West Point’s Eleven Principles of Leadership – Rewritten
One of the best books I ever read on leadership was John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In fact, I recently gave a copy to a young man who just graduated from high school as a gift.
28 years ago, I was a recent high school graduate as well. I was a brand new cadet at West Point. I was handed the plebe handbook called Bugle Notes.
Like the Maxwell book I gave to my 18 year old friend the other day, Bugle Notes provided me and all my new classmates at West Point with a list of Leadership Principles to live by.
- Know Yourself and Seek Self Improvement
- Be Technically and Tactically Proficient
- Seek Responsibility and Take Responsibility for Your Actions
- Make Sound and Timely Decisions
- Set The Example
- Know Your Soldiers And Look Out For Their Well Being
- Keep Your Soldiers Informed
- Develop A Sense of Responsibility in Your Subordinates
- Insure the Task is Understood, Supervised, and Accomplished.
- Train Your Soldiers As A Team.
- Employ Your Unit In Accordance With Its Capabilities
While these Leadership Principles were written to help develop young cadets into leaders of character for service to our nation in the Army, they apply to my current life in the business world.
The 11 Principles of Leadership – Rewritten
Here is how I might rewrite this list to better relate to the world I am in now. Changes in italics:
- Know Yourself and Seek Self Improvement – You are never done growing as a leader.
- Be Technically and Tactically Proficient – Know your business.
- Seek Responsibility and Take Responsibility for Your Actions – Be accountable.
- Make Sound and Timely Decisions – Be wise, but be decisive.
- Set The Example – More is caught than taught.
- Know Your People And Look Out For Their Well Being – They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
- Keep Your People Informed – No team ever failed because of too much communication.
- Develop A Sense of Responsibility In Your Subordinates – You are responsible for developing your people.
- Insure The Task Is Understood, Supervised and Accomplished – Set clear expectations and goals, then coach and hold accountable.
- Train Your People As A Team – Culture is the leader’s job. Click title to read a related blog: Culture is the Leader’s Job.
- Employ Your Team In Accordance With It’s Strengths and Capabilities – Put your people in a position to succeed.
The leadership principles taught at West Point are universal. I believe the universality of these principles is a result of the first five being focused on who the leader is a person.
It is critical as a leader to focus on WHO we are before we focus on the strategies we employ to lead others. During my four years at West Point, the first priority of my leaders was to change me. Only after I began to change, was I ready to begin leading.
The Bottom Line
As I read through this list after all this time, I realize that I have done some of these things well throughout my time in leadership. However, some of these principles I need to work on.
While John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership is listed on my resources page as a book that changed my life. West Point handed me a shorter list that was more to the point. West Point’s 11 Principles Of Leadership are back in front of my eyes now. I am thankful they have always been in my head and in my heart.
Question:
Which of these timeless principles applies to you today?
It is amazing to me that I had completely forgotten this “List” but that it was so ingrained in me at WP that I live by these principles and expect the same from my leaders. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention – now where did I place my Bugle Notes…
As I have been doing this blog, Bugle Notes has been a great source of inspiration for me. It is part of our DNA now even if we can’t recite things from memory anymore.
I admire West Point and the leaders it produces.
I was watching a West Point video (Charlie Rose) on YouTube and a female cadet in the interview mentioned “West Point’s Eleven Principles of Leadership”. I got really interested, searched for it in Google, and here I am.
Another good read is “The Way of the Shepherd: 7 Ancient Secrets to Managing Productive People”.
Allen,
I will have to find The Way of the Shepherd. It sounds like a good one.
I’m a West Point graduate, Class of 1969 and think your 11 points are admirable, but it’s sad that you have made a spelling mistake in the point about thoroughness! Point 9 – it is not “Insure”, the proper word is Ensure. You insure something by buying insurance from an insurance man, which is the only proper use of this word. However, you ensure the task is understood, supervised and accomplished. Please check with the English department – yes, the improper use of insure in place of ensure is creeping into modern English, but that’s no excuse Sir. If you are going to publish your eleven points, you should ensure that you use proper English.
John,
I was humbled by your response because while I do try to publish things without error, I at times make a mistake.
However, I just went to my copy of Bugle Notes and #9 reads, “Insure that the task is understood, supervised and accomplished.”
In a quick look online most sites agree with your usage. However, one site does state insure was used in the past where ensure is used now.
Perhaps these principles are older than the rules you are citing. Perhaps it was a typo in my Bugle Notes. That would truly be ironic wouldn’t it!
Thanks for keeping me on my toes! Merry Christmas!
Dave
While I may “make sure that something will happen or be available” through my implementation of the 11 Principles, putting them daily into action possibly, or probably, provides “protection against something undesirable that might happen, usually by making contingency plans or taking precautionary or preventative measures.” By whichever means I choose to pare this pair of pear (or is it pears), the list is relevant and important.
I have always loved how Maxwell approaches leadership ability as the development of moral or character traits rather than managerial skills. He is right on and I thank you, Dave, for reminding me of the list in my own Bugle Notes. I accept your list of 11, not excepting (watch the double negative) number 9 because I believe the moral dimension to leadership has a greater effect on the success or failure of the leader than anything else. And living by 11 (or 21) leadership traits is one of the best ways to positively affect your success as a leader (English teachers say you can’t start a sentence with ‘and’ but I find it alters the flow of a paragraph without needing to go to the altar). I will bear this information, even in the bare (probably too much information), whether I find myself out in the weather in a foreign bazaar or an even more bizarre location here in my part of the world.
Thank you for humoring my draft of dueling words without dual meanings. Try not to read it in a cold draught (although it is assuredly better with a cold draught) and take it as fun and frivolity rather than an illicit torturing of the English language to elicit response (albeit in a tortuous way).
Merry Christmas to all and thanks again Dave for your site (and sight). Ok, I’m done having fun.
That was fun to read! Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Gentlemen (and any ladies who may be view or commenting on this discourse), I recommend you take a look at the Center for Army Profession and Ethic (CAPE) website to find any topic related to being a competent, committed leader of character – to include case studies, simulation products for ethical decision making, lesson plans, personal first person challenges and failures, doctrine, and links to other Army websites for leadership related topics. I am one of the CAPE writers and in helping to edit current Army doctrine on leadership, the profession, and now the Army Ethic, I have often found that prior Army doctrine and DA Pams better express the principles of leadership, values, character development, counseling, mentoring, and moral-ethical decision making than more recent works. I encourage you to do some research and read and compare our old FM 100-1, FM 1 and ADP 1/ADRP 1; FM 100-22, FM 6-22, ADP/ADRP 6-22; and old Bugle Notes with 14 Principles of Leadership or Leadership Traits that over the years have morphed just has the Army doctrine. You may be amazed at how wise and astute those who have gone before us were in their guidance to Army leaders.
Great resources to check out! I will do that.