Page 160 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS ENERGIZE THEIR PEOPLE

Britain’s Daily Telegraph. When General Petraeus talks about leadership,
people listen. U.S. Major John Patrick Gallagher (WHF 07–08) certainly did.
Petraeus was a colonel in the 82nd Airborne Division at the same time
Gallagher was assigned to the division as a second lieutenant. Gallagher, a
graduate of West Point and the University of Chicago with degrees in
philosophy, sociology, and public policy, remembered the day Petraeus
called the troops into the chapel and asked if anyone could tell him the
number one leadership priority of the brigade. “We all said integrity,
professional and tactical competence, things like that. Gosh, we went
through every quality we could think of,” Gallagher recalled with a
chuckle. “We even mentioned marksmanship and good vehicle mainte-
nance, but he kept saying that was not the answer he was looking for.
Finally someone said, ‘Physical fitness?’ And he said, ‘Yes, that’s right. That’s
the number one leadership priority.’ Well, we thought he was kidding,
and we couldn’t for the life of us figure out how that could be the number
one priority in the brigade. But we learned later that he was right: Self-
discipline and being able to perform under pressure and exist outside our
comfort zone would be the key that unlocked our success.”
Petraeus began leading his troops through seventy-five minutes of
intense exercise every morning on the parade field, working them to
exhaustion and then pushing them farther. With every pull-up, push-up,
and sprint, the brigade began to change. The troops became more alert
during the day. They had more physical and mental energy. Their individual
and team pride increased markedly.
“All those other things we wanted to do well got better, whether it was
marksmanship or vehicle maintenance or soldiers going on leave and not
getting arrested for DUI,” Gallagher said. “All these other indicators went
up when Petraeus created this climate of self-discipline. He boiled down
his leadership approach to this: Am I giving my subordinates energy or am
I taking it away? Put another way, am I leading in a way that causes my
subordinates to be more enthusiastic and creative about doing their jobs—
to believe more deeply in what they are doing and why they are doing
it—or am I leading in such a way that it is stifling growth and enthusiasm?
If the latter is true, the job may still get done by the sheer force of your
legitimacy or presence, but it doesn’t get done as well and it doesn’t last
after you’re gone. Petraeus knows how to lead in such a way that it gives
his subordinates energy. That’s an incredibly powerful leadership tool.”

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