Military leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Military leadership - Essay Example Military leadership is entirely different from other leaderships like organizational leadership or a nation’s leadership. In organizational or national leadership, both autocratic and democratic methods are prevailing whereas in military leadership, the scope for democratic style of functioning is zero. In other words, subordinates in militaries don’t have the authority to question the leadership styles or functioning of their superiors. This paper analyses military leadership and its various dimensions. Various dimensions of military leadership â€Å"Military leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. Command is the authority a person in the military service lawfully exercises over subordinates by virtue of his rank and assignment† (Notes on Military Leadership, n. d). Power is an essential part of military leadership. It should be noted that power and influence are some of the major characteristics of a successful leader in every organization. The above fact is 100% true in the case of military leadership. Even though Adolf Hitler was a controversial leader, he was one of the perfect examples of military leaders who utilized power for effectively to lead their sides to victory. Hitler had not shown any mercy either to the enemies or to his fellow military men. In other words, both the enemies and the friends equally were afraid of Hitler and his power. Hitler was also successful in motivating his soldiers with the help of his oral skills and charismatic way of presenting things. In fact he motivated the entire German nation by saying that Germany had suffered a lot because of the Treaty of Versailles signed at the end of WW1. He educated the soldiers and the public that Germany lost their pride because of the above treaty and it is the duty of every German to work for regaining their lost pride. Hitler taught the soldiers that Germans are the most glorified pe ople in the world and they have the right to rule the entire world. In short, Hitler is an example for how well a military leader can use his power and generate motivation among the subordinates to accomplish military missions. Mentoring is used as a leadership development strategy in many of the current military training colleges. â€Å"Conceptually, mentoring is often described as a close, developmental relationship between experienced and less experienced individuals† (Sullivan, 1993). Experienced military leaders may have enormous experience in dealing with different types of difficult situations. Knowledge about such situations is necessary for the upcoming military leaders. Through mentorship, experienced military leaders transfer their knowledge and experience to their juniors so that junior leaders will be benefitted immensely while countering tough situations in future. Compared to other organizations, military produces great leaders more in number because of various reasons. â€Å"First, in all services, military leadership qualities are formed in a progressive and sequential series of carefully planned training, educational, and experiential events—far more time-consuming and expensive than similar training in industry or government† (Colonel Kolditz, 2009). It should be noted that military is an organization which is receiving huge funding for the training and development of soldiers. Both theoretical and practical aspects of