by Don Yaeger, November 18th, 2014
Last month, I had the opportunity of a lifetime that was easily among the most incredible two days in my career as a speaker.
I was invited as a guest presenter at West Point, arguably the
Greatest leadership academy in the world, to speak about leadership with
the cadets–all of whom will be commissioned as Second Lieutenants in
the United States Army and one day lead men and women in the protection
of our country. During my visit, I observed many lessons in Greatness
that I promise will have a tremendous impact on my life. I wanted to
share with you a collection of these lessons in a two-part blog series
on my experiences.
While on campus, I learned:
In order to lead others, you must lead yourself first.
Everyone who has ambitions to be a leader desires to have a large
following. But at West Point, your first responsibility is to lead
yourself. As a freshman
(also known as a plebe), that is your only leadership responsibility – self. When you become a sophomore
(yearling), you are challenged to lead one other person as their mentor. Third-year students
(cows) have the opportunity to lead anywhere from nine to 120 other cadets. Finally, during their last year at West Point, seniors
(firsties)
could be selected to lead the entire 4,400 member cadet corps. But
before any of that can happen, you must prove that you can lead
yourself
!
When your mission is boldly and abundantly clear, you can expect Great things from everyone.
Life at West Point is very challenging, but every cadet knows what they
are signing up for before they get there. The goal of the academy is
grand, but because the mission is very clear, cadets arrive there
prepared to do big things. Everyone knows what to expect and, as a
result, the cadets are ready to work together to accomplish Great goals.
The power of good recruiting. Without question,
succeeding at the West Point is not easy. However, the academy has a
very low dropout rate. This is a result of Great and honest recruiting
efforts. West Point recruiters are not busy trying to sell someone on
coming to the academy, but instead they carefully and deliberately seek
out students that align with their vision from the beginning. The lesson
is clear: If you recruit well on the front end, you’ll have fewer
issues with attrition and turnover.
They teach around real people. I had a chance to sit
in on several classes and watch professors teach the cadets. The
professors brought their lessons to life by teaching around the military
experiences that they’d experienced while in the line of duty, as they
were in the field and leading. I admired how this touch of realism made
every lesson more dynamic to the cadets, and I realized that this kind
of teaching is rarely used in other settings. Pull from your own
experiences—successes and failures alike—as you help shape future
leaders.
They believe that every cadet is an athlete. Whether cadets are participating on a varsity team, playing intramural sports, or competing in running events
(i.e. marathons or triathlons),
athletic participation is expected—and for a good reason. The
administration at West Point believes that the opportunity to
participate in sports allows cadets to bring out the best of their
competitive sides.
This also helps cadets to
discipline their aggressive pursuit of goals to maximum efficiency. The
academy wants those skills to be practiced actively by every cadet.
The importance of precision and teamwork. During my
stay, I had a chance to have lunch in the cadet mess hall. Incredibly,
all 4,400 cadets are served their meals in twelve minutes. It was a feat
to behold and was the definition of meticulousness and clockwork! I was
consistently fascinated with how the academy implemented discipline in
such an everyday occurrence. This serves as a daily reminder to cadets
that precision and teamwork is highly important to any Great mission—a
lesson we can all learn.
My trip to West Point was monumental.
Have you ever had the opportunity to observe extraordinary
lessons of discipline, teamwork, and leadership? Please share with me
your experiences.
The power of good recruiting. Without question,
succeeding at the West Point is not easy. However, the academy has a
very low dropout rate. This is a result of Great and honest recruiting
efforts. West Point recruiters are not busy trying to sell someone on
coming to the academy, but instead they carefully and deliberately seek
out students that align with their vision from the beginning. The lesson
is clear: If you recruit well on the front end, you’ll have fewer
issues with attrition and turnover.
They believe that every cadet is an athlete. Whether cadets are participating on a varsity team, playing intramural sports, or competing in running events (i.e. marathons or triathlons),
athletic participation is expected—and for a good reason. The
administration at West Point believes that the opportunity to
participate in sports allows cadets to bring out the best of their
competitive sides. This also helps cadets to
discipline their aggressive pursuit of goals to maximum efficiency. The
academy wants those skills to be practiced actively by every cadet.
