Battlefield to Boardroom: Leadership Lessons From a Military Commander

For Col. Scott Kirkpatrick, the moment was a test of his leadership.

Soldiers under his command in Iraq stood before him with a request. The mission at hand was to re-take a critical Iraqi Army facility that insurgents had seized. His soldiers already had combat experience in the area, a hotbed of insurgent activity where they and civilians in the area had come under frequent mortar fire and IED attacks. They knew the mission was extremely dangerous. And they wanted the job.

They told me, “Sir, we need to be the unit that takes that facility,” Kirkpatrick says. “They knew we were the best and most capable.” Kirkpatrick carried the request to U.S. Armed Forces commanders, and his company won the assignment — and the battle, taking over and holding the army facility for 16 days.

His soldiers were firmly rooted in what he calls the Confidence Zone, “They had trust in themselves, and they had trust in me as their leader, and they believed it was the right thing to do, even though they knew it would expose them to risks.” Throughout that 13-month tour of duty, Kirkpatrick accompanied his soldiers into battle 80% of the time. Asked about the outcomes of the tour, Kirkpatrick’s voice breaks as he says, “We were able to bring everyone home alive.”

After a 28-year career in the military, including four combat tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, Kirkpatrick is bringing what he learned about leadership to civilian life. He has earned countless medals, including the Bronze Star several times for heroic acts in ground combat, a Humanitarian Service Medal,  and the Legion of Merit for outstanding service, loyalty, and fidelity. He also served as a senior Army Inspector General officer for over eight years, focusing on ethics, compliance, and employee relations.

“Retirement is not a word I like to use,” he says. “I call it ‘pivoting to my next purpose.’” At this stage, that includes leadership training and speaking engagements for clients in business and sports.

Many people assume that all anyone has to do to be a leader in the military is to give orders. “But regulatory authority will only take you so far,” Kirkpatrick says. If subordinates comply just to avoid punishment, they will break down in the face of tough assignments, he adds. “People don’t have to disobey an order to cause a mission to fail.”

Instead, “leadership is an art and a science” that requires knowing and understanding your team and setting a culture and environment that motivates them to achieve your mission. One tool for monitoring a team’s culture is a framework Kirkpatrick has developed called “The Law of the 5 Cs.”

The first C is the Conscientious Zone. At this stage, individuals work hard as they learn the rules. However, it isn’t the best place to be because people lack the confidence to make sound decisions. The second C is the Confidence Zone, where good leaders want their organizations to stay. At this stage, individuals know how the organization works and have the confidence to do the right thing.

The third, fourth, and fifth Cs are setbacks to avoid. In the Comfort Zone, people stop following procedures or building relationships, opting for comfort over healthy risk-taking. Teams that get too comfortable will likely skid into the Complacency Zone, where they ignore winning policies, disciplines, and processes. Teams at this stage risk slipping into the fifth C — organizational Chaos.

To avoid those pitfalls, Kirkpatrick says to surround yourself with people with the ability and courage to challenge your decisions, stay attuned to your team’s performance, and always think five or six steps ahead of your competition. “That requires you to be on the razor’s edge as a leader,” Kirkpatrick says. “If that’s not what you want to do, then don’t sign up for leadership.”