The Character of an Army Leader

The description of the character of an army leader is based on the theory that the character of individuals influences how they lead. Paananen, Häyhä, and Hedlund (2020) define character as the true nature of an individual that is guided by the conscious. The character contains the ethical and moral qualities of people that are manifested through their attitude, actions, and decisions. Firm leaders who maintain unit standards and are fair and adhere to regulations and laws are regarded highly by both the member of the public and their subordinates. Leaders are not only responsible for their character, but also they must assist their subordinates in developing desirable characters, through encouragement, assessment and supporting them where necessary (Blom, and Force, 2016). The five attributes of character that are specifically important to the Army leadership include; Army values, humility, service Ethos, Warrior ethos, Discipline, as well as Empathy. 

Army Values

Army values are composed of standards, qualities, and principles crucial for the service. These are meant to guide the army by setting key expectations in coming up with sound decisions in almost every situation. An army leader has a significant responsibility to teach, reinforce and live the army values at all times. According to Blom, and Force, (2016) "the seven values that both a soldier and a DA Civilian must maintain can be abbreviated into the acronym LDRSHIP; which include Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, as well as personal courage."

Loyalty : Loyalty implies bearing the true allegiance and faith not only to the constitution of the United States but also to the other soldiers and the Unit as a whole (Paananen, Häyhä and Hedlund, 2020). The expectation of a soldier to be loyal is based on the idea that strong organizations are build when the peers, superiors, and juniors all embrace loyalty. Whereas leaders earn loyalty, subordinates equally expect their leaders to demonstrate high levels of loyalty.

Duty: Duty implies the responsibility of an army leader to strive to fulfill their obligations and to always deliver to their best (Gallagher, 2016). The duty extends beyond the outlined regulations and orders. Since leaders are responsible for both their actions and those of their subordinates, they must strive beyond their limits to and give their best to accomplish a task.

Respect: The term respect implies treating persons as there ought to be treated (Gallagher, 2016). Army values uphold the worth of the human line and the dignity that should be accorded to human beings without consideration of their ethnicity, religion, gender identity, creed or sexual orientation. Leaders need to serve as examples to foster a positive environment for the thriving of virtue. 

Selfless Service: Selflessness in service implies prioritizing the welfare of the country, the army and that of the junior soldiers above personal welfare (Kirchner and Akdere, 2017). Although it does not imply neglecting self or family, it means doing the right things for the nation, service, and colleagues. Selfless leaders are generally humble, approachable, open to suggestions and trustworthy. Such leaders always aspire to achieve targets that are larger and of more benefits beyond their interests. 

Honor: Implies living up to values upheld by the Army Service. When a leader aligns their thoughts beliefs and actions to Army Value, they become good examples to other subordinates in the Army service. How a leader behaves and fulfills their duties defines them both as leaders and as individuals. 

Integrity: Integrity implies making a decision and carrying out actions that are morally and legally right. Leaders with integrity are consistent at adhering to honorable principles (Kirchner and Akdere, 2017). Such leaders have developed characters that do not accept anything less than doing what is considered just. 

Personal Courage: Personal courage is the ability of an Army leader to face moral and physical fear, adversities or dangers. Castilla (2019) affirms that personal courage does not imply a lack of fear; rather, it is the ability of an army leader to set their fears aside and develop the right decisions and actions. Similarly, an army leader is also expected to overcome fears related to physical harm when carrying out their duty. The expectation makes them brave enough to take on risky tasks without thinking of possibilities of death and fatal injuries. 

Ethical Reasoning

For effectiveness, army leaders should be ethical to be able to develop moral decisions and action in solving various problems. As such army leaders must apply ethical reasoning in their planning, preparation, implementation as well as the assessment of the operation. Not always does making ethical decisions involve choosing between wrong and right. 

Junior leaders often carry out orders given by their superiors willingly. However, Paananen, Häyhä, and Hedlund (2020) maintain that juniors should treat unlawful orders given to them with an exception. It is part of their obligations as army leaders to question unlawful orders and resist from executing them until further clarification is granted. Occasionally, leaders must apply various perspectives to come up with the most ethical decision. It is not appropriate for leaders to provide ambiguous instructions to avoid accountability and responsibility. Rather, leaders must research relevant regulations rules and orders for clarity to avoid interpretations that might result in the abuse of laws and criminal offenses. Ethics also demands leaders in the army to accept the responsibility not only of the consequences of their actions but also for the actions of their subordinates. The rationale behind leaders taking responsibility for the actions of their subordinates is following the fact that subordinates only function to execute the orders given by their leader. As such, if a mistake is made during the execution of orders it follows that the order might have been wrong in the first place. Leaders are advised to seek legal counsel for more complex dilemmas. 

Empathy

Empathy is the ability of a leader to relate to the experiences and feelings of another person to understand them better. Empathy is important to army leadership as it evokes the desire and the willingness to take care of other soldiers and the members of the general public Ratcliff et al, 2018). Leaders with empathy are good at communication and always strive to assist others in understanding the current occurrences and inspire others towards the attainment of their duty goals and objectives (Riley et al, 2018). Empathetic leaders are not only keen on developing a close relationship with subordinates and the entire army family but also are concerned with the development of healthy families as well as the welfare of their junior staff.

Warrior Ethos/ Service Ethos

The term implies the beliefs and attitudes held and shared among the soldiers, which makes up the spirit and the motivation of the Army profession (Castilla, 2019). Army leaders are expected to recall the soldiers’ creed at all times and uphold the professional beliefs and attitudes outlined in the creed. The service and warrior ethos call for unrelenting effort to execute moral and legally right actions irrespective of the mission. The key to understanding what would be determined as the right action is dependent on the level of respect a leader holds for everyone at stake. This Ethos not only guide today's soldiers but also connects them to the morale and spirit of those who lost their lives to protect the United States. Leaders can uphold and demonstrate warrior ethos by maintaining high levels of discipline and commitment to army pride, values, and heritage. 

Discipline

Discipline is the development and the implementation of decisions and actions that are consistent with the values held by army service, as well as the desire to obey the lawful orders. Disciplined leaders are always striving to control their behavior so that they can implement the difficult easier thing to do or avoid getting trapped into wrong things that are easier to do. 

Humility

Ratcliff et al (2018) define humility as a lack of arrogance indicated through a leader's selflessness by striving to attain goals beyond their interests and desire. Humility is the internal motivation to support the goal and the missions before they are carried out. Humble leaders have both a high level of competence and confidence. Such leaders are not only honest but also are accurate and understand their attributes.

Conclusion

Personality traits can positively or negatively influence Army Leader leadership. Similarly, a person's background, education, experiences, and beliefs might affect their functioning either as soldiers or as DA Civilians. Since a character is a person's ethical and moral qualities that are revealed through their actions, attitudes, and decisions, an army leader must be consistent in displaying an inspirational character. How a leader will implement and develop the traits of good army leadership discussed above can be affected by their ambition, self-confidence, drive, realism, yearn for learning, tenacity as well as psychological and mental openness. Therefore army leaders need to display high levels of discipline, humility, army values, honor, loyalty, as well as self courage among others. Character is part of the critical attributes of army leadership along with intellect and presence that an army leader must employ every time to attain their full potential in strategic leadership. 

Reference

Blom, G. M., & Force, U. A. (2016). A trust-based culture shift. Military Review , 96 (2), 84-91.

Castilla, R. Y. (2019). Military leadership under stress.

Gallagher, C. C. R. (2016). Muddling Leadership and Management in the United States Army.

Kirchner, M., & Akdere, M. (2017). Exploring the US Army leader development program in the private sector: a new frontier for leadership development. In Refereed Proceedings of the 2017 Academy of Human Resource Development International Research Conference in The Americas, Academy of Human Resource Development, St Paul, MN, March 2 (Vol. 4).

Paananen, S., Häyhä, L., & Hedlund, E. (2020). Diversity in Teams: Perceptions of Team Learning Behaviour in a Military Staff Exercise. Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies , 3 (1).

Ratcliff, N. J., Ervin, K. S., Goldstein, J., Lancaster, V., Keller, S., Shipp, S., & Thurston, J. (2018). Leveraging US Army Administrative Data for Individual and Team Performance.

Riley, R. P., Cavanaugh, K. J., Fallesen, J. J., & Jones, R. L. (2016). 2015 Center for Army Leadership Annual Survey of Army Leadership (CASAL): Military Leader Findings . Cubic Applications, Inc. Leavenworth United States.