Page 219 - The extraordinary leader

196 • The Extraordinary Leader

responsibilities of the group changed. For example, the patrol leader becomes
the medic, and a new patrol leader comes into the group. Circumstances
change rapidly, and everyone must be prepared to deal with rapid change.
Leadership Requires the Use of Peer Discipline and Pressure. Not
wanting to let your peers down is a more powerful motivation to a Marine
than not disappointing an officer. In private-sector corporations, the empha-
sis is more often on pleasing a boss.
“Proving” behavior is pervasive in the business world, and it involves the
individual having a strong need to look good in the eyes of a boss. Because of
that, the discipline from the organization comes largely from the person who
can hire and fire you.
The Marines, in contrast, emphasize group discipline. It has long been rec-
ognized that their primary motivation is to protect their comrades. Discipline
ensures a deep commitment to the organization, to the unit, and to comrades.
Thus, the strongest motivational forces come from within each person and
the relationship with colleagues.
Leadership Involves Planning andd Performing Under Intense Time
Pressure. The Marines train people to plan a mission down to the smallest
detail, but the planning process is often compressed into a few hours. David
Freedman describes one exercise he witnessed at Camp Pendleton in these
words: “The Marines don’t know what awaits them on shore, but they are con-
fident that six hours of planning and preparing have left them better equipped
to face it than most military units would be after six months.” He goes on to
note, “The art of a hard strike drawn up and delivered at lightning speed may
once have seemed as far removed from the domain of a business as a moon
shot. But with month-long high-tech-product life cycles, just-in-time manu-
facturing operations and overnight global currency crashes, the business world
might just be coming around to the Marines’ point of view.” 9
Speed is of the essence in the Marines’ world. They prefer the benefits of
a 70 percent solution that, though imperfect, can be reached immediately.
Their position is that rapidly executed, mediocre decisions at least stand some
chance of success. Those who are on the scene of the battle can often correct
any flaws. The 70 percent decision implemented now is always better than a
100 percent decision implemented late.
Leadership Demands Reducing Complexity to Manageable Simplicity.
The Marines are dedicated to a “rule of three.” They organize using this
principle, so that a corporal has a three-person firing team, a sergeant has three
firing teams reporting to him, a lieutenant and a sergeant have a platoon that
consists of three squads, and so it continues upward.