Grassroots Leadership: U.S. Military Academy

Major Tony Burgess follows all of this with reactions that range from concern to bemusement to pride. As the tactical officer attached on a full-time basis to C-2, Burgess, '90, is likely the single most influential person in the development of the company's 128 young cadets. He is, as he likes to put it, their "teacher-coach-mentor-disciplinarian-den mother."

Burgess himself is a leadership junkie. The son of missionary parents, he spent his childhood in Mexico and entered West Point with grand visions. "I was going to get out of the Army after five years, and by age 30, I was going to be a millionaire in business," he says. "I didn't know how, but I was going to do it. Then, somewhere along the way, I fell in love with leading."

Burgess has spent 10 years in the infantry, and he will tell you that there is no better job in the world than commanding an Army company. He grew passionate enough about it to start up a Web site, CompanyCommand.com -- an unauthorized (but unofficially welcome) resource for company commanders that has attracted many users. With his classmate and best friend, Nate Allen, Burgess has written a book on the same topic, Taking the Guidon: Exceptional Leadership at the Company Level, which is available on his Web site.

Among his cadet charges, Burgess radiates intensity and enthusiasm. He is at once approachable and reserved, a buddy and a boss. His success depends on maintaining a fine balance -- guiding students' decisions without actually making them, giving students enough rope but knowing when to haul it in. He is the one who must look out for developmental opportunities and failures. He must be ready to influence.

If Burgess succeeds -- if West Point succeeds -- his cadets will emerge, he thinks, as the "go-to" people. "They'll be the ones who you know will make it happen," he says, "the guys who will do better than we ever imagined possible."

Leadership Lessons (IV)

"I led a team of incoming plebes during basic training. I thought I had to lead the way that I saw others doing it -- with stress and shouting, like a traditional drill sergeant. Well, my unit performed very badly. And they hated me. That experience shook me up. I realized that leadership isn't rule-based. It isn't about stress. It's about inspiration, about setting and communicating a vision. It's about gaining trust. Once you have someone's trust, once you get them on the same sheet of music, they don't want to disappoint you. Then leading becomes very easy."
--Christina "CJ" Juhasz, '90, director in online ventures, Merrill Lynch

West Point's Leadership Curriculum

Until after World War II, there was no explicit leadership instruction at West Point. Back then, the academy was known primarily as an engineering school. How could leadership possibly be taught? How do you teach judgment or inspiration in a classroom?

Hike to the top floor of Thayer Hall, and you will find Lieutenant Colonel Greg Dardis engaging small groups of firsties in discussions of classical-leadership theory, dissecting such leading-edge thinkers as Morgan McCall and Peter Senge. Cadets today can actually major in leadership. And even if they don't, such instruction is deeply ingrained in the curriculum.

In their third year, cadets must take a course called Military Leadership. The timing is significant. At that point, cadets have returned from a summer spent interning with Army units around the world, often temporarily replacing platoon leaders in the field. They have served as team leaders in their cadet company. "They have experience under their belts," says Dardis, who graduated from West Point in 1979 and now heads the leadership and management studies program. "They've observed both good and bad leadership."

The object is to reflect on that experience, to assess it in terms of theory. Early in the course, cadets are asked to write about their leadership philosophy -- a graded exercise that forces them to reflect on their talents and weaknesses. They write reflection papers that explain theoretical constructs in terms of their own experiences.

Cadets also take on a raft of case studies penned by West Point faculty, most of them rooted in combat situations. The students also engage in action-learning projects -- some of which are distinctly non-military. When Snook taught the class, he would take his students to the elementary school that serves West Point families: "I'd say, 'You all think you're leaders? Well, you're going to lead a recess.' " The assignment: Develop a plan for overseeing seven minutes of playground activity.

Most often, cadets responded by thinking in terms of command and control: First we'll play dodgeball. Then we'll move to the swings. I'll direct every movement of every kid out there.