M3a1 – an Essay of Wellington’s Leadership TraitsEssay Preview: M3a1 – an Essay of Wellington’s Leadership TraitsReport this essayM3A1: An Essay of Wellington’s Leadership TraitsGreat Military LeadersBrett L. SprengerExcelsior College        Arthur Wesley or Wellington as his more commonly know is championed as a calm and collected leader who had a unique and highly successful defensive tactical approach to fighting battles. He is cited for being one of the greatest war-fighters with an uncanny ability to seize opportunities and foster the element of surprise in addition to cultivating the loyalty of his troops. Of course, battles are not won by individuals, rather than armies of loyal and willing participants. Besides great battlefield expertise, how did Wellington create such loyal troops? Why were they willing to following him into battle? Loyalty simply boils down to trust and is the base ingredient for a successful mission. Without trust, great misfortunate can infect mission success.
“Lead by example, humanize yourself with your crew and do not ask them to do something you’re not willing to do yourself” my father answered. I had asked him what makes a good leader as we were headed to the airport. He was dropping me off as I was headed to my new unit as a junior Petty Officer. One significant trait of Wellington was just that, he was known by his men to be all too familiar on the battle field; he would be in it knee deep with his troops. This is showcased by Harvey (2008) when he cited one of Wellington’s brigade-major speaking about him upon a successful battle with the Marthas of India in 1803, “The General was in the thick of the action the whole time, and had a horse killed under him. No man could have shown a better example to his troops than he did.”  Similarly, General Mattis shared a similar leadership in that he will not hesitate to be “in the thick of the action”. This trait is one that cultivates trust and therefore loyalty. This is but one factor to Wellington’s success.
One can feel that your military is an important part of your day. The very concept of being an authority brings you that confidence and authority when it matters.
†There is no better way to inspire your soldiers at what they are up against. And I know one great one who will inspire them the same way.‬ ‛He told me once and said…
My dad is a legend of military leadership, and he would have me on his team because at the time I wasn’t in battle, but in his company and with my sister and I. We weren’t the only ones, but we all felt the same as a result of that. It was a place where we can become who we can be and how we can achieve what we want. But he was right. I know who he was after his time as an Army Staff Sergeant. He was a great recruiter and a champion. He would make a good leader and I know his time in uniform would have been the difference. ‬
‍I still remember the moments where a senior officer wanted me to turn back that horse that was in my line of duty. He would make a great leader. And then he was right. In my platoon, the other senior soldier gave him the green light to turn back that horse. And I remember that feeling in that moment. His face lit up with pride‡ and his courage. It gave me joy and joy that would be contagious to any warrior, any soldier. It gave comfort to even the most hardened person that day and provided encouragement and peace in both your minds.
†You have to have the right attitude to make it into the next position the next day. You have to be patient, show it to your colleagues, listen to them, and make sure they do not do it again. But always follow your own example, do whatever it takes, and not be afraid to say what you think.”
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†I found that during the Second Opium War in Europe there was a lack of training for the leadership position. I remember one senior military officer saying they were going to bring up a lot of their first generation Soldiers and he had asked me to be the first Chief of Staff of his platoon. He said that everyone could come in and do that. This guy said I was the first Chief of Staff of my platoon and he was right: we were the first generation Soldiers who were going to come in and do that because nobody could come in on that unit and not believe in the way you work. The first generation Soldiers and Marine Corps was all about the idea of teamwork and teamwork, work-to-play. They all were about the belief in being competitive and pushing yourself, and that was one of the things they needed. To create this kind of morale and to encourage the young and strong to achieve their goals and accomplish their goals. That was the first thing they would want to do to create this kind of morale and to motivate their young and strong Soldiers. I see how much you can do when you work with young people that they are just as brave as the boys of our generation. They grow up as confident, do well on standardized assignments, and grow up doing the things that are important for you. It could have been about how you take care of their family, your church, maybe a home that has to be safe. It just was the first step.
‡But many young men and women are young men and women that they did not know how to lead. And it just got to a point where they would try to figure out what to do next and then they would get carried away and take any orders that they knew that were wrong. When you go through this, there is too much of