Leadership in the Military – George C. Patton

 

Patton was one of the world’s great leaders; he was driven by a sense of destiny and mission. Born a warrior, he wrote a letter to his wife’s father stating that if he couldn’t be a warrior, he had no reason to go on living.

 

He believed in an allotment of fate and an apportionment of luck. Patton was so ensconced in early history; it would be hard to imagine that he wasn’t fully conversant in the Greek notion of allotment or ‘lot.’ This may have been due to the training he received in the classics by from his family. This all remained in his mind. He could spout volumes from the bible and Virgil. He attended the Virginia military institute. He seemed to be driven by a sense of mission and purpose, “through the travail of ages through the pomp and circumstance of war…as if through a glass and darkly the age old strife where I fought in many faces and many guises, but it was always me” (Gen. George S. Patton) He believed in reincarnation and saw himself as a warrior of destiny. His perception of his historical place as a leader was critical for the realization of his personal destiny.

 

In terms of French and Raven’s bases of social power, he had it (1959). His leadership style was adaptive with a tendency towards coercive power. Patton’s style often was dictatorial allowing him to force soldiers to act against their will towards self preservation. He exercised reward power asking people to perform tasks in exchange for the reward. Further, he withheld rewards as punishment. As a general, he had legitimate power that was at the direction of Eisenhower. He maintained referent power through his charismatic and powerful presentation. Eventually, Patton’s reputation allowed Eisenhower to confuse the Germans. Patton had a high level of expert power as a historian of war he viewed himself almost in mystical terms along the lines of the lyrics from the Rolling Stone’s Sympathy for the Devil. He understood that history is not a string of isolated events, but rather a connected process of cultural habit custom and nature of humanity. He was an expert at the synthesis of historical and action research, on the battlefield, real time.

 

Patton was an expert in the symbols of culture and understood the totem. His cigar was a totemic ritual that displayed power when he was dialoguing with his people (Levi-Strauss, 1992). He used images such as the grave yard. His desire was that the soldiers who fought weren’t forgotten like the Carthaginians and the Romans who fought on the same plains. He used symbols such as dress and timing of mess hall regimens to demonstrate a higher level of rigor that would be necessary to succeed. He was eventually even buried with his men in Europe, the only US General who is buried on foreign soil. His powerful use and exploitation of totem continues posthumously.

 

In terms of contemporary leadership styles such as in the Spiral Dynamics world of Clare Graves Patton leads from a red meme (Beck & Cowan, 1966). Blood and guts (brains according to Patton) with hot emotional energy. He acts from coercive power asserting him and dominating others. He stands in bravery in a way that creates myths of the hero leader.

 

As a situational leader, he understood what was necessary for men who were prepared and occasionally unwilling to go into battle. Part of his strategy was to influence through fear, creating greater concern amongst his men about hhis wrath than that of the enemy. He gave his men the ability to defeat the enemy. Leadership like this is leadership like no other. He did what successful people do, he modeled experts. His choice for this was Pershing yet while modeling Pershing’s leadership style, he managed to sustain his individuality. This led to a unique brand of leadership that he cultivated, practicing warlike faces in order to prepare for war.

 

In terms of human castes – Patton was a warrior not a tradesperson, intellectual of outcast. Unlike Arjuna of the Bhagavad Gita, Patton sought his destiny relentlessly. Arjuna had engaged his chariot driver, Krsna in a conversation that was designed to get out of the war. Arjuna did not want to kill his friends, uncles and cousins, however, Krsna, his chariot driving confidant stated, “never has there been a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor any of these… You are destined to be a warrior, perform your duty.” And the battle of Kurukshetra resumed.

 

Destiny as a term likely deserves some consideration. History is filled with personages engaged in the attempt to fulfill or deny the paradox of destiny. From Oedipus to Calvin, people have been fascinated with this nuance of human existence. Chinese medicine describes an aspect of spirit as the ‘zhi’ or ‘will’ which is located in the kidneys. This feature can be described as either my ‘force of volition’ (yang will and the right kidney) or the ‘acceptance of the will of heaven’ (yin will and the left kidney). Either way, when one’s personal will is merged with that of heaven, the destiny emerges from within the life gate (below the 2nd lumbar vertebrae and between the kidneys). I saw yin in Patton. He wept by the side of the blinded soldier. His rapt attention on history and his ability to construct historical battles at abandoned sites is a yin receptive state. But - most importantly, he felt he was the reincarnated and destined leader as an archetype. He was completely receptive (yin) to this. However, he was a very yang and driven man.

 

Appendix

 

I want to include in this discussion, military leadership models.  In the words of Winston Churchill, “never, never, never, never give up.” Patton lived this way. Doing is part of the ability to make things happen. Good leadership requires organization and management skills as a balance.

 

First, according to Patton, remember four basic principles, first - surprise. Find out what the enemy intends to do and it first. Second, rock the enemy back on his heels and keep him rocking. Never give him a chance to get his balance or to build up. Third, relentless pursuit, "a l'outrance" the French say, beyond the limit. Fourth, mop him up. Patton identified three vital qualities in an officer, imagination, to think what the enemy would do and beat him to the draw. Value unselfishness, always give credit where it is due. If you win, give the credit, if you lose, take the blame. Third is the courage to shoulder responsibility. “I am going to be allowed to fulfill my destiny.”

 

Bill Keppler, a mentor, friend and colleague who is a retired general has shared with me some very useful pearls of wisdom. He calls it the Keppler MARC model, representing measurement, accountability, responsibility and communication. He accomplishes the MARC model using a pledge: “tackle the challenges of today, plan the gifts of tomorrow understand the lessons of yesterday.” Dr. Keppler also shared with me an Army Model for Managing Change.

 

 

According to Dr Keppler, a good decision is:

             

In the words of Colin Powel, “being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.” Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It’s inevitable, if you’re honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you’ll avoid tough decisions, you’ll avoid confronting the people that need to be confronted, and you’ll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally and nicely regardless of their contributions, you’ll simply ensure that the only people you’ll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.”

 

Colin Powell’s Rules

 

Beck, D., & Cowan, C. (1966). Spiral dynamics: Mastering values, leadership and change. Amherst, MA: Blackwell.

French, J. R. P., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Gen. George S. Patton, J. Through a glass, darkly.   Retrieved February, 12, 2007, from http://www.generalpatton.com/poem.html

Levi-Strauss, C. (1992). Tristes tropiques. USA: Penguin Books.