General Tommy Franks' leadership style and military philosophy analysis

Tommy Franks

Leadership

Selection of the Leader

Definition of Leadership by General Tommy Franks

Leadership Philosophy of General Tommy Franks

Learning to Lead

Analyzing Strengths and Weaknesses Using Leadership Challenge Model

Strengths

Weaknesses

Leadership Adventures of General Tommy Franks Using Kouzes and Posner Leadership Framework

Model the Way

Inspire a Shared Vision

Challenge the Process

Enable others to act

Encourage the Heart

Enhancing the Effectiveness in Leadership

Learning From the Experience of General Tommy Franks

Take the Challenge

Accept the Opportunity

Learn to lead with General Tommy Franks

This paper discusses the leadership style and traits of a retired U.S. Army General namely General Tommy Franks. He was regarded as the commander in chief of Central Command of United States from the period of July 200 till July 2003. At that time he was given charge of the Middle East region that comprised of twenty- five countries. His most influential leadership qualities have been seen during the time when United States was at war with Afghanistan and Iraq. He is considered as a tough and leading general of United States Army.

Selection of the Leader

Due to his extraordinary and strong personality that motivated several soldiers and army officials of the United States, General Tommy Franks can be regarded as a hero of the United States Army. The insight view of his leadership characteristics and ideas could be of a greater interest not only to those who want to lead in their life but it can also ignite the spirit of leadership and confidence among other people. The strategic approach and the decision making qualities of a good leader are all compiled in the personality of General Tommy Franks. The selection of this personality is useful to understand by the youth and they can incorporate these approaches and styles in their own personality.

Definition of Leadership by General Tommy Franks

General Tommy Franks defined leadership as an opportunity to influence the line of the history. He considered leadership position as a way to anticipate the following opportunity to forecast the future stance and events. He always wanted to get a position that could provide him a conviction to plan a strategy that would be of a greater interest to the United States. His definition of leadership also includes a fortitude that should be present in a leader in order to successfully implement the plan. He believed in the intensity and courage of action that would make it work and last for long. According to General Tommy Franks a leader should be flexible enough to confront with the uncertain challenges that come under way and an ability of flexibility that would make him survive in different kinds of situations. The ability to change the plan or modify it when it does not seem to work efficiently is also the responsibility of a leader. The leadership characteristics also include a sense of loyalty and honesty within oneself that is essential while dealing with defeating or unsuccessful situations. It helps in admitting the defeat and motivates the leader for future plans. He described a leader as a person who has an ability of balancing the excitement of victory and success. General Tommy Franks thinks that a leader should be motivated enough to get back to the planning and execution of new plans just after the completion of the current plans.

Learning to Lead

General Tommy Franks learned to lead throughout his life and this is the reason he got the one of the highest ranking position in the United States Army. He defined his learning experiences as totally different from other military men. He was always interested in planning and getting things done successfully. He was curious about new ways and new ideas that could benefit the country and the forces that are fighting for the peace and sustainability of the country. General Tommy Franks used to go on the jobs that he believed are still unidentified or he perceive interesting to him. During his training experience he described that he learned from people and from his isolation that leads to thinking process. He used to judge things and situations by his own thinking and by the experiences he has got over time. He also gave credit to his troop and the people that surrounded him during his career. The secret behind his leadership philosophy is the self judgment and thinking process that is attained by understanding the roles of different people and their understanding of the different situations and the work conditions and resources they have to deal with while they work.

General Tommy franks has learned several lessons through his experiences and observations on leadership during his life. He regarded effective communication among team members and between the leader and the team as one of the critical factor for attaining success. A good knowledge of team members is also considered as an important tool in managing the team. Learning and moving forward is the basic factor that is reflected in his personality.

Analyzing Strengths and Weaknesses Using Leadership Challenge Model

The leadership challenge model that comprises of five exemplary leadership practices can be used to analyze the personality of a leader by finding his or her strengths and weaknesses among the possible domains. The leadership challenge model provides several assessment methods and tools for finding out the effectiveness in the role of a particular leader and the degree of commitment that is present among their followers along with their satisfaction and engagement with the leader. The five practices that are makes an exemplary leadership model includes the modeling of methods and way optimized by the leader, sharing of an inspired vision, challenging the processes, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart. The strengths and weaknesses of General Tommy Franks leadership are extracted using the leadership challenge model.

Strengths

There are several strengths of General Tommy Franks that made him a true and successful leader. On the basis of Leadership Challenge Model, the greatest strengths of General Tommy Franks can be attributed to the following factors:

Tommy Franks believed in leading people not managing them. He created a fine line between management and leadership

It was due to his personality and attitude that he was successful in getting a loyal and honest team of soldiers. He emphasizes on the loyalty and support of subordinates and relates this to the success of a plan

He regarded the safety and problem resolution of each and every trooper. According to him the problem of a soldier or team member is the problem of the leader

Emotions has no place for him during the war time

He always considered himself as a soldier even when he was at a higher rank. He lead the troopers but act as a soldier himself

According to General Tommy Franks, the quest quotient is more important to him and it has excited him more than the quotient of intelligence.

Weaknesses

The first practice that should be adopted by a leader is the endurance of modeling or planning an effective method or strategy that could be of best of interest for almost all the stakeholders. But the perfection of a plan that considered each and every aspect is near to impossible to attain by any one. General Tommy Franks has made plans during his period as a leader and effectively executed them and ultimately achieved success in the objectives. On the other hand the domain of the plan that comprised of war and destruction resulted in damage and deaths of several people that were not directly related to the warfare but due to their residence in the countries were the war was happening they were indirectly targeted. It seems that there was something missing in the execution of the plan. In his book the "American Soldier"; General Tommy Franks has discussed the shortfalls and the occurrence of threats that have changed the shape of battles and the initial plans that were to be executed in the war. He regarded these factors as the destructive aftermaths of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan (Franks, 2005).

Leadership Adventures of General Tommy Franks Using Kouzes and Posner Leadership Framework

Kouzes and Posner have developed a framework that constitutes five exemplary leadership practices that can be attributed to a successful and effective leader (Kouzes & Posner, 2003). The adventures of General Tommy Franks as a successful leader can be identified using this five practices approach of exemplary leadership model devised by Kouzes and Posner.

Model the Way

The Kouzes and Posner framework describes leaders as the people who establish the principles that take into account the team members equally so that the ultimate objectives of the plan can be achieved. General Tommy Franks is well-known for his work as a leader who always considers his troop men and the best interest of the country and the troop while planning and executing a particular strategy for action.

Inspire a Shared Vision

Leaders are thought to have a passion and enthusiasm that coukd lead to creating a significant difference in the life of others. General Tommy Franks has vision for future that turn out to be unique and ideal. Through sharing the vision and objective of the war plans, General Tommy Franks has created an environment of effective team work and a passion and enthusiasm among the troopers.

Challenge the Process

According to Kouzes and Posner a leader always takes the challenge no matter how hard it is and develops different ways of confronting the challenge. There are several examples that have shown the courage and bravery of General Tommy Franks as a leader during the wartime. During Iraq war, General Tommy Franks had shown extraordinary performance. He used to modify the plan and train the troopers instantly according to the situations and challenges that come underway.

Enable others to act

A successful leader is the one who encourage its team members rather than de- motivating and humiliating them. General Tommy Franks has shown this capability at several places. He is the leader who has led a large number of troopers and military men of United States Army. He always listened to the problems of the soldiers and considered their problems as his own. This thing created an environment of encouragement and confidence among the troopers.

Encourage the Heart

One of the greatest qualities of an effective leader is that they share their victory and success with their team. They give credit to each and every member of the team after the completion of the project. General Tommy Franks holds this trait as a successful leader and general of United States Army. After every war he used to share the accomplishments and success with his troopers and everybody that has contributed to the implementation of the plan. Also, the rewards were given to the efficient and performing troopers and soldiers that increase the motivation and encouragement of the people.

Enhancing the Effectiveness in Leadership

There are several ways in which the leadership of General Tommy Franks could have been enhanced. Some of the suggestions that could improve the overall performance of leaders like General Tommy Franks are given below:

He could get a 360 degree feedback regarding the level of current or past performances and the effectiveness of the specific action

It is important to lead people with the ideas and strategies formulated by the leader. But if the consensus of more people is also taken into account before taking an action then the results could have been improved significantly

A leader is meant to bring change. Therefore, it is needed that a periodic suggestions session is held that is important for the effectiveness in the performance of a leader such as General Tommy Franks

Listening is the key of effective communication. General Tommy Franks could have listened more to his troopers and other relevant sources and ensure them about their consideration as an important team member

Learning From the Experience of General Tommy Franks

The most significant experiences that can be learned from the personality and leadership traits of General Tommy Franks can be divided into the following categories:

Take the Challenge

The most important lesson that could be learned from the retired General Tommy Franks is the ability and motivation of taking the challenge and confronting it by having a proactive approach and an efficient planning. General Tommy Franks has shown several examples in which he has taken toughest of the challenges and developed successful plans for confronting them. A leader must be efficient and caring that could involve its team members for a proper execution of the project just like General Tommy Franks. He gives the lesson of courage, bravery and learning to the future leaders.

Accept the Opportunity

Accepting an opportunity is not an easy task but an efficient leader is thought to have the courage of accepting the opportunity and working on it until positive results are ought to develop from it. General Tommy Franks has always been a leader in accepting the finest opportunities and making the most out of it that is in the interest of his country and people.

Learn to lead with General Tommy Franks

Leadership is not only a born trait but it can be learned through time. General Tommy Franks has set examples that communicate each and every thing about his vision and perception of the leadership. He has provided the youth with lectures and materials that could help them learn from his leadership.

Conclusion

The leadership experiences and life of General Tommy Franks is an exemplary material for future leaders and people who want to lead any kind of team or organization. More specifically, it gives and insight into the skills and attributes that a leader must have while giving services into military and Army. The United States Army has benefitted from the unmatchable performance and leadership personality of General Tommy Franks. His successful executions of plans and the ability to take quick and prompt decisions is a way of life for upcoming military men and the people serving in the forces. Along with the leadership qualities he had got a sense of patriotism within himself that lead him to success.