| Successful company commanders share many similar | | | | organization. You inspire others by setting a strong |
| traits. I'll cover a few of the more common traits | | | | personal example, enforcing the standards and by |
| below: | | | | recognizing soldiers who do great work. |
| #1 Confident | | | | #7 Ability to Get Things Done |
| A leader must act confident. As an officer, soldiers | | | | Good commanders produce. Their unit's produce. |
| expect their leaders to remain calm, cool, collected | | | | Successful commanders must get things done. Their |
| and confident. If you worry, your soldiers will worry. | | | | unit must accomplish all missions on time and to |
| If you are confident, your soldiers will be confident. | | | | standard. Commanders don't make excuses, they |
| #2 Technically Proficient | | | | make things happen. |
| As the leader of the team, you must be technically | | | | #8 Delegate |
| proficient. In other words, you must be thoroughly | | | | You can't do it all. You just need to make sure things |
| trained on individual and collective tasks. You must be | | | | get done. Empower your subordinate leaders and |
| able to perform any task your soldiers do; especially | | | | give them the resources they need to succeed. |
| the common warrior tasks. | | | | Achieve results through other people. |
| #3 Decision Maker | | | | #9 Team Player |
| Leaders get paid to make decisions. Anyone can | | | | Good commanders are team players. They do |
| make a decision, but company commanders must be | | | | whatever they can to help their battalion, their fellow |
| willing to make the tough decisions. | | | | company commanders and most importantly, their |
| #4 Big Picture Thinking | | | | officers, NCOs and Soldiers. The Army is a team |
| Company Commanders must understand the big | | | | game. Good commanders understand this and do |
| picture. They must understand how the unit | | | | whatever they can to help the team. |
| objectives intertwine with the battalion's objectives. | | | | #10 Mission Planning |
| They must be able to see the trees from the forest. | | | | One of the primary responsibilities of a company |
| #5 Loyalty to Subordinate Officers and NCOs | | | | commander is mission planning. Good commanders |
| As the leader of a company, the commander must | | | | plan, resource and supervise all training. They write |
| have his follower's back. He or she must stand by | | | | Operation Orders. They share information with their |
| their NCOs and Officers. Yes, the commander should | | | | followers, ahead of time. They follow the 1/3 - 2/3 |
| be loyal to her soldiers too, but the commander leads | | | | planning rule and give their subordinates time to plan. |
| the NCOs and Officers. The NCOs and Officers lead | | | | In summary, successful company commanders share |
| the soldiers. | | | | similar traits. The secret to success is to be yourself |
| #6 Inspire | | | | and follow time tested principles. Be confident, be fair |
| Soldiers want to be inspired. As a leader, you should | | | | and always lead by example. |
| have the ability to improve the morale of the | | | | |