Ten Hut!

Lessons on leadership from the military are frequently applied to corporate management contexts. In a world where many decision-makers struggle to execute strategies amid corporate swamps and the constant need to cajole employees, the military, with its precise chain of command, strong camaraderie, and resoluteness, can serve as an inspiring model for mission-driven effectiveness à la ‘Das Boot’ (1981).

Let’s start with military acronyms. VUCA has been enthusiastically added to the corporate lexicon to describe challenging environments. OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) guides decision-making. PACE (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) supports resource planning. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) emphasizes the importance of highlighting key messages at the beginning of any communication. Finally, AAR (After Action Review) institutionalizes the practice of learning from past actions.

In a different register, the classic military epic ‘Once an Eagle’ (1968) is considered a must-read for young officers. The book contrasts two leadership archetypes: Sam Damon, a selfless hero who earns rank through combat prowess and a concern for his troops; and his nemesis, Courtney Massengale, a cunning officer who succeeds through political connections and prioritizing career advancement over mission integrity. While the novel’s binary framing has been debated, both characters exhibit essential leadership skills, including focus and discipline, that can be applied to the corporate world.

In management literature, a Harvard Business Review (HBR) edition entitled ‘Leadership Lessons from the Military’ (2010) collects advice from various sources. One of the articles, for example, stresses the importance of choosing whether an organization should prioritize protocol (Air Force) or flexibility (Marine Corps). Beyond that, however, the review includes many recommendations, such as ‘Build trust first’ or ‘Focus on mission’, which are presented as lifesavers but are commonplace.

Taking a step back, employing military recipes in business may be inviting, but it has severe limitations. As noted by one of the HBR articles, the military relies on ‘unity of command’ centered around a compelling purpose. It requires de-emphasizing individuality to forge a cohesive unit, with ‘Full Metal Jacket’ (1987) as an extreme illustration. In contrast, firms must engineer a ‘unity of effort’, a more complex managerial endeavor that builds on individuality to create ‘Band of Brothers’ (2001) dynamics.

So, where can valuable lessons from the military be found, away from acronyms, military parables, and clichéd advice?

One answer comes from ‘Lessons from U.S. Army Special Ops on Becoming a Leader’ (2025). In it, the authors contend that the hallmark of leadership is ‘to respond to new situations with a new plan.’ Based on field experience, they observe that ‘new plans [i] are launched by initiative, [ii] sustained by emotional confidence, [iii] multiplied by imagination, and [iv] focused by strategic vision’ and argue that ‘if leadership breaks down, the root cause is usually a failure in one of these four processes.’ 

To help both officers and executives master such processes, the authors recommend intensive scenario-based training with ‘live-fire’ exercises providing ‘the experience of learning from simulated failure based on stressful situations’ (e.g., cyberattack, supply chain disruption, adverse technological breakthrough).

To paraphrase Lt. Col. Kilgore in ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979), ‘I love the smell of a good fire drill in the morning.’