Senior Military Leadership; the Untapped Talent Pool Examination of Military and Private Sector Leadership Qualities

Leadership necessitates leaders. People, like snowflakes, are unique. This holds true for those in leadership roles. Their unique stories and perspectives cause each individual to have different situational reactions; they have distinctive coping mechanisms to stress and diverse motivation factors. We are not all the same; we react differently to situations, have unique stories, cope with stress in different ways and are motivated by dissimilar factors. In organizations, this individuality applies to leaders as well as followers. Conventional definitions of those qualities considered most important do not distinguish between leaders in the Private sector and the Military. In fact, research indicates, that most individuals look toward military leaders as the example of strong effective leadership. Military Officers begin leadership development from the very beginning of their career, normally at a relatively young age. These leaders have been responsible for executing critical and dangerous missions, placed in charge of billions of dollars of equipment and are responsible for the lives of the personnel under their command. The qualities that these men and women have perfected over a 20-30 year career can be equally adapted to fit outside the military and should be considered to fill executive positions in Business, Non-Profit Organizations and Academia.