Tuesday, March 13, 2018
What is it?
The West Point Leader Development System is the 47-month purposeful integration of individual development and leadership development experiences within a culture of character growth. West Point Leader Development System’s goal is to accomplish the mission of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (USMA) by developing leaders of character who live honorably, lead honorably, and demonstrate excellence. Graduates who demonstrate these outcomes are prepared to respond successfully to a variety of complex missions in the 21st century Army.
What is the Army doing/has done?
USMA has codified West Point Leader Development System into a new document called Developing Leaders of Character. The purpose of this document is to create a common understanding and language for all cadets, staff, and faculty, and to describe how West Point accomplishes its mission of developing commissioned leaders of character.
West Point Leader Development System is USMA’s integrated approach to developing leaders of character, which is influenced by:
What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?
West Point Leader Development System focuses on building leaders of character with an emphasis on individual development and leadership development, supported within a culture of character growth.
Individual development builds each cadet’s knowledge, skills, and abilities and is primarily enacted through USMA’s four programs: Academic, Military, Physical, and Character.
Leadership development builds each cadet’s ability to positively influence others. West Point Leader Development System is guided in part by the Army Values, Army leadership doctrine, and USMA’s five facets of character - moral, civic, performance, social, and leadership.
Trust is a function of character, commitment, and competence and, Character Development is integrated into every aspect of the leadership development experience of cadets.
By demonstrating strong character, leaders will earn and maintain the trust of the American people and the Soldiers they lead as they serve as stewards of the Army Profession.
Why is this important to the Army?
The West Point Leader Development System is designed to achieve USMA’s mission to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets. This system helps to develop not only creative and adaptive leaders who will understand and thrive in new operating environments, but also leaders of character who will make the moral-ethical decisions based on their internalization of the Army Values.
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