From Battlefield to Boardroom: Making the Difference through Values-based Leadership

Citation

Jeffrey D. Yergler (2015), "From Battlefield to Boardroom: Making the Difference through Values-based Leadership", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 36 No. 7, pp. 901-903. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-01-2015-0010

The authors Yardley, Kakabadse, and Neal approach their writing about leadership from the perspective of lessons learned by the British military. This is the window through which they explore leadership principles drawn from a deep, rich, and broad military tradition. However, this book is not simply about leadership axioms drawn from the British military machine. The insights gained from the battlefield are carried over to the business enterprise. While the military-leadership-principles-applied-to-business template is certainly not new, it could be successfully argued that the author’s approach is rather innovate. This innovation centers on how the British military has moved toward a values-based leadership model as opposed to the more familiar and traditionally based transactional leadership model. The transactional model, the authors argue, has tended to generate disengagement and lack of ownership down line as well as preserved power into the hands of a select few. This model, typically dominant in military structures, has also been ineffective in many business models as well. Though there are differences between how the transactional and values-based leadership approaches are applied in both settings.

The values-based leadership model allows the military and business models to be much more responsive to the rapidly changing social, political, and economic environment. The book adheres closely to connecting the British military values-based leadership model to the business world. Chapter One speaks to the “command model” and the principles emerging from this model that could also be applied within the business environment. Using the “values-based leadership model” (p. 28) the authors speak to how the combination of authority, leadership, and management create a climate of trust and performance where leadership and be developed and where leaders can thrive in the midst of complexity, ambiguity, and disruption.

Chapter Two is a rich conversation that explores what I call insights gained from warfare management combined with social and political change over the last 75 years. The authors make the point that the operational experiences of the military have given rise to new ways of developing solutions that are adaptable and response to every-growing levels of global complexity and chaos. Gone are the days where prescriptive, narrow, and unilateral approaches are used to address sensitive issues and define values across cultural boundaries. Instead, what is needed is a flatter approach that pushes power and decision-making responsibilities out to those who are doing the work and managing the processes. This process of decentralization, exhibited by the British military’s evolutionary adaptation in the way it leverages a clear and compelling set of values dispersed throughout the organization, has become a compelling model for business strategies and operations.

Chapter Three addresses the topic of empowerment. From my perspective (as one who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area), much of the information in this chapter is not new. Silicon Valley and San Francisco have long been hubs of innovation and entrepreneurial creativity. Specifically, there is the understanding that sources of innovation and creativity are developed by competent specialists residing not in the executive suite but by line-employees who know the work the best. Clearly the authors are advocating for a similar approach. Their argument is rock solid and is congruent with innovative business platforms that understand that empowerment not only leads to innovation but also higher levels of engagement.

Chapter Four is an exploration of culture and the importance of creating the type of culture that supports empowerment and measured risk-taking. Indeed, an organization’s culture is the “machine” that cultivates and shapes the type of leader that represent the attributes and characteristics of that culture. This is a reciprocating process where the intentional creation of a culture of empowerment and trust produces leaders who consistently demonstrate these qualities which further strengthens and propagates the culture. The authors make only passing mention as to the “radical” evaluation required to assess existing organizational cultures. It is one think to assess a culture, it is an entirely different issue when it comes to changing that culture. While the former requires informed insight, building the strategies necessary to change, for example, the culture of a business enterprise from a traditional model where power is retained by select few to a model that operates through empowerment and innovation across the organization, is a much more radical and often supremely difficult step.

Chapter Five is an exploration of “maneuverist warfare” which acts as a window into the way that “Mission Command” addresses desired outcomes rather than seeking to control the means to accomplish those outcomes. The authors note six key elements that are involved in this process: provide clear orders that specify intent, subordinates are clear on the effect and rationale of the intent, subordinates are given appropriate resources to accomplish tasks, the commander exercises as little control as possible so as to not interfere with the freedom of action of those responsible for successfully executing the tasks, and finally subordinates decide what actions to take while preserving consistency, empowerment, trust, consistency, and timeliness. When applied to a business context, these steps provide a strategy to advance strategy by pushing the responsibility for execution to those closest to “the line.”

Chapter Six, the final chapter in the book, speaks to the importance of contextualizing and globalizing the development and priority of values-based leadership. Leaders must ensure that values, language, processes, goals, and objectives permeate the organization and are operationalized. Organizations must take seriously the development of talent, the cultivation of commitment, and a sense of community and ownership. Among the most important aspects of this type of culture creation is a priority place on identifying the developing the type of leaders who can continue to advance the organizations operational and strategic priorities in the midst of a rapidly changing and increasingly unpredictable world.

In summary, I enjoyed the content and clarity of the book. Despite the fact that parts of the book are a bit cumbersome due to the recitation of military history combined with the usage of military metaphors and parlance, the connections and arguments offered by the authors to connect a values-based leadership model to the business community are practical and insightful.