Battle Tested!: Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders
.
By Leo Li
January 06, 2022
Battle Tested!: Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders. Jeffrey D. McCausland and Tom Vossler. Brentwood TN: Post Hill, 2020.
Battle Tested!: Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders is the combined effort of its authors Jeff McCausland and Tom Vossler. Both men are retired Army colonels and combat veterans; McCausland served as Dean of the Army War College before founding his own leadership and strategy firm, while Vossler now works as a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg and has written several books on Civil War battles.[1] They bring these backgrounds to their work, an exploration of successful leadership traits and skills that is filtered through the lens of both Union and Confederate senior officers during one of the most important battles of American history.
While the authors center Battle Tested! on the Battle of Gettysburg, the book is ultimately more about leadership than history.
Battle Tested! focuses on the three decisive days of battle—July 1 to 3, 1863—between George Meade’s Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia near the sleepy town of Gettysburg. After a brief overview of Civil War-era military organizations, each book chapter focuses on a major event or phase of the battle. The chapters provide historical and biographical background and then present a “Leadership Moment” for the reader, asking what they would do in a particular commander’s shoes at that point. Then the authors present several leadership qualities at play in the scenario, explain the importance of each, and provide modern examples to supplement their analysis.
…Battle Tested! [is] immediately accessible and understandable to both Gettysburg experts and newcomers, and serves both these audiences extremely well.
While the authors center Battle Tested! on the Battle of Gettysburg, the book is ultimately more about leadership than history. The authors present a clear and chronological narrative of the battle and its historical and strategic contexts, but Battle Tested! focuses primarily on the major thrusts of the Gettysburg battle by both sides of the conflict, its leadership lessons drawn from the decisions and personalities of each side’s most senior officers. Those readers who want to explore the minutiae of Gettysburg are better served by already existing historical works that go into much deeper detail and depth about the battle and its participants, such as Stephen Sears’ Gettysburg or Allen Guelzo’s Gettysburg: The Last Invasion.[2] Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels is the classic dramatic retelling of the battle.[3]
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2022/01/06/battle_tested_gettysburg_leadership_lessons_for_21st_century_leaders_810810.html
