Leadership Handbook for Small Military Operations (The combat bookshelf)

At the most fundamental level, a leader is a person with influence over other people. This influence may be the result of appointment to a formal position of leadership or of acceptance by a group of persons who then become followers. In both cases, the leader’s success is ultimately determined by the performance of those he leads. This performance depends on the quality and nature of his leadership actions as he interacts with his followers. A leader’s interactions with his men can inspire their trust, respect, and devotion, their cordial dislike, or any intermediate feeling between those two extremes.

The primary purpose of this text is to help both actual and would-be leaders to acquire effective skills for influencing others, with particular reference to positions of military leadership. An assumption basic to the approach taken is that a leader who acts effectively in his role as a leader will obtain willing obedience, confidence, respect, and loyal cooperation in order to accomplish the mission. Thus, the actual leadership behavior of the military leader will be the central topic of this volume.

Topics include: Leadership of Groups, Setting Platoon Goals and Standards, Motivating Performance, NCO Use and Support, Handling Disruptive Influences, and much more.