CHARISMA IS A GOOD TRAIT FOR BATTLEFIELD LEADERS
Commander commanding
Photo by: Army National Guard/Sgt. Jamar Marcel Pugh
Thu, 03/10/2022 - 06:50
A new approach to the Army’s leadership concepts will be critical to maintaining unit cohesion on a dispersed battlefield, an Army psychologist writes in a new report.
With a reliance on “rational authority,” which motivates soldiers with external incentives such as pay or avoidance of legal problems, the Army is missing the chance to allow leaders to develop “charismatic leadership,” which relies on internal incentives such as loyalty to the leader.
In “Charismatic Leadership as the Bulwark Against Unit Disintegration,” published by the Association of the U.S. Army, author Maj. Karl Umbrasas puts forth that the Army’s “corporate style of leadership” based on formality, meetings and policy could keep leaders from bonding with their units and fomenting “larger group cohesion so important to primary group motivation.”
https://www.ausa.org/news/charisma-good-trait-battlefield-leaders