield. In doing so, he reinvented the way the military educates
its officers. 21
One of Marshall’s chief assets was his ability to pick the right person for
the right job. At Fort Benning, Marshall identified future leaders and did what
he could to promote them. He created the American general corps of the Sec-
ond World War. His choice of military commanders was meticulous: Generals
Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Mark Clark, and George Patton were but
four of many standouts—all of whom earned a place in his little black book. 22

THE RIGHT WORDS OF DIPLOMACY
Time and again Marshall proved himself adept at communicating his point of
view without creating rancor, and in the process he gained respect for his posi-
tion as well as for himself. With Congress, Marshall could be charming as well