We discount the role other factors play in the outcome, to include chance, our networks and timing. When things are going well, we tend to attribute success to our own competence, leadership style or system. Because when we fail to reflect on the sources of our success and failures, we run the risk of committing fundamental attribution error. In observing these lessons, we become more sensitive to the role of context in our lives. Fox Conner hadn’t intervened in his career as a major? Probably not. George McClellan during the American Civil War, or a British Prime Minister Winston Churchill without World War II? Would Eisenhower have been Supreme Allied Commander if Maj.
Stanley McChrystal echoes this in his recent co-authored book, Leaders: Myth and Reality, in which he writes that great leadership emerges “from the interaction of a wide range of constantly shifting variables that include far more than the individual leader.” In other words, the context matters. Sometimes, they play a more important role than a single person’s leadership abilities. In reading biographies, we learn that the time period, social institutions and relationship networks play an important role in determining the outcome of a venture. Over time, I have learned that if we don’t prioritize our lives, others will.
PICK AND LEARN PROFESSIONAL
Many Army leaders go through their careers trying to keep multiple doors open or achieve an impossible balance between personal and professional lives. In reading their stories, we can reflect on our own lives and better determine what we think is important. And some recognized when it was time to move on, giving up further success to be with their families or to adopt a quiet life. Others traded in their marriages, or relationships with their children. Many closed doors to walk through a single door. As author Todd Henry writes, “You cannot pursue greatness and comfort at the same time.” They left comfort and certainty behind to pursue passions that gave them the opportunity to leave their mark and blaze new paths. Our time is a zero sum game, and there is always a trade-off.Įvery person I read about traded something for their achievements. They didn’t adopt the latest life hack or scheme to short-circuit the process of mastery-they embraced it.Īn important lesson I gleaned from biographies is there is no such thing as balance in life. So many of history’s greatest artists, military leaders, statesmen and athletes spent boring and tedious hours perfecting their craft. In reading about the lives of others, we also learn not to confuse the trappings of success with the path itself. And several succeeded because of their struggles, not in spite of them. In every biography I’ve read, the subject faced some type of serious adversity. They faced divorce, death of children or a spouse, public ostracism and career setbacks. Many of those who left their mark on history had tough lives. They had good days and really bad ones, too. A better use of our time would be to learn about others through a more realistic image of life.Įven career and life advice provided by mentors or higher-ranking Army leaders is not without a similar “filter.” In telling others our life stories or providing career advice, we tend to round off the edges and fit our past into nicely packaged narratives that may leave out ugly parts as important as the scenes from the highlights reel.Ī good biography offers a holistic view of the lives of people who accomplished greatness. And we try to measure ourselves against these manicured glimpses.
Too many of us lose hours each day looking at the “perfect” lives of our friends and family courtesy of Instagram filters or Facebook feeds.
But regardless of past experiences or education level, all of us can learn the following three lessons when we pick up a good biography. I recognize that each of us approaches books with our own mental models, and the lessons you take away may be different than the ones I absorb. And I learned the importance of self-development from Gens. I learned about the importance of focusing on the task at hand and not letting the totality of events overwhelm me from football coach Nick Saban. I learned about cultivating a strong organizational culture with a bias toward action from Adm. I learned the value of keeping a notebook from Leonardo da Vinci. AUSA Volunteer Family of the Year AwardĪs I look back at biographies I’ve read in the past few years, I learned important lessons from people (many who never served a day in a military uniform) who directly influenced me as an Army leader.Letters to Congress & the Administration.
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