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Dunford Discusses Leadership With Global CEOs


By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed leadership with global chief executive officers here today, giving them some truths he has learned in 38 years in the leadership forge of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. spoke to more than 100 global chief executive officers at the Wall Street Journal’s Chief Executive Officer Council.

Military-style leadership can carry over to the corporate world, the general said. “What you want in an organization is a sense of purpose -- we call it ‘mission’ -- and you want everyone in the organization focused on the same ends,” he said. “You want everyone to not only have that sense of purpose, but be committed to it.”

Having a vision, clearly articulating the vision and setting a climate within which people can be successful are essential elements of successful leadership, Dunford said.

Scaling Leadership Styles

Formulating that is different for different organizations -- and for differently sized organizations, he said.

For the military, size matters, the general said. Up to the rank of lieutenant colonel, or commander in the Navy, commanders engage in direct leadership. After that, commanders exercise indirect leadership, Dunford said. The ability to make that transition is crucial to leading a large organization, he said.

“Before you make that transition … you can get the entire organization in a school circle and look them in the eyes, you can talk to them and you can do that routinely,” the general said. “Frankly, you can actually know them, personally.”

But Dunford is the highest-ranking officer in a force of more than 2 million service members. The CEOs lead corporations with many thousands of workers. How do you lead such a number?

“You are not going to have a personal relationship with all 2 million, yet the message you convey and communicate is going to affect all 2 million on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

In the military, communicating the commander’s intent is a key facet of leadership at every level, Dunford said. As a leader, he said, “It ought to be clear what your intent is.”

And the number of echelons at which the commander’s intent must be understood has expanded from years past, he said. “We used to say people needed to understand the commander’s intent from two levels up,” he said. “I’ve increasingly become convinced that that’s not adequate, and that every person in the organization needs to understand the boss’s vision.”

Grasping the Big Picture at All Levels

In other words, it is no longer enough that a young infantry private first class or lance corporal serving in a line company in Afghanistan or Iraq understands his battalion commander’s intent. That outdated way of thinking “is not enough to inoculate him to the information age where there are all kinds of feeds coming in,” Dunford said.

“He actually needs to have the perspective of nearly the president,” the chairman continued. “In other words, he needs to understand ‘Why am I here?’ ‘How does this fit into the broader picture?’ and ‘How do my individual responsibilities on a day-to-day basis contribute to that broader vision?’ I think setting that kind of climate is pretty important in indirect leadership.”

Building consensus throughout an organization is equally important, Dunford added. As an example, he cited his experience when he became commandant of the Marine Corps. He called senior leaders from around the Corps to a three-day meeting in Quantico, Virginia. There they hashed out a plan for the Marine Corps’ next four years. Everyone had the opportunity to contribute suggestions, amend proposals and work through disagreements, the chairman said.

“Your opportunity to dissent is on the front end here,” he said. “Once you buy into this vision, you need to close ranks and execute the vision. Because a plan that may not be perfect [but is] violently executed is better than spending the next several months trying to develop the perfect plan.”

Obviously, Dunford said, any plan needs to take change into consideration. It’s important leaders “make course and speed corrections. [You] don’t want to be rigid,” he said.

Welcome Dissent

Leaders need to be approachable and welcome dissent, the chairman said. “How you receive bad news is pretty important,” he said. “If you receive bad news well, you’ll continue to receive bad news -- you’ll continue to get the information you need from inside the organization.”

But if a leader receives bad news poorly -- “if the messenger ends up with an arrow through the brain-housing group -- then you are probably not going to get that information a second time,” Dunford said.

Trust is a huge part of any organization, he said, adding that he tends to trust those who are comfortable to receive orders and not ask too many questions. He likes “where you tell someone what to do, not how to do it,” he said. “That’s the quality that I most look for.”

“The folks I have a tendency to trust are those who require the least care and feeding,” Dunford continued. “I’m in a mode where you want to surround yourself with problem-solvers, not problem-identifiers. And you want people who can actually take minimal guidance and go off and produce within the framework of your intent.”

(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)