Character and leadership in an age of image.

Zubrod, Gordon A.D.

Character and Leadership in an Age of Image

By General Sir Richard Dannatt, Commanding General, British Army

Review by Gordon A.D. Zubrod, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Middle District of Pennsylvania

http://www.ttf.org/index/journal/detail/where-no-one-sees/

On November 8, 2008, General Sir Richard Dannatt, the commanding general of the British Army, addressed a gathering of Rhodes and Marshall Scholars at Oxford University. Speaking only four days after the U.S. presidential election, General Dannatt pointedly noted that the new president will need to distinguish between the task of leadership and the political function of "promising much" and "presenting an image of success." Titling his comments, "Character and Leadership in an Age of Image," the general opened his remarks by quoting British business leader W. H. Smith: "Character and integrity are as important in a manager or leader as capability."

The bulk of General Dannatt's remarks focused on specific leadership principles and approaches that are applicable to the conduct of foreign policy, such as strategic, operational and tactical thinking: the steps necessary to convert strategic goals into an operational plan that separates out and delegates tasks and equips the subordinates to carry them out. These leadership skills comprise "the energy and the drive to take the team on the journey," and are needed now more than ever by the West, which is engaged in what many believe is a clash of civilizations.

Dannat stressed, however, that such ideas, without the ability to translate them into action and to convince an organization (or country, or civilization) to take ownership of them, rendered them no more than theoretical propositions. The test is whether those who are integral to your plan will come on the journey with you. Leadership is one thing; successfully promoting "followership" is another.

What is it that gives a leader his authority--his right to lead? The answer comes down to who that leader is as a person. A self-seeking, bottom line-oriented leader will never be trusted, his goals will never be seen as honorable, and he will never lift his organization from the mediocre to the exceptional. "Integrity establishes the moral baseline to lead," according to Dannatt. Leadership, he cautioned, was always personal, the fruit of study, reflection, experimentation and modeling other leaders. Quoting the late Field Marshall Lord Harding, he stressed the need for adjectives when referring to character qualities:

* Absolute fitness

* Complete integrity

* Enduring courage

* Daring initiative

* Undaunted will-power

* Agility of mind

* Knowledge, judgment, team spirit

Having staked out the issue of character, General Dannatt observed that something more than a moral baseline was needed for true, transformational leadership. This extra dimension was essentially spiritual in nature. General Dannatt described this spiritual dimension as "something larger than ourselves," noting that when people are stretched to their physical and psychological limits, they reach beyond the rational and moral to the spiritual realm. An effective leader must recognize this dimension and "provide for it," that is to say, to model the spiritual dimension. One can almost visualize some careerists slipping from the room.

However, in a theocratic age, where Islamic militants are loudly proclaiming their moral and spiritual superiority over the West, General Dannatt could have been more explicit as to what he meant by "spiritual dimension." Surely, he was not referring to the vague, solipsistic spirituality of the secularist. General Dannat would have rendered truer service had he been more specific regarding the "spiritual realm" to which he was referring. Could it be that he was, sub silentio, lifting up the Christian faith that has undergirded and sustained Western civilization for millennia? It is that issue upon which the future of this civilization hangs. The enemy is at the gate.