[April 18 2017] The title of this blog is not the most elegant … but it is a quote from one of the best U.S. Army Sergeant Majors in recent times. I was sitting in the audience of soldiers and military families when the guest speaker said these words. I instantly connected to the speaker and idea. Yes, the best leaders are certainly not victims and that gives us a hint at the power of strong leadership.
During the speech I was surprised to hear what I’d been telling people for a long time. Now here was someone else with the same idea and applying it the same way. We were told about two Infantry companies in Vietnam War during the late 1960s. While on paper, both looked about the same with similar casualty rates, losses of equipment, and ammunition expenditure. Looking deeper there were crucial differences.
Both companies were from the 25th Infantry Division (nicknamed “Tropic Lighting”). Both units fought bravely during the Tet Offensive where the North Vietnamese launched a militarily unsuccessful offensive against South Vietnam. Soldiers of the 25th were instrumental in defending the besieged city of Saigon.
From these two units we learned that each had an internal culture leading to predictable outcomes. In one company the leaders saw a confused, complex, and dangerous situation, came together and figured out a way to quickly destroy enemy Viet Cong forces in their sector of the battlefield. Their leaders were not extraordinary and in fact, they were just mediocre but they were leaders in every sense of the word.
The other unit saw the same situation but decided to blame their headquarters for not keeping them informed on current intelligence or supplied with the food, water, and ammunition. They were quick to finger point at problems (what isn’t a problem in combat) and blamed their division for causing them to fail in holding back Viet Cong soldiers infiltrating their sector. Leaders in this company were exceptional, among some of the best.
So what made them different? It could be boiled down into how each approached a difficult situation. One was based on leadership, the other on victimhood. It’s an important distinction. The bottom line in this historic example was that even good leaders can fail if they adopt a victimhood mentality.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]