[June 04, 2015] We’ve all heard excuses from people who, for some reason, fail to meet their obligations; whether that is doing their job, performing a required task, finishing a project. Some people complain more than others … we know who they are and we know what they will say before they say it. Over my decades of military service – in peace and in war – the excuses from leaders have been both creative and in the wrong. My focus here will be on senior leader excuses and that those have been similar to others.
We are told that excuses in the military are unacceptable. Often, those who give excuses for their failures are given a good dose of traditional advice via additional “training”. We are told that “the maximum effective range of an excuse is zero” … a play on words about knowing the effective range of military weapons. Senior leaders are less likely to give an excuse for not upholding their obligations but occasionally they still give them. Here are a few I remember … they also involve serious lapses in judgment:
- An Army colonel responding to my inquiry about his failure to inform his soldiers over a key training event, told me that his job was too important to spend time with junior soldiers. He was passed over for promotion and given a poor performance rating.
- When I inquired about why a one-star Flag officer was using his influence to have junior soldiers run personal errands (e.g., wash his car, bring him lunch, do his laundry), he said his job took too much time for him to do menial work. I asked for him to be relieved of his duties and he subsequently retired early.
- A two-star Flag officer was not holding a senior civilian accountable for numerous errors in judgment and failures to obey orders of military officers. When I asked about it, he told me not to question his authority and not talk to him about the civilian. Less than 6 months later, after I asked difficult questions, the senior Flag officer unexpectedly retired and the civilian resigned.
- During a combat operation in Iraq, two staff lieutenant colonels failed to show for movement from our base to a new staging area. One told me he was busy and forgot. The other told me he slept in because he was tired. I went without two key individuals on the operation. Both were relieved of their duties, given bad proficiency ratings, and ordered returned to the United States.
- A senior Department of Defense civilian was responsible to assigning available space for contractors in our military base in Iraq. I discovered he was taking money from contractors for better locations, in other words he was being bribed. When I asked him why, he said that it was the way things are done over here to give and take bribes. I had him sent home and charged for theft where he was found guilty and sentenced to 4 years in prison.
- Several witnesses told me that a few private security contractors in Iraq had unnecessarily fired on civilian vehicles, killing several people. I asked the senior security official to investigate and take appropriate action to remove anyone guilty of not following approved procedures. He refused and he told me it was not in my job description to tell him what to do. I had him put on the next military aircraft out of country and several of his men were later charged for murder.
These are just a few examples of behavior that should have never taken place. What made each of these worse was that those individuals confronted about their actions, each gave an excuse for what they did. There are no excuses for what they did … period.
Nothing any would say could make their behavior acceptable but they gave one anyway. Lesson learned. Each was a leader … each a senior leader. Leadership means not doing anything improper and also never giving an excuse for not doing your job properly. This is what no excuse leadership is about.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]