US Grant on Leadership

For John, BLUF:  US Grant, an underrated President and General.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The reflective leader: A major lesson from the memoirs of U.S. Grant

Sub-headline:

Grant's memoirs show that self-awareness and honest reflection are crucial to leadership

From Reporter and Author Thomas E Ricks, 1 DECEMBER 2017, 10:15 AM, By Best Defense guest columnist Michael Hennelly, Ph.D.

Here is the lede plus two:

I recently went to Amazon's book section and found, to my surprise, that it offers 23 different biographies of Ulysses Grant.  One of those biographies stood out.  It offered strikingly unique insights into leadership because it was written by Grant himself.  The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant provides leadership lessons that can be obtained nowhere else.

Civil War histories and Grant biographies give the impression that one of Grant's most valuable qualities was his relative imperturbability.  The fact that he did not get agitated during the course of the war was a characteristic noticed by many of his subordinates.  Sherman would always remember Grant's steadiness after that first horrible day at Shiloh.

Reading Grant's memoirs, however, made me realize that focusing on this aspect of Grant is unsatisfactory in the context of leader development.  Recommending Grant's trait of imperturbability to other leaders is the biographical equivalent of a "Keep Calm" poster.  One of the key insights of his Memoirs is that Grant taught himself to be steady amid the chaos, uncertainty and bloodshed of warfare by his habit of engaging in reflection.  He was willing to spend time reflecting on his experiences and he became very good at it.  As his example clearly demonstrates, the process of reflection is both achievable and valuable for people interested in developing themselves as leaders.

Regards  —  Cliff