Members of the Leadership Center team at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS) in Charlottesville, VA, including (from left to right) CH (MAJ) Josh Chittim, TJAGLCS Chaplain/Ethicist; CW3 Melanie Sellars, Instructor/Writer; COL Robert Abbott, Director; LTC Zeke Cleek, Deputy Director; and LTC Mike Lamphier, Instructor/Writer; and LTC Laura O’Donnell, Assistant Director, TPU (not pictured). (Credit: Jason Wilkerson, TJAGLCS)
Court Is Assembled
A Note to Leaders
By Colonel Robert J. Abbott
We dedicate this article to our beloved friend, colleague, and fellow Soldier, Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Melanie Sellars, who left this life much too soon, near the time this issue was going to print. A full memorial will be published in a future issue, but we would be remiss if we did not honor CW3 Sellars’s leadership and service as a key member of our Leadership Center team.
Leadership is solving problems. The day [S]oldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.1
The best leaders are receptive to feedback and are always looking to
improve themselves and their organizations.
In 2019, The Judge Advocate General created the Leadership Center at The
Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS) to focus our
legal professionals on the holistic study of leadership, help develop
future Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps leaders, and improve JAG
Corps organizations. Our leaders were listening to a growing voice in
the field who craved not just exceptionally talented legal professionals
but also more meaningful and connected leaders. The Leadership Center’s
mission is to “develop JAG Corps leaders and teams, adaptive to any
environment”2 by training and educating leaders and evaluating leadership practices across the JAG Corps. The vision is to create engaged, inclusive, and accountable organizations that empower all members to lead with principled counsel and steward the profession through servant leadership. The Leadership Center seeks to develop leaders by focusing on what the Army has already built, renewing doctrinal focus as the key to adaptiveness and continuing to focus on relationships and our people as our top priorities.
COL Robert Abbott and CH (MAJ) Josh Chittim participate in the 9/11 Memorial Physical Training event at Scott Stadium, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, on 11 September 2023. (Credit: CW3 Melanie Sellars)
“Leadership is the activity of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization.”3 This definition seems straightforward, so the concept of leadership appears simple in theory. However, this simplicity can obscure how difficult leadership can actually be. This article will reinforce some key aspects of leadership and convey what I feel are the most essential components of effective leadership not just in title, but in purpose as well.
Leaders are tasked with caring for, developing, and building their teammates to achieve greater organizational and personal success.4 How we lead must change based on our mission and the needs of the people we are leading.5 Many leaders find it challenging to effectively lead their teams and, despite a leader’s best efforts, some subordinates may be left unsatisfied. Leadership is not about being the kindest, most empathetic, charismatic, or even most likeable person. Those are all wonderful attributes of many leaders, but they are not necessarily what make a leader stellar.
Leaders at all levels must accomplish the mission.6 This requires holding subordinates to the standard and developing them in their shortcomings.7 In my experience, great leaders are able to enforce standards while also developing their personnel and accomplishing the mission. They uphold the standard in a manner that motivates their teammates to want to be their very best.
Subordinates in any profession often express the concern that their leaders are not practicing what they preach.8 Unfortunately, the JAG Corps is not immune to this criticism. The Judge Advocate General of the Army, Lieutenant General Stuart Risch, often challenges audiences at TJAGLCS to ensure their audio matches their video.9 In keeping with our Corps’s four constants,10 Lieutenant General Risch places leadership and stewarding the profession through mentorship as two of his top priorities. Our constants challenge every leader in our formation to not just be technically proficient and demonstrate a mastery of the law; they also challenge them to be stewards of our profession, who provide principled counsel to our clients, and servant-leaders, who place the needs of their subordinates and the mission above their own. Our constants keep us grounded and remind us that what we say and do matters—that our teammates are looking at us to see what right looks like.
To ensure their audio matches their video, leaders often develop philosophies that convey their values, beliefs, and expectations. Many leaders will also share their personal keys to being a successful leader with their teams. These leader-specific tools convey what that leader focuses on personally and believes will help their subordinates become successful leaders. What I offer next are my ten keys to successful leadership. Please note: this list conveys what I feel are the keys to successful leadership. It is a constantly evolving list, in no particular order, and is informed by personal experiences. It is also greatly influenced by similar lists of exceptional leaders with whom I have served.
Take Care of Your People
One of the most obvious things leaders can do to be successful is to take care of their people.11 All of them.12 Create an environment where everyone on the team feels valued and every teammate has the same opportunity to excel.13 Send your troops to schools, award and recognize their efforts, and be the leader they need—the one they hope to one day be. A renowned leader and mentor to many, Colonel (Retired) Kevan Jacobson, tasked leaders to lead, not drive, their people.14 He said leaders lift, motivate, and inspire their people to achieve some higher level of performance.15 Drivers grind people down and drive them out. Each can achieve results, but those who lead will have a far greater impact. A good leader will understand it is not about them; rather, it must be about their team and the mission. Colonel Jacobson stressed a leader must love their people, show them they matter, let them know you care about them, and never forget you will fail every mission without your people.16
Build Relationships
Relationships are at the heart of everything we do. The best leaders will get to know their people not just professionally but personally as well.17 Find a way to connect and express through words and actions that you value each member of the team. Learn about their families, hobbies, and career goals. Then show your teammates you care by helping them develop in those areas and achieve their goals.18 This includes building relationships outside of your office across your posts, camps, and stations.19 Establishing meaningful relationships with the other members of the staff and agencies on the installation can significantly impact your own organization. If the first time you reach out to a staff section is because you have an emergency, it may prove far more difficult to get the assistance you need. Building relationships in and outside of the office significantly expands your office’s influence and allows a leader to accomplish the mission more effectively and efficiently.20
Be Present
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed organizations.21 As the world returned from the pandemic, the faces of some organizations drastically changed.22 Virtual interactions have become more common, which has its pros and cons.23
While I personally prefer in-person, face-to-face communication, being present is not merely confined to your physical presence. Your team should know you will be present when they need you. They need to know they can reach out and count on you to lead them through their best and most difficult times. Get out of your office, walk around, attend functions, and make yourself seen. When you get to know your team, you will understand them on a personal level and be able to support them accordingly. Keep in mind, your presence may also distract at times or feel intrusive. Respect those boundaries but let them know you are always available when they need you.
Be Self-Aware (Authentic and Honest)
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”24 I keep this quote on my door as a reminder that there is always room for growth. This simple yet profound statement should be a hallmark for every leader. There is always someone out there who knows more than you. You should always strive to find ways to be better personally and professionally. Self-awareness is “your ability to perceive and understand the things that make you who you are.”25 It is an essential component of emotional intelligence.26 Self-awareness consists of emotional awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence.27
I include honesty and authenticity in self-awareness because you must be
able to honestly assess your strengths and areas that require attention
to grow as a leader. Also, subordinates can quickly pick up on a leader
who lacks authenticity, which can create barriers to trust and stifle
communication. Remain true to who you are, but constantly seek to grow
in your craft and as a leader.
Communicate Effectively (and Listen)
The ability to effectively communicate up and down the chain of command
enables a leader to build relationships and take care of their
people.28 Clear, honest, and meaningful communication is integral to developing trust and establishing the mutual respect that enhances effective leadership.29 Every teammate can contribute to the success of the organization. Diverse perspectives can add context to every situation and fill in potential gaps a leader may have missed.
It is essential that leaders take the time to listen to the information they receive in order to make informed decisions.30 Your subordinates will feel more valued and want to share more with you when they believe you care about what they are saying. A leader should always convey their guidance clearly and concisely while listening intently for feedback. Effective communication allows your subordinates to have a voice and helps leaders build more inclusive and productive teams.
Make Time
In her discussions to the field on emotional intelligence, Colonel Terri Erisman stresses the importance of making time for your people.31 Our profession is demanding, everyone is busy, and there is always work that needs to be completed. We often ask ourselves where the time has gone at the end of an incredibly hectic day. Despite our heavy workloads, the best leaders will still find a way to make time for their people. This can be as simple as scheduling a twenty-minute mentorship block with a subordinate on your calendar, pulling away from your email to be actively present in a drive-by conversation, or supporting your teammates’ activities outside of work. Making time really boils down to prioritizing and trying to remain as flexible as you can with so many competing interests.
Of course, there will be times when you are simply not available. The best leaders will have built capital with their teams by being effective communicators who have worked hard to establish meaningful relationships. Accordingly, their teammates will understand when the leader needs to get back to them a little later (when it is not an emergency). There are only so many minutes a day; make the most of them!
On 14 August 2023, LTC Michael Lamphier led students from the 220th OBC in a practical exercise that tests officership, military bearing, and advocacy. (Credit: MAJ Daniel Franco-Santiago)
Empower Your People
Highly effective leaders understand they cannot do everything alone and must empower their subordinates. By providing clear intent and guidance, along with the tools and resources required, a leader can create a high-functioning team and a work environment conducive to growth. Through mutual trust and confidence, a legal office can best accomplish the numerous missions within its span of responsibility. Lieutenant General Risch often says that the day you think your people are there to serve you, it is probably time to start thinking about moving on. Leaders must understand it can never be about them; the focus must always remain on their teammates and the mission. Empowering teammates creates a climate of commitment where everyone is invested in mission success. By empowering subordinates and underwriting their mistakes, leaders build confidence and trust in their teams. This also helps organizations maximize their teams’ effectiveness and efficiency.
Do Not Sweat the Small Stuff
We are all human, and, eventually, everyone on your team, including you, will make a mistake. Good leaders understand not all mistakes are equal and help subordinates work through and grow from their mistakes. Incidents involving character, integrity, or indiscipline should not be viewed on the same level as a scrivener’s error on an action or an inadvertent processing error.
When a teammate makes a mistake, a leader should encourage them to acknowledge it, learn from it, and grow from the experience. Many mistakes can be fixed and are of little consequence in the grand scheme of your operations. Leaders should encourage innovation and be willing to underwrite the mistakes of their subordinates. Doing so will help build trust and confidence and allow your team to grow. If you fail at something intended to improve the organization, most leaders will still appreciate the effort and initiative. When a leader treats all mistakes equally, sets an unrealistic zero-defect work environment, or overreacts to something relatively small, it can destroy esprit de corps in an office and deplete the team’s morale.
Have Fun
This one is pretty straightforward. Positive energy is infectious and can brighten the worst of days.32 We are engaged in the most consequential practice of law on earth.33 Providing principled counsel and premier legal services to our clients presents amazing opportunities for growth and development. It can also be a ton of fun working together to meet our clients’ demands. Never take yourself too seriously. Our Corps includes some of the most brilliant legal professionals in the world and our clients deserve our very best. A leader should find ways to have fun and encourage their teammates to do the same.
Really Care
You should never wait until Article 6 time to get to know your people. Ask for and review your teammates’ personnel information upon their arrival, talk to them, develop relationships—show them they are valuable members of the team. Send birthday cards and get well soon notes, ask about their families and hobbies, and earn their trust and respect. When you show your teammates you care deeply for their well-being, they will develop a shared sense of purpose and a drive to excel both personally and professionally. Showing that you care also helps build loyalty within the organization.34 Coach, counsel, mentor, train, teach, and develop your subordinates. Stop by their offices, laugh with them at social functions, sweat with them at physical training, create a shared sense of belonging, and let them know you are all on the same team and in this together. When you invest in your teammates, both professionally and personally, the organization and all of its members will thrive.
Final Thoughts
Major General Joseph Berger recently told the 219th Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course to “be the leader your subordinates want to become.”35 This humble but powerful comment illustrates the impact great leaders can have on their teams. It highlights that your positive leadership can be life-altering. Your teammates, your organization, and you can all flourish. Once you take the oath and don the uniform of your respective Service, you are no longer just a legal professional; you are a leader. Your teammates are counting on you to support and inspire them to perform at their highest levels. Push yourselves every day to be a leader of consequence and be the difference!
The JAG Corps Leadership Center is here to assist you in your quest to become the best leader you can be. Our website36 provides tools and resources to help you develop your teams and grow as a leader. The key is to be deliberate, to seek out doctrine-based materials, to read, and to grow. We continue to expand our educational curriculum and outreach efforts and look forward to working with you and your teams in the future. The future of our Corps is in your hands; make the most of your opportunity to motivate and develop your teammates and improve your organization. Lead like a champion today! TAL
COL Abbott is the Director of the Judge Advocate General’s Leadership Center at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Notes
1. Colin Powell, My American Journey 52 (1995).
2. Leadership Center, Judge Advoc. Gen.’s Legal Ctr. & Sch., https://tjaglcs.army.mil/center/leadership-center (last visited June
23, 2023).
3. U.S.
Dep’t of Army, Doctrine Pub. 6-22, Army Leadership and the Profession para. 1-74 (31 July 2019) (C1, 25 Nov. 2019) [hereinafter ADP 6-22]. Though not required by the Army Lawyer’s publication standards, the author hopes the citations to ADP 6-22 throughout this piece will help readers easily identify and apply this doctrine in their practice.
4. See id. paras. 6-36, 6-37, 6-43.
5. See id. paras. 4-4 to 4-6.
6. See id. para. 7-2 (“A leader’s primary purpose is to accomplish the mission.”).
7. See id. paras. 5-36 to 5-37.
8. See, e.g., Daniel A. Effron et al., From Inconsistency to Hypocrisy: When Does “Saying One Thing but
Doing Another” Invite Condemnation?, 38 Rsch. in Org. Beh. 61 (2018); George Bradt, Practice What You Preach or Pay the Price, Forbes (Apr. 10, 2023, 6:38 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2013/04/10/practice-what-you-preach-or-pay-the-price/?sh=5c731f75528b.
9. Lieutenant General Stuart Risch, Judge Advoc. Gen., U.S. Army, Address to the 219th Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course, Judge Advoc. Gen.’s Legal Ctr. & Sch. (Apr. 28, 2023).
10. The Judge Advocate General’s Corps’s four constants include: servant leadership, stewardship, principled counsel, and mastery of the law.
The Judge Advoc. Gen.’s Corps, U.S. Army, Four Constants
(n.d.),
https://www.jagcnet.army.mil/Sites/JAGC.nsf/0/46DCA0CA1EE75266852586C5004A681F/$File/US%20Army%20JAG%20Corps%20Four%20Constants%20Smart%20Card.pdf.
11. See ADP 6-22, supra note 3, paras. 5-39 to 5-40.
12. Id. para. 4-12.
13. Id. paras. 6-25 to 6-28.
14. Colonel Kevan Jacobson, Staff Judge Advoc., U.S. Army Pacific, Address at the Judge Advoc. Gen.’s Legal Ctr. & Sch. Worldwide Continuing Legal Education Conference (Sept. 11, 2014).
15. Id.
16. Id.
17. See ADP 6-22, supra note 3, para. 5-46.
18. See id. para. 6-1.
19. See id. paras. 5-48 to 5-51.
20. See id.
21. See Kim Parker et al., Pew Rsch. Ctr., COVID-19 Pandemic Continues To
Reshape Work in America (2022).
22. Id. at 4.
23. See, e.g., Alex Macon, The Scientific Pros and Cons of Virtual meetings – and How They
Affect Business, Cox Today (June 11, 2020), https://coxtoday.smu.edu/2020/06/11/the-scientific-pros-and-cons-of-virtual-meetings-and-how-they-affect-business.
24. This quote is attributed to Maya Angelou. See, e.g., 21 of Maya Angelou’s Best Quotes to Inspire: Remembering the Late
Activist and Literary Icon’s Most Uplifting Words of Wisdom, Harper’s Bazaar (May 22, 2017), https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a9874244/best-maya-angelou-quotes.
25. Kendra Cherry, What Is Self-Awareness?, Verywell Mind (Mar. 10, 2023), https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-awareness-2795023; see also ADP 6-22, supra note 3, paras. 6-14 to 6-19.
26. Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than
IQ 43 (1995).
27. See id. at 46-50.
28. See ADP 6-22, supra note 3, paras. 5-70 to 5-80.
29. See id.
30. Id. para. 5-71.
31. Colonel Terri J. Erisman, Executive Officer, Off. of Judge Advoc. Gen., Brief on Emotional Intelligence to the 71st Graduate Course, Judge Advoc. Gen.’s Legal Ctr. & Sch. (3 Oct. 2022).
32. See Sigal G. Barsade et al., The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group
Behavior, 47 Admin. Sci. Q. 644 (2002).
33. The Judge Advoc. Gen. & Deputy Judge Advoc. Gen., U.S. Army, TJAG & DJAG Sends, Vol. 41-01, Message to the Regiment (13 July 2021) (“Each of you is part of the most consequential practice of law on earth every day. You should be proud of that—and know that we are immensely proud of you.”).
34. See AR 6-22, supra note 3, para. 2-6.
35. Major General Joseph B. Berger III, Deputy Judge Advoc. Gen., U.S. Army, Address to The 219th Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course (Apr. 24, 2023).
36. Leadership Center, Judge Advoc. Gen.’s Legal Ctr. & Sch., https://tjaglcs.army.mil/center/leadership-center (last visited May 9, 2023).