Secrets of Special Ops Leadership: Dare the Impossible -- Achieve the Extraordinary

280 Pages·2005·1.58 MB·English

by  William A. Cohen Ph.D.

SECRETS
of
SPECIAL OPS LEADERSHIP
SECRETS
of
SPECIAL OPS LEADERSHIP
Dare the Impossible—
Achieve the Extraordinary
William A. Cohen, Ph.D.
Major General, USAFR, Ret.
Former Air Commando
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cohen, William A., 1937-
Secrets of special ops leadership : dare the impossible, achieve the
extraordinary / William A. Cohen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8144-0840-0
1. Leadership. 2. Management. I. Title.
HD57.7.C643 2005
658.4′092—dc22 2005010447
© 2006 William A. Cohen.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
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Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Nurit
CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
SECTOR 1 PRINCIPLES
WHY ARE SPECIAL OPS SPECIAL?
THE PRINCIPLES OF SPECIAL OPS LEADERSHIP
SECTOR 2 PRACTICES
1 CREATE THE BEST
2 DARE THE IMPOSSIBLE
3 THROW THE RULE BOOK AWAY
4 BE WHERE THE ACTION IS
5 COMMIT AND REQUIRE TOTAL COMMITMENT
6 DEMAND TOUGH DISCIPLINE
7 BUILD A COMMANDO TEAM
8 INSPIRE OTHERS TO FOLLOW YOUR VISION
9 ACCEPT FULL BLAME; GIVE FULL CREDIT
10 TAKE CHARGE!
11 REWARD EFFECTIVELY
12 MAKE THE MOST OF WHAT YOU HAVE
13 NEVER GIVE UP
14 FIGHT TO WIN
15 FINAL THOUGHTS ON SPECIAL OPS LEADERSHIP
NOTES
INDEX
AUTHOR’S NOTE
WHEN WE WENT to title this book my editor and I found ourselves at
odds as to how best to describe the type of unique leadership I had written
about. In the United States we now have a major command with
components from all the military services known as Special Operations
Command, or “SOCOM.” In current parlance, what these different types of
special military forces do is known collectively as “special operations,” or
“special ops” for short, and individual practitioners are sometimes referred
to as “special operators.” However, not too long ago many of us who
performed these duties were known as “commandos.” I am proud to say
that I was once a member of the 609th Air Commando Squadron of the 56th
Air Commando Wing before the designations were changed, and the
organization of our former members is still known as the Air Commando
Association. Many of us grew accustomed to the commando designation.
The term “commando” came from the British in World War II. They
got it from the “Afrikaners” when they fought them in South Africa at the
turn of the century. As you will see in the book, “commando” or “special
operations” go way back in our own history, but we frequently called them
by a different name. We used the term “rangers” even before American
independence. This term is still used to describe some elite units of the U.S.
Army. There have always been these special, unique units in warfare, even
in biblical times. In this book, I have used the terms special ops, special
operations, and commando interchangeably to describe all units, whether of
American, foreign, or historical origin, that are led with the leadership
philosophy of daring to do the impossible to achieve the extraordinary.
PART 1 PRINCIPLES