How does West Point develop leaders?

It is said that there is a set of figures: after World War II, among the Fortune 500 companies in the world, there were more than 1,000 chairman of the board, more than 2,000 vice chairman, and 5,000 general managers and directors who were trained by the US Military Academy at West Point. More than any business school in the United States.

According to statistics in China, by the end of 2004, among the top 500 enterprises in China by turnover, there were as many as 200 presidents and vice presidents with military backgrounds. This is probably also incomparable to Chinese business schools.

How do military schools and the military develop business leaders? As one of the "Military Business School" series of books by China Social Science Press, "West Point Leadership Course" analyzes some methods and cases for readers.

The law of honor regulates virtue

There is no fixed leadership model for successful leaders: flamboyant, low-key, courageous, humble... However, there are common standards for trusted leadership , that is moral principles, noble character and selfless dedication (P10). Leadership development at West Point begins with the restraint of virtue: in all the Fortune 500 companies in the United States, what people learn is a code of conduct. At West Point, what people learn is morality.

Although the business school also emphasizes morality, it is obviously not as thorough as West Point's implementation - not only because most business schools have no morality-related courses, but also lacks a corresponding punishment mechanism to regulate students' behavior. At West Point, the moral discipline of freshmen is the Law of Honor, which requires cadets to "not lie, cheat, steal, and tolerate no one who does this." For cadets who violate the honor law, the military academy has the most severe punishment: "The honor hearing is more like a trial. All the evidence is required to be provided for the alleged violation of the law, and the defense is also launched at the same time. Finally, the honor committee makes a conclusion. If the behavior is true , students who make mistakes will be expelled from the military academy."

In addition to the above four points, West Point has designed different moral education content for junior and senior students' different understanding of values. The moral education for freshmen begins with the cultivation of "righteousness". It deepens the difficulty of the course for senior students, mainly through case studies and role-playing, to exercise students' decision-making ability in the context of moral conflict.

Starting from scratch with an empty cup mentality

Business school teachers often complain that students take classes with a closed mind and it is difficult to learn new things until they are fully open. In order to make the students have a better learning effect, before the real leadership class starts, what West Point does is to brainwash all the new students. The purpose of this is to make them forget the past and relearn new behaviors with a better mindset.

The first step in "brainwashing" is to emphasize the importance of "whiteboard" (tabula rasa). The author confirms to readers from his own experience that the only fact that matters when a freshman enters West Point is that he admits his ignorance: "He ordered me to 'put down the suitcase'. I bent down and put the suitcase in the On the ground. 'No, bastard,' he said, 'I said put down your bag'. This time, I bent over and 'dropped' the suitcase two inches off the ground. This process was repeated countless times until I loosened up He opened his fingers and let the suitcase fall without any extra movement. He was satisfied. (P10)

This kind of "packaging ceremony" must be experienced by every freshman. The strict system forced students to give up their previous successes , forget what it means to be smug. Everything is learned from scratch: talking, eating, dressing, and by re-regulating their own behavior, new students learn how to control themselves and force them to learn new ways of behaving.

Other than that In addition, on the day of receiving the new students, the military academy deprives the cadets of their personal attributes: their names and the right to control their personal time. Students are only performing their social functions in constant execution. Only under this condition can they take 100 % energy to complete the assigned task.

Leading step by step

Most management colleges only teach basic business courses, including at most management theory content. These functional courses do not teach students what leadership is and how to Go to lead. West Point has a "progressive leadership system." In this system, people with outstanding ability and developmental potential will gradually take all positions and eventually become leaders of the entire student corps of approximately 4,000 people. This system allows trainees to Get exercise in different leadership positions, which is embodied in the school's leadership development program at different levels for students in grades 1 to 4.

In their first year of school, receiving and carrying out orders is their daily task. ; By the second year, students must be responsible for one to three freshmen and begin to take on the role of team captains, so as to exercise face-to-face leadership; in the third year, students are promoted to "middle management status", that is, monitor, usually responsible for Actions for the entire class; in the final year, the cadet will serve as a decision supervisor level leader and can lead a platoon of about 40 men, a company of 150 men, and a battalion of more than 400 men, or even a regiment of 4,000 men.

It can be seen that West Point's leadership training method is gradually upgraded in practice. On the one hand, it makes up for the shortcomings of traditional management schools that only teach knowledge without practice; on the other hand, its incremental training method also It provides students with a development direction starting from basic affairs.

"West Point Leadership Course", by Larry R. Dunisong, China Social Science Press, February 2005, first edition, 25.00 yuan.