Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Standards for Commanding Officers

Below are the high standards expected of Commanding Officers nominated for the VADM James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award.

The most important criteria will be a judgment of the command's overall excellence, which can be attributed to the CO's personal initiatives and performance. Time-honored principles of leadership are well known: setting an outstanding example, motivating subordinates, and enforcing standards. High standards of military behavior, courtesy, demeanor, and appearance have always been the hallmarks of a well-led command. An overall tone of positive achievement is conducive to combat readiness, discipline, and high performance.

Truly effective leaders know the weapons system and how to fight it to maximum advantage. They know their personnel and take care of them. In fulfillment of these duties, the CO's conduct is governed by a special set of moral, ethical, and behavioral standards that distinguish the military leader from civilian managers in society at large.

These are indeed high standards but they should be the MINIMUM standard against which our Commanding Officers are evaluated.

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