11 Leadership Principles: The Pillars of the US Army Leadership (2023)

Men that are looking to better themselves, and their lives must develop some leadership principles which they must uphold. We already know the reason why 20% of men get to be with most women—and that reason is that only 20% of men display some kind of control or leadership.

Related: Why women chose 20% of Men?

There are many kinds of leadership styles; some styles are tyrannical, others dictatorial, and some democratical. Nevertheless, they are leadership styles despite their notorious outcome. Ever since 1948, the US Army has developed leaders and they needed to find some way to portray leadership training in a matter which people can understand.

Therefore, in their training program, they have developed 11 Leadership Principles that have served many leaders through decades till this day. Uniforms and head gears have changed, and policies and regulations have come and gone, nevertheless, these principles have withstood the test of time for years and years to come.

These 11 principles of leadership were first developed and published in the Army Field Manual of Leadership in 1951 more than 60 years ago. More than a half-decade they are still used by all the Armed Forces in basic training, Marines, Air Force, and Navy—from every rank.

If you ever decided to be a well-trained leader these are the principles you should display for effectiveness:

1.Know yourself and seek self-improvement– in business, there is this analysis called the SOWT analysis, in which you should consider your strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats. The reason for this exercise is for you to understand who you are. What is valuable to you, and how you can prioritize the things in your work and life? By knowing all these things, you can begin to get to know yourself and have a starting point and whatever it is you don’t like or disagree with—you can be able to work towards changing it. Self-improvement is a process of sustaining strengths and overcoming weaknesses, so you can increase your competence level and ability to lead.

2.Be technically and tactically proficient– what this means is that you must master the systems in which you operate. You might not know all the ins and outs of how things work but you need to know enough about whatever it is that you are working on will work. So being effective is much more important than being efficient. Leaders trained their people to do their jobs while they are developing subordinates to pick up where the leader left off if the leader falls.

3.Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions–leadership is all about taking responsibility. They look for people that they can trust to help them achieve their goals. The expectation of taking the initiative is a sign of leadership. However, these initiative decisions had to be based upon the accomplishment of one common goal. When one takes the initiative, to help the accomplishment of a common goal is a risk, and only people with leadership skills are able to decern what is good for the task at hand and what is not. So, when they do take the initiative and then things don’t go their way it is expected for them to be accountable for their actions. Leaders should never be afraid or avoid responsibility by placing blame on someone else. However, they should never take responsibility for things that aren’t their fault. Integrity is key!

4.Set an example– Leaders should walk the walk and talk the talk. As a leader, you should never have anyone else do something that you can’t do yourself. People will imitate leadership behavior. If you found yourself that others aren’t doing what they are supposed to do is because the leader is not showing the way it should be done.

5.Know your people and look out for their welfare– It is not enough to know where your people come from or what are their names. You also need to know what are people’s individual goals. If one person’s individual goal doesn’t jive with the leader’s common goal then, that person has become a liability to the group of the leader. Each person in the group has a job in the system to do; if that person is faulting on his/her responsibilities something is wrong. As leaders, we should be able to decern what is it that is going on with that particular person, so the mission can continue. Showing genuine concern for the people in your group builds trust and respect for you as a leader.

6.Keep your people informed– no one likes to be kept out of the loop. Leaders must develop communication skills, that can explain the reason for doing the things people are doing. By keeping people informed, you ensured that things are done with one specific purpose. And things get executed based on a specific intent; it also developed teamwork and enhances morale.

7.Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and accomplished–One of the most important factors of leadership is ensuring tasks are understood. It is up to the leader to supervise, so, waste of time, resources, and money won’t manifest, and things get accomplished within the specific time. Therefore, planning is necessary to accomplish those things. Leaders should learn to plan ahead of time for things in the future and be able to forecast what can hinder them, their people, and their mission. Supervising also lets, your people know your interest in them and in the accomplished goal. Knowing the learning curve by which people become proficient, it’s a great way to synchronized supervision.

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8.Develop a sense of responsibility among your people– as your people transit from being a group to a team, they will start holding each other accountable so that they can successfully accomplish a new task. Delegation is imperative; as you get to know the people around you and who is playing for the team and who’s not. When you start delegating tasks to people, they feel a sense of trust. And trust is powerful—it is more powerful than money itself. It means that you are being part of something bigger than yourself, and for people that’s valuable. Delegation should be something that you give based on experience, and people you know have the skills, and motivation to do what you asked them to do. You should, never delegate things to people that aren’t ready or aren’t trustworthy.

9.Train your people as a team– no one is an island. People must learn how to work together. As a leader, you should learn the difference between a group and a team. If people are going through the motions in your group and they are only out for themselves in your group, they should not be in your group at all. The only way to achieve teamwork is when people have trust and respect for one another, including their leader. Only then you have achieved a cohesive unity—only then you have gotten yourself a team.

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10.Make sound and timely decisions– decisive leaders that know what the hell is going on at the spur of the moment, are much more effective that some wannabe leaders that’s always hesitating in their decisions. As leaders, we must develop the ability to assess situations at the spur of the moment, when emergencies, and high-profile stressful situations affect the course of the mission. Not everything is a smooth sale in the real world so you should expect to adapt and overcome challenges when need be. Indecisive leaders, create chaos, loss of morale, and confusion. Leaders must be able to see 20 steps ahead before any situation good or bad happens and be able to evaluate if this is something that will benefit themselves, and the team.

11.Employ your work unit in accordance with its capabilities– You should never ask anyone in your group anything that you can’t do for yourself. Leaders should know how much their team is capable of doing; what are their flaws, what are they are good at, and what are they not good at. Leaders must be aware of their team’s realistic and unrealistic expectations when on tasks.

These 11 leadership principles can be used in all walks of life; in your house, with your friends, with your kids, at your work, everywhere! Just remember that when women say: “Where are the Men Go!” What they really mean to say is: “Where are all the Leaders Go!” The majority of the women are looking to be part of a Leader’s team. Although most, have a problem of playing their role in the team; nonetheless, that’s content for another blog. Thus, they expect men to lead them! And lead them we should!

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