Six Core Strategic Leadership Traits

In 1988, Donald H. Rumsfeld described six core traits he thought were necessary to be a successful strategic leader.

- Must be able to set priorities.
- Know the importance of selecting the right people for key jobs.
- Must lead by consent, not command (emphasizing his ability to persuade, not order).
- Have a moral compass.
- Have guts at important moments.
- Have a small gap between what he thinks of himself and what his subordinates think of him.

Photo is from November 2004 when I was the Secretary of Defense's Staff Director for the Detainee Task Force working issues related to the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo terrorist detention facilities.

Rumsfeld changed the military for the better

You took over from Donald Rumsfeld …

"One of the things that annoys me is that everyone is always trying to contrast everything I do with everything Secretary Rumsfeld did. But the transformation that he started has totally changed the American military, and, I believe, for the better."

Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, NEWSWEEK Magazine,

25 October 2008

Personal note: I spent my last two years on active duty (2004-2006) as a Navy Captain working alongside a superb Presidential Management Intern (Ms. Sarah Nagelmann - Now SOUTHCOM's Director of Strategic Communications) for Secretary Rumsfeld on the Detainee Task Force (formed on 14 May 2004 by the DEPSECDEF following the revelations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq). I found the Secretary to be infinitely forgiving, patient and magnanimous. In two years I can honestly say, that despite the horrific nature of the issues he was dealing with, he was never 'short' or 'ill tempered' as some have characterized him. He admonition to us was always - "We will go where the truth leads us." One investigation led to another, which led to another - all said and told, he ordered 14 major investigations that we were responsible for tracking. He never tried to cover up a single thing. His view was that it was probably worse than any of us could imagine. And, of course, that is how it turned out to be. In my mind, Secretary Rumsfeld is an American patriot with very few peers.