Closing Argument
Why Leaders Still Talk about Dignity and Respect
By Regimental Command Sergeant Major Michael J. Bostic
How many times have you heard the phrase, “Treat people with dignity and respect”? Have you ever thought about what it really means? Have you stopped to consider why we repeat it so much in our laws, regulations, policies, and leadership initiatives? I invite you to reflect on these and a few more questions.
Call me old-fashioned, courteous, respectful, or whatever you choose—but good order and discipline, healthy relationships, positive workplace environments, and fair societies all require the fundamental human values of dignity and respect. Every human has worth and value that must be appreciated no matter their abilities or attributes. We all must be considerate of everyone’s feelings, rights, freedoms, and purpose.
Dignity and respect are fundamental to everything we do as mentors, as leaders, as an Army, and as a Corps. They are necessary for the discipline and obedience that allow the Army to accomplish its mission of fighting and winning the Nation’s wars.1 In an organization such as ours, we expect leaders to treat people with dignity and respect both up and down the organizational chain based on the shared understanding of what it means to serve, what it means to be disciplined, to embody a concept bigger than oneself. Essential at every level, supervisors must recognize the worth and human value in their teammates, so we can build and sustain cohesion among our formations.
Our doctrine and regulations are full of references to dignity and respect.2 However, dignity and respect are not just lifeless letters on a page. They are living concepts that find life in our day-to-day interactions. We are all leaders, so I charge you to ask yourselves, how do you treat others? Do you actively listen and remain attentive when someone is talking to you? Do you find yourself listening the same way when the office’s new paralegal is speaking to you as when the staff judge advocate is? Or when a private renders a salute—that physical symbol of courtesy and one of our Army’s oldest customs, do you ensure you return it crisply and with the appropriate greeting? Do you make the on-the-spot correction when one of your teammates returns that salute with a phone or a cigarette in hand? Do you interrupt subordinates when they are speaking because you are in charge and must get your point across? Do you consider the language you use with your teammates, always ensuring that it is courteous and not judgmental or derogatory? These small moments, these personal interactions, are the substance of dignity and respect.
We can show dignity and respect for our teammates in other ways as well. Do you seek and value mentorship and feedback from your teammates, regardless of their rank or position? Dignity and respect also mean we understand and value our teammates’ family situations and consider how we manage the team’s time. Be considerate of your Soldiers and Civilians’ time with their Family and friends and avoid practices that would cause them to miss out. The choice between scheduling a meeting late in the week or duty day is also a matter of dignity and respect.
Dignity and respect start with the individual and end with a resilient, effective, and winning team. They are tremendously powerful concepts. But, in practice, I believe it is simple. Treat everyone with dignity and respect—how you want to be treated—or as Ms. Kristin Damigella, Director, Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, puts it—how they want to be treated. Each of you reading this is someone’s son, daughter, Family member, or friend. Each of your teammates is too. They are worthy of dignity and respect. Life, especially military life, is challenging enough without having to struggle with issues of dignity and respect. It must be non-negotiable. I challenge each of you as leaders to Be All You Can Be and treat each of your teammates with the dignity and respect they deserve.
Ready Now!
Leader Advocate Warrior! TAL
RCSM Bostic is the 14th Regimental Command Sergeant Major of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and the U.S. Army Legal Services Agency at the Pentagon.
Notes
1.
The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army . . . . He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself; while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.
John M. Schofield, Major General, U.S. Army, Address to the Corps of Cadets, U.S. Military Academy (Aug. 11, 1879).
2. See, e.g., U.S. Dep’t of Def., Instr. 1350.02, DoD Military Equal Opportunity Program para. 1.c (4 Sept. 2020) (C1, 20 Dec. 2022); U.S. Dep’t of Def., Instr. 1020.04, Harassment Prevention and Responses for DoD Civilian Employees para. 1.2 (30 June 2020); U.S. Dep’t of Army, Reg. 600-20, Army Command Policy para. 1-6c (24 July 2020); U.S. Dep’t of Army, Doctrine Pub. 6-22, Army Leadership and the Profession para. 1-122 (31 July 2019) (C1, 25 Nov. 2019); U.S. Dep’t of Army, Reg. 600-100, Army Profession and Leadership Policy para. 1-11 (5 Apr. 2017); U.S. Dep’t of Army, Reg. 27-10, Military Justice paras. 7-7(c), 17-11.a.(8) (20 Nov. 2020).