Title: Leader Development
Headings: Maneuver Self Study Program
Maneuver Self Study Program
Why is the study of leader development important?
Leader Development
How Leaders Develop
Army Leader Development Model
An Approach to the Study of Leader Development.
Reflections

Content: The Asymmetric Warfare Group coined the phrase, “Training at the Threshold of Failure”. It would be simple to replace “training” with “development”: Implied in all of the above is that the senior leader must have a pretty specific understanding of the subordinate’s capabilities, if the experience is to be challenging, yet attainable (the sweet spot). Said another way, en masse development has some utility, but the best development occurs when it is individualized. When discussing Challenging Experiences, we often equate that to challenging training events; ones that have curveballs thrown in to test our agility, or mental resolve, etc. That is a normal association, but experiences can come in many forms: challenging educational experiences, a challenging public speaking engagement, counseling a troubled family, or being given a staff project that appears on the surface to be “too hard and too complex” for what you believe your capabilities to be. Anything that stretches one’s capacity can be considered a challenging experience. Reflection is probably the most important part of the developmental process and the most misunderstood and least applied.