A lot of what I believe about leadership, not surprisingly, comes from my time in the Marine Corps. However, the Marine Corps does not have a monopoly on the subject, so I visit blogs, read books, and listen to podcasts on the subject to get different perspectives.
Here is a link to a podcast of an interview Wayne Turmel did with the author of the book, Dream Manager, Mathew Kelley. I haven’t read the book yet, but after listening to this interview, it’s on the short list.
Enjoy!
As both Marine and a creative person, I find this hilarious. Thanks to Cam for leading me to this.
I got two books for Christmas: The first I have been wanting for the last year, Creative Illustration, by Andrew Loomis. It’s sadly out of print, so my wife had to find a copy on Ebay. The copy I have was printed in 1950. Andrew Loomis has written what is considered by many artists to be the gold standard of illustration instruction books. Last year for Christmas, I got one of his other seminal books, Figure Drawing for All it’s Worth.
Since getting the first book, I have developed a deep appreciation for Andrew Loomis. As good an artist as he was (and he was phenomenal), he was an even better writer. He could convey the skills and techniques used by illustrators that have been handed down since the father of American illustration, Howard Pyle. Furthermore he is frank about the mental approach and dedication that is required to become truly great at this craft. I am now a dedicated student of Loomis and his methods. On the back of the dust jacket of the book reads, “Creative Illustration is a real professional course in the subject, worth many times its price.†Creative illustration sold for $10.00 in 1950; today copies go for $200 on up and that statement is still true.
Any serious student of illustration should buy Loomis’s books on Ebay or wherever they can be found. There are no plans to reprint them as far as I know (which seems to have baffled the art community) and they aren’t getting any cheaper.
The second book that I got for Christmas, ironically, was by an artist deeply influenced by Andrew Loomis, Steve Rude. The book is titled, Steve Rude, Artist in Motion. Steve Rude, along with Alex Ross, is currently carrying the illustration torch passed on by Andrew Loomis. Rude writes, “Two and a half decades after discovering these books, I’m still practicing from them. From my first sketchbooks (probably until my last), you’ll find me trying to uncover new secrets of ‘making it easier’ from the artist I discovered in the 5th grade – Andrew Loomis.â€
Steve Rude has been a favorite artist of mine for a long time and his book is wonderful in its own right. It is not intended to be instructional with relation to method like the Loomis books are, yet the book gives clear insight into what it takes to achieve artistic excellence. And Steve’s art is always a joy to look at. His comic book illustration has the solid draftsmanship of Andrew Loomis combined with the energy of Jack Kirby. Intellectually that seems to me to be an impossible feat, yet there it is staring back at me on every page.
It has been a very Merry Christmas indeed.
Mission accomplishment is the primary objective of Marine Corps leadership. To reinforce this prioritization, the Marine Corps gives each Marine a steady stream of ongoing professional military education. For enlisted Marines, it starts with bootcamp, extends to Marine Combat Training, then to the Marine’s military occupational specialty school. A Marine can easily spend anywhere from six months to well over a year in training before getting into a deployable status. Even after this initial training there is ongoing professional military education to include corporal’s course, sergeant’s course, and other professional schools and qualifications. The result is the finest fighting force the world has ever seen.
But what responsibility does the Marine Corps (and each Marine) have in developing the potential of its Marines outside of obvious military skills? Is developing a Marine’s potential accomplishing the mission? Would it merely be fulfilling the secondary leadership objective of troop welfare? Both? Neither?
I believe the Marine Corps has an interest in developing each Marine to the fullest potential — militarily and otherwise – to better complete its mission. Marines who develop skills the Marine Corps doesn’t require, will be able to accomplish missions the Marine Corps doesn’t anticipate. This is a cornerstone in making maneuver warfare work. The basic advantage of maneuver warfare is that it is flexible. Practitioners of maneuver warfare take it is as a given that unforeseen opportunities and challenges will present themselves; therefore, they push decisions as far down the chain of command as possible. Commander’s intent — the mission itself — is the guiding star.
Any organization that operates by pushing decisions far down the chain of command like the Marine Corps does, must have capable people at every level, not just at the top. The ability to push decisions down to the lowest level will only be as effective as the capabilities that can be found on the level the decisions are made. Marines must not only be highly trained in a coordinated fashion with shared knowledge, but should be highly educated in a diverse fashion as well. This diversity will minimize the adverse impact of the unexpected. Even if everyone doesn’t know how to solve a given problem, it’s likely that somebody will in a diversely educated group of people.
There are benefits beyond the battlefield as well. As the saying goes, “Once a Marine, Always a Marine.†That’s a nice platitude, but what does it really mean? I think it means that whether in the Marine Corps or out of it, Marines share values — values like honor, courage and commitment. Values like judgment and integrity. Values like unselfishness. In a broad sense, commanders always intend to make the Marine Corps succeed in all that it takes on, and that America should prosper. Like values, this intent is shared by all Marines.
Take Toys for Tots as an example. The Marine Corps did not send Col William L. Hendricks to Santa Claus school, yet he founded Toys for Tots, an organization that in 2006 collected and distributed 19.2 million toys to needy children. He is the prime example of what can happen when non-combat skills (Col Hendricks was a public relations executive for Warner Brothers in civilian life) meet Marine Corps values. Because of Col Hendricks, children across America are told what every child yearns to hear – that they are special. It’s hard to measure the full impact this has had on America, but with 173 million children benefiting from the efforts of the Toys for Tots organization over its history, it’s safe to say that the impact is profound.
I didn’t even know the name of this real-life Santa Claus until recently. Most people, even Marines, are unfamiliar with him even though we all know about Toys for Tots. I’m sure Col Hendricks would be fine with that. The mission comes first.
After all, it always comes back to mission. Being prepared for any mission certainly requires professional military education. More importantly, in an uncertain world it means developing the potential of every Marine, wherever that potential may lead.
Merry Christmas and Semper Fidelis.
Here are a couple of unit designs we worked on this week. As always, it’s a team effort. The phoenix with the M249 SAWs was drawn and inked by me with Kyle Tobin providing the color and text. The heavy equipment design was also drawn and inked by me with Kris Estep providing the color and text.
A sketch for MSG Det Finland.
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