Page 220 - The extraordinary leader

A Case Study in Leadership Development–The U.S. Marine Corps • 197

The same principle is applied to strategy and tactics. When confronted by
a situation with seemingly infinite alternatives, the leader is taught to narrow
them down to three plausible alternatives. (The Corps experimented once
with changing the number to four, and noted that people’s effectiveness sank
dramatically.) Having defined three reasonable scenarios, the task is then to
analyze these and select the best one.
When receiving an assignment, the Marines are taught to take time to
define an order’s “essence.” They work hard to put the order in its simplest
form, relevant to all who participate, and yet to keep the statement brief. In
some ways this is analogous to a vision or mission statement in a company,
though it is more operational.
Then the Marines are taught to pause, to determine the team’s strengths
and potential weaknesses in carrying out the mission, to state clearly the
assumptions that are being made (e.g., that the enemy will not use nuclear or
biological warfare), and to define the actions they must not take (killing civil-
ians, destroying historic buildings, or alienating the local population) and the
information they need to execute the mission.

Contrast with Leadership Tasks
in Business and Industry

The Marines have some leadership tasks that may differ in emphasis from
those in business. The point is that they have successfully designed their lead-
ership development around those unique requirements.
In the private sector, there may be more emphasis on the need for the
leader to perform a wide variety of tasks, such as:

● Create a vision for the group
● Affirm values
● Define a strategy
● Inspire and motivate people
● Step back to see the big picture, see large realities
● Anticipate the future, think long term
● Resolve interdepartmental conflicts
● Allocate resources
● Connect the group with the outside world
● Influence people in wide circles