FORT BENNING, Ga. (July 1, 2015) -- "Successful leader development entails a certain degree of risk; you're going to have to take some chances," said retired Gen. Carter Ham, head of the National Commission on the Future of the U.S. Army.
"And sometimes you'll make mistakes. As leaders we all have choices, and not very many of them any more are easy."
Ham, who served as the commander for the U.S. Africa Command and as commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, spoke to students June 26 at the Maneuver Center of Excellence as part of the Combat Leader Speaker Program.
The retired general spoke about the importance of adaptive and innovative leadership, sharing the story of 1st Lt. John Spalding, whose platoon helped make the breakthrough on D-Day possible.
"Just imagine (the Soldiers) all thinking let's just stay here - someone else will break through. Then all of them turning to look at Spalding, and asking that question that persists even until today," Ham said. "What are you going to do now, lieutenant?
"John Spalding had the answer. He looked at his platoon sergeant and did what combat leaders of the American Army had done for generations - and said follow me."
Ham told the students how Spaulding and his men, instead of attacking up the beach exits as was planned, found and cleared a path up the bluff. They navigated mines, enemy fire, barbed wire and other hazardous roadblocks before clearing the top and attacking the enemy from the rear.
"It's fashionable these days to talk about adaptive and innovative leaders," Ham said. "I would argue that Spalding was adaptive and innovative long before it was trendy to use those terms."
Ham also quoted the recently published Army Vision, titled Strategic Advantage in a Complex World, to define agility: Soldiers and leaders who are capable of continuous reorientation and adaptation within increasing unpredictable environments.
"While Army leaders have always dealt with rapidly changing circumstances, today the speed of change and uncertainty of the future creates an even greater demand for innovative and adaptive leaders who can thrive in and win amidst ambiguity," Ham said.
He discussed the different atmospheres of past wars - politically, socially and geographically - and reiterated how important it was for leaders to train as hard as they could.
"One hundred percent of the time we have failed to predict the nature of the next conflict," Ham said.
"That's why it's so important to focus less on how to do things and focus more on how to think about things and adapt."
He ended his talk by challenging the students to always go above and beyond what was expected of them.
"The expectations of our nation are high," Ham said. "It cannot be otherwise because the defense and balance of our nation is in your hands. The future of our nation depends on you."
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