Leadership Beyond the Trenches Anne Reiffenstein

Major-General Craig Aitchison was good enough to chat with me (online) about leadership and professional military education.  As the Commander of the Canadian Defence Academy, he is responsible for Canadian Armed Forces Education and Training including the professional development system.  We talked about socialization, organizational culture and institutional leadership as well as the stewarding the Profession of Arms.  As someone who has spent a lot of his last 36 years training and educating leaders, Major-General Aitchison is passionate about the subject which made for a really great conversation.

Fareoffice The Tribute by Mikael Hellman

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6095-fareoffice-the-tribute

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

I got the opportunity to talk with Lieutenant–General Christine Whitecross and discuss some of her ideas on leadership and her own experiences during her career.  One of my favourite moments was when she talked about breaking the glass ceiling and how important it was that those shards don’t take out those who come after you.  She emphasized how important it was to reach down and pull people up after you.  …“It’s not about being one of one.”….  It was a really great conversation – one that I am still thinking about.

Theme music provided by:

Fareoffice The Tribute by Mikael Hellman

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6095-fareoffice-the-tribute

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

CWO Kevin Mathers took time, while on leave, to chat with me about his thoughts on institutional leadership.  Our discussion ranged from how his leadership has evolved from a young soldier in Calgary to what is important now as the LANDCOM Command Senior Enlisted Leader.  He shared his thoughts on ‘Tactical Patience’ while working in a multinational environment, the importance of friendship in building partnerships that are required in organizations like NATO, and the role of mentoring the next generation of soldiers for the profession of arms.  

Theme music is provided by: 

Fareoffice The Tribute by Mikael Hellman
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6095-fareoffice-the-tribute
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

I had a great talk with LGen ( Retired) Day where we covered a lot of aspects of institutional leadership.  He discussed his thoughts on 'Conscious Leadership' at the institutional level, on capability development and the perils of 'building a better yesterday'.  Among many topics, we discussed the idea of persistent organizational evolution driven by institutional leaders, that creates a forward looking organization vice one mired in the status quo.  There are a few 'war' stories to keep it real!  It was the type of conversation that keeps me thinking about this subject and inspiring me to seek out some of these ( new to me ) concepts.  

This week’s episode is about institutional leadership and ethics.  By using the Trolley problem, we go through some of the moral reasoning frameworks to answer the question “Would you kill the fat man?”.  I also discuss the use of codes of conduct and organizational ethos on promoting ethical culture.

References

Ariely, Dan. The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty How We Lie to Everyone - Especially Ourselves. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2013.

Edmonds, David. Would You Kill the Fat Man?: the Trolley Problem and What Your Answer Tells Us about Right and Wrong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015.

Harvard Justice. Harvard Justice, March 22, 2017. http://justiceharvard.org/.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Accessed September 27, 2020. https://plato.stanford.edu/.

I had a chance to chat with Brigadier-General Darlene Quinn, Commander Formation Europe and the National Military Representative for Canada to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. I was so excited because  we got to chat in person ( of course, observing social distancing )!
She shared her ideas on organizational culture, how her leadership has evolved, and her role as an institutional leader.  We also spoke about diversity and what her experience has been like as the first Canadian woman to hold this position.  



Theme music by 

Fareoffice The Tribute by Mikael Hellman

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6095-fareoffice-the-tribute

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/