Every leader must have positive attributes that impact others and lead a successful personal life. Leadership is about influencing and motivating others through excellent skills and passion, influenced by individual attributes. Attributes such as character, presence, and intellect help build a leader. They are required characteristics of all army leaders because they help determine their leadership capabilities personally and while leading the military men. The character attribute is the most important for an army leader to have.
According to Peterson (2024), the attribute of character is vital in army leadership. The attribute of character emphasizes army values, empathy, warrior ethos/service ethos, and discipline. An army leader must promote loyalty, duty, respect, self-service, and personal courage. The army leader must be empathetic and understand other people’s experiences, perspectives, and feelings (Peterson, 2024). The warrior and service ethos helps army leaders excel professionally and personally by understanding who they are and what they wish to become. Finally, every army leader must have and promote discipline. Discipline is about doing the right thing for the right reason. While other attributes are essential in army leadership, character attributes are the most important (King, 2019).
Peterson (2024) adds that an army leader who embodies army values builds trust between the soldiers and the American people in the army and the country guided by the Constitution. The Constitution forms the legal basis for the army and the military men’s role in the country (King, 2019). The level of trust by the people in the ability of the army to serve the country is determined by the army values embodied by the army leaders and the soldiers. The character attribute thus helps build trust in the army, which is very important. Peterson (2024) states that army men and women believe in a leader whom others can trust by helping form better relationships with others.
Moreover, the character attribute of an army leader promotes excellence, which is essential in the military. Army personnel are expected to promote excellence by ensuring that roles are performed to meet the bare minimum and achieve the best for the benefit of others and the country. This attribute ensures that army leaders and juniors commit to duty and do their best for the country and the people (King, 2019).
Armies across the globe are culturally diverse and require leaders who are respectful and understand the cultural dynamics of a multiethnic society. It requires a leader with good character. The character of the army leader plays a vital role in ideally leading and managing an ethnically diverse military and achieving the desired outcome with strong bonds (King, 2019). The character attribute emphasizes the need for people to treat each other with respect for purposes of the standard army goal and love for each other. The army leader’s conduct and the ability to meet the expected obligation define the leader and how others view the leader. It is thus vital to respect and love others despite sharing different ethnic and cultural histories (Peterson, 2024).
In addition, a leader must have professional courage. It is promoted by the attribute of character, which allows leaders to stand firm on the values they believe in, the conviction, and the principles that guide them in making decisions that are for the common good. Professional courage allows a better decision-making approach for leaders (Peterson, 2024). Professional courage leads to a willingness to listen to others and their point of view for the benefit of everyone. It allows leaders to stand by their decisions even when they go wrong and take full responsibility courageously, which helps promote trustworthy relationships with juniors in the organization. Trust is vital for every leader (King, 2019).
Character promotes self-control in leaders. Army leaders can understand the limits of any activity and make excellent decisions guided by personal attributes and emphasized character. Respect and success result from great personal character and commitment to self-development, which helps build better knowledge and skills for the benefit of the followers (King, 2019). Every leader must exercise self-control under pressure to help make better decisions that positively impact overall army goals. Soldiers require a leader who showcases self-control because it helps to have a leader who makes sober decisions while under pressure through reflection and planning rather than reacting to events (King, 2019). However, a leader with poor character needs to gain self-control, make better decisions, and be an excellent example to the juniors in the ranks, hence not inspiring (Peterson, 2024).
In conclusion, the army’s and other organizations’ success depends more on the leader’s character. The character attribute in army leadership helps build and promote great values for the leaders and army men. An army leader must have a good character for effective leadership and support.
References
King, A. (2019). Command: the twenty-first-century general. Cambridge University Press.
Peterson, L. (2024). The US Military in the Print News Media: Service and Sacrifice in Contemporary Discourse. Anthem Press.
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