Marines Build Leaders That Last. By Preparing

¶ … Marines build leaders that last. By preparing soldiers that are ready and able to enter into any combative situation, soldiers are not only skilled in ways of warfare, but in ways of leadership as well. This is no mistake -- by establishing a set of core values and leadership skills, the Marines are prepared for almost anything. By integrating important values with distinctive leadership skills, the Marines are one institution that develops successful leaders.

This paper will examine how intense training, challenges, responsibility, mentoring, and accepting failure as experience creates model leaders in Marines. The Marine Corps Core Values are honor, courage, and commitment. (Marines) Simply put, "the qualities of maturity, dedication, trust and dependability commit Marines to act responsibly, to be accountable for their actions, and to fulfill their obligations" (Marines). These core values are just the stepping stones to what obligations lay ahead for each Marine. Awaiting each new recruit is the Marine Corp Officer Program.

David Freedman, says that the Marines Corp Officer Program is one of the finest corporate leadership schools in the world. The military provides some of the best preparation for developing great leaders, and according to Sgt. Wallace T. Nelson, the Marines are an even different breed because of how they are trained and led. Nelson says that Officer Candidate School showed him ways to "lead and train Marines in a practical manner and apply this training to combat" (Nelson). It is in Officer Candidate School is where such training begins.

In fact, a junior Marine's first experience is the "unique hell" known as the Officer Candidate School, according to Freedman. (Freedman, Inc.) The school brings leadership to the front by subjecting young Marines to a series of "brainteasers," which include, among other things, intense "hands-on problems" (Freedman, Inc.). For example, one exercise challenges soldiers told to get a wounded comrade across a mined artificial stream with only a rope and boards. Another exercise is requires the soldiers to scale over a seemingly unscalable tall wall.

While these challenges are taking place, instructors watch from catwalks above the soldiers and observe which soldiers take the lead as well as which ones recognize a plan is failing and shifts to a new plan. This technique, according to Freedman, weeds out 75% of the soldiers when it comes to determining who has the best leadership skills. (Freedman, Inc.). The soldiers who make it move on to Basic School, which "unabashedly favors breeding generic, high-speed, chaos-proof leadership over imparting specific skills" (Freedman, Inc.).

According to Robert Lee, a Marine second lieutenant, "What the world needs is someone who can grasp the workings of an entire organization, understand people, and motivate them (Freedman, Inc.)." The Marines employ such capabilities into soldiers who, in turn, develop and train for difficult situations. In addition to intense training, challenge is an essential factor in developing leaders that will make a difference.

By entrusting low-ranking officers with critical battle decisions, marines are forced to pay close attention to the skills of the people they choose to trust with responsibility. (Freedman, Inc.) Empowerment, Freedman says, is "carried to an extreme by allowing someone at the lowest level of the organization to make decisions that can impact the success of the organization's most important missions" (Freedman, Forbes).

This also allows lower-level officers who might be out of touch with the chain of command to "jettison pre-established plans, make up new ones as the situation demands, and commandeer the resources they need to carry them out" (Freedman, Forbes). Nothing can quite compare with Marine Corps training and combat service to stretch your leadership skills in bringing people together to accomplish a mission," according to Phillip Rooney, vice-chairman of the ServiceMaster Company. Rooney endured Officer Candidate School and returned to teach there.

For Rooney, nothing prepares an individual for the challenges of operating a business than training in the U.S. Marine Corps. (Freedman, Inc.) Freedman asserts that another successful technique of the Marines is rewarding failure. Marines view failure not as "the best possible learning experience" (Freedman, Forbes). In addition, the Marines also allow every soldier to be a team member. Another aspect of training that helps the Marines build great leaders is their mentoring program that links junior Marines with more experienced Marines.

Experience is a great tool and mentoring is an important aspect of instilling leadership qualities in junior Marines. The Marines believe: The relation between officers and men should in no sense be that of superior and inferior nor that of master and servant, but rather that.