In preparation for assuming Commander Landing Force in December I am reflecting on what it means to command and lead within the Australian Defence Force. What follows is a personal collection of command and leadership lessons that I have gathered over the course of my career. Some of these lessons are born of personal experiences, some are collected from the experiences of others. These lessons form the core of my command and leadership philosophy that will continue to develop and evolve as I continue to learn. In providing these thoughts for others to read, it is my hope that fellow soldiers, sailors, and aviators may find something useful.

On Values and Ethics

“You will put first the honour and interests of your country and your regiment; next you will put the safety, well-being and comfort of your men; and last – and last all the time – you will put your own interest, your own safety, your own comfort” – Field Marshal Sir William Slim, 13th Governor General of Australia, 1957.

Rank confers responsibility, not privilege. Commanders at all levels must demand of themselves firstly, and their subordinates secondly. Understanding this enables commanders and subordinates to exceed expectations.

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it’s the quality that guarantees all others” – Sir Winston Churchill

Our values form the foundation of everything we do – Courage, Service, Respect, Integrity & Excellence.[1]

Courage. We lead by example, demonstrating mental, moral, and physical courage through:

• Managing Fear: We all feel it. Prepare for it so you can overcome it.
• Resilience: the ability (physical) and desire (mental) to persevere and win – always.
• Daring: bold and audacious action to seize and maintain the initiative.

Service. We demonstrate selflessness of character, placing the security and interests of our nation and its people ahead of our own:

• Selflessness: the mission, our teams, and our equipment come first.
• Trust: our commanders and subordinates understand our role in the joint-force team.
• Humility: humble professionalism.

Respect. We demonstrate ethical and moral behaviour through our words and actions:

• Value and encourage diversity: by embracing the inherent differences and expertise our Joint, Defence, and Coalition partners bring to the team.
• Loyalty: to our heritage, family, and reputation, Defence and the nation.
• Reverence: of all threats to our mission, people, and capability – we give no quarter.

Integrity. We demonstrate consistency of character to do what is right through our:

• Self-discipline: to set and maintain standards and demand them of others.
• Accountability: for our actions, and those of our teams.

Excellence. We demonstrate a bias for action and relentless pursuit of excellence through:

• Ownership: of the problem at hand, and the solutions to resolve it.
• Professional Mastery: through continuous individual learning and development of combat behaviours and our collective training and certification of mission essential tasks.
• Innovation: to modernise and develop relevant capability to enable our soldiers.

On Command and Leadership

• Command is absolute. The buck stops with you!
• No higher privilege can be bestowed upon a commander than being afforded the opportunity to lead Australian soldiers, sailors, and aviators.
• Leadership = Competence + Authenticity + Example
• Unit / Team culture is a reflection of your leadership. You get the behaviour you reward.
• Have the courage to be quiet and genuinely listen, be prepared to have your mind changed.
• Decentralise decision making to the lowest capable level. Develop and practice mission command in the barracks, and in the field. Allow subordinate freedom of action; let them learn through making mistakes. Reflect on them together and learn as a team. If you’ve decentralised to the point where you have become uncomfortable, you have hit the sweet spot.
• Reward initiative and bias for action.
• Back your team and protect your mavericks – good ideas do not wear rank!
• If in doubt use the service test: Have the actions or behaviour of an individual adversely impacted, or are they likely to impact on, the efficiency or operational effectiveness of the unit or Defence?”
• Don’t resent problems that come to you, it’s your job to resolve them.
• Get some sleep, and ensure your subordinates do the same.
• Most importantly, remember it’s about those you command, not you.

On Communication

• Face to face communication trumps all other forms. Leadership is a human activity.
• Open and honest relationships are critically important. Encourage your subordinates to speak informed truth to power.
• Give clear, concise intent to unleash subordinate initiative and action.
• In the absence of orders or command guidance create some, issue it, and execute. If you’re wrong, you’ll soon find out, then you’ll have the command direction you were looking for.
• There are three types of information: routine, important, critical. Of each ask: What do I know? Who needs to know and why? What decisions/actions are required at this time?

On Teamwork

• You are only as successful as the combined, joint, interagency, coalition team around you.
• You can only work with what you have – if you cannot develop your team and build trust, your leadership is obsolete.
• Command subordinate relationships set the conditions for professional standards.
• Foster an inclusive culture. Give new personnel opportunity to demonstrate competence early and build confidence. Ensure they succeed by pairing them with the right mentor.
• Loyalty only counts when there are a hundred reasons not to be.

On People

• Really know your people – get out of your office and engage with your people.
• Manage the myriads of personnel issues daily, you are responsible for them – if you don’t the situation will manage you.
• Invest in your subordinates’ career progression, PME, and PD.
• Reward high performance publicly.
• Do not shy away from the hard truth, tell your subordinates if they are not meeting the standard and manage them until they do. Do not pass the buck to your successor, or through posting cycles.
• Create opportunities for your subordinates to demonstrate their abilities.
• Make a “big deal” of honours and awards, new personnel, and farewells/retirements. It’s about demonstrating that your people are valued team members.

On Training

• Individual and collective training standards are the foundation of success in combat.
• Proficiency in the barracks = proficiency in the field.
• Poor discipline in barracks = poor discipline in the field.
• Basic readiness requirements are non-negotiable.
• Understand in detail the Training Levels / Standards and the mission-essential tasks required of each and every level. This forms the basis for the development of your training plan.
• A robust training program is essential… plan, plan, plan. And, provide the necessary resources.
• Certify training personally.
• Conduct AARs and write detailed PARs so others can learn from what you did.
• Do purposeful PT every day. Ensure you, and your entire command team participates in platoon and section PT, it’s a great way to engage with your soldiers, and to get honest feedback. It’s about leading by example.
• You are responsible for personnel professional development. Have a plan.
• Know your peoples’ career course requirements. Prepare them well and release them on time to attend.

On Fighting and War

• Those who fight alone get defeated – we fight as a combined, joint, interagency and coalition team.
• Take the fight to the enemy, seize and maintain the initiative – you have no right to victory, you must fight for it.
• Never underestimate your enemy – the enemy gets a vote, learn from the enemy.
• Challenge traditional thinking and use rat cunning to overcome our enemies.
• War is a human endeavour, fight in accordance with our values and win trust.
• Learn to fight in a C2 denied and degraded environment.
• Having the most modern capabilities and technologies does not automatically mean you know best, be humble and willing to learn from our partners.
• Keep your intelligence officer close, keep your logistics officer closer.
• The best officers and soldiers soon realise most tactical problems have administrative solutions.
• Culture trumps doctrine and tactics.
• Strive to achieve surprise in all that you do.
• Be prepared for the future, you can’t predict it, but you’d better be able to adapt to it.

On Service to the Nation

• The oath to serve your county did not include a contract for normal luxury and comforts enjoyed within our society, on the contrary it implies hardship, loyalty, and devotion to duty regardless of your rank.
• We ensure our government negotiates from a position of strength.
• We will face nothing worse than those who served at Gallipoli, the Western Front, Kokoda, Tobruk, El Alamein, Samichon, Malaya, Coral-Balmoral, Rwanda, and Afghanistan.

Conclusion

You can expect these values and traits of me and trust that I am totally committed to the mission and you. I will demonstrate an understanding and tolerance for mistakes made with the right intent; reward commitment, effort, and bias for action; but will never tolerate unacceptable behaviour, involvement with illicit substances, or any action that jeopardises our team or the ADF.