Connect with Fast Company

Recognized for: Grassroots Leadership
Home base: West Point, New York
Year founded: 1802

"Attention all cadets: There are five minutes to assembly for lunchtime formation. The uniform is battle dress under field jacket." It's 11:55 AM. It's really cold. About 200 feet above a bend in the Hudson River, the wind rushes across the plain at West Point and slams into the six-story granite ramparts of the United States Military Academy.

This is a massive, fortlike place screaming of history. A statue of General George Washington commands the Parade Ground, flanked by Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Thayer. The stone barracks, square and stark, bear the names of Bradley, Lee, and Pershing.

"There are four minutes to assembly for lunchtime formation." Inside, cadet "plebes," or freshmen, stand at attention, counting off the minutes until the mandatory premeal convocation. Their cues come from clocks mounted every 50 feet or so along the halls.

Students tumble into the sprawling asphalt courtyards between barracks, as they do at least twice each day, every day, year-round. "Fall in!" The command is like an ionizing charge, driving loose bunches into perfect lines and squares -- each square a platoon, four platoons to a company, four companies to a battalion, and two battalions to a regiment. "Attention!" Eyes shoot straight ahead.

Formation is a defining experience at West Point. Officially, it is a simple exercise in accountability: From platoon on up, officers must know and report how many cadets are present. But there's more to it, of course. Formation is a nod to the past. Cadets have gathered in this way, on this spot, every day for nearly 200 years. More important, it is a reminder of the primacy of selflessness: Here, the individual yields to the greater whole -- to the corps.

On dismissal, the cadets begin marching. The movement looks choreographed -- a dozen drab soldier streams flowing in right angles out of the courtyard. In minutes, it's over. A few thousand cadets have removed themselves. The courtyard is silent. And you think, That was one seriously weird exercise. A weird and beautiful thing.

That pretty much describes the whole place.

Leadership Lessons (I)

"The first lesson I learned as a plebe came from an upperclassman yelling in my face. He told me that there were four acceptable answers: 'Yes, sir'; 'No, sir'; 'No excuse, sir'; and 'Sir, I do not understand.' He'd ask, 'Why aren't your shoes shined?' and I'd say, 'Well, it was muddy, and I didn't have time.' He'd be all over me. He was trying to teach me something: If you have to take men up a hill and write letters to their moms that night, there's literally no excuse. If you have to lay off thousands of people from your company, there's no excuse. You should have seen it coming and done something about it."
--James Kimsey, '62, founding CEO, America Online