![]() This both undercut combat effectiveness and denied small-unit leaders the opportunity to grow by making decisions under extreme pressure. In Iraq and Afghanistan, Ricks writes, though U.S. troops fought their battles magnificently, their generals often seemed ill equipped for the tasks at hand-especially the difficult but essential job of turning victories on the ground into strategic progress. This brief but powerful history of the army since World War II holds stark lessons for business leaders. If you’re looking for management lessons from outside the halls of corporations, you could do worse than to study the United States Army. That master of management teaching Peter Drucker often turned to the military of his adopted nation for inspiration, especially on matters of leadership. Take, for example, this advice from his 1967 book The Effective Executive: It is the duty of the executive to remove ruthlessly anyone-and especially any manager-who consistently fails to perform with high distinction. To let such a man stay on corrupts the others. It is grossly unfair to the whole organization. It is grossly unfair to his subordinates who are deprived by their superior’s inadequacy of opportunities for achievement and recognition. Above all, it is senseless cruelty to the man himself. He knows that he is inadequate whether he admits it to himself or not. ![]() ![]() The first example Drucker cited of such wise practice came not from the business world of the 1960s but from the army of the 1940s. ![]() Marshall, he wrote, “insisted that a general officer be immediately relieved if found less than outstanding.” Ironically, by the time Drucker was writing, the army had lost the practice of swift relief that Marshall had enforced so vigorously. With regard to talent management, it was already beginning to teach a different kind of lesson-a cautionary tale. ![]()
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