Centre for Australian Army Leadership Podcast Series

Host: LTCOL S Padman (SO1 Army Leadership)

Guest: Brigadier Rupert Hoskin, AM

In this episode of the Australian Army Leadership Programme podcast series, we’re speaking with Brigadier Rupert Hoskin about critical thinking and contributory dissent in the Australian Army. Brigadier Hoskin was the inaugural Director General Army Leadership in 2019 when the CAAL was raised, while serving as the Commandant of the Royal Military College – Australia.

Soon after the CAAL was formed, it undertook a large number of working groups across the Army and accumulated thousands of responses to both baseline and benchmark leadership within Army. Our people told us that critical thinking and contributory dissent were poorly understood and poorly practised. For it to work, we think both leaders and followers must be prepared to actively analyse situations and ideas, and must be committed to the value of alternative views. It’s situationally dependent, but it must always enhance the chain of command without undermining it. From leaders, it requires you set the conditions and establish the right organisational culture. From followers, it requires good communication skills, loyalty and emotional intelligence.