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• Leaders at all levels are responsible for their own learning while supporting their subordinates’ development.
• Every Marine is either a leader or a future leader, whether by rank or by their experience and influence on others.
• Seek learning opportunities for yourself and your team.
• An excellent way to master a topic is to endeavor to teach it well to others.

Subordinates

• Learning is necessary to leadership — strong leaders promote learning in subordinates.
• Leaders recognize that the higher they progress, the more time that they must devote to leading others — including others’ learning experiences.
• At the same time, leaders recognize that learning is critical to their responsibilities at higher levels as well.

Quotes

… leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
John F. Kennedy

… throughout history, [the difference] between brilliantly performing armies and mediocre ones has always [depended] on a small handful of combat leaders.
John Boyd

Foster & Encourage

• Leaders foster learning by engaging their Marines, taking interest in their well-being, and supporting their professional development.
• In combat, subordinates must assume responsibility when their leaders become casualties.
• It is the responsibility of leaders, therefore, to mentor and develop the next generation of Marine leaders to prepare them to assume greater leadership roles.

Cultivating

• Leaders do not wait for mistakes or failures to highlight a learning opportunity.
• They actively identify learning opportunities as they lead Marines in everyday duties so that their Marines learn to identify future learning opportunities on their own.
• We cannot rightly expect subordinates to exercise boldness and initiative in the field when they are accustomed to being over-supervised in garrison.

Teaching & Leading

• Marines who cannot teach will struggle as leaders.
• Strong leaders do not berate a subordinate for making the first mistake; they turn mistakes into teachable moments.
• It is the leader’s responsibility to recognize, act on, and correct the mistakes by turning them into learning opportunities.
• It is far better to learn in a training environment than to make mistakes when deployed.

Relationships

• The relations between officers and enlisted men should in no sense be that of superior and inferior, nor that of master and servant, but rather that of teacher and scholar.
• Officers, especially commanding officers, are responsible for the physical, mental, and moral welfare, as well as the discipline and military training, of the young men under their command.

Feedback

• Leaders provide effective constructive feedback for clarity and understanding.
• The goal is not a simplistic discussion of the “right” answer according to that leader’s personal views.
• It is important to develop greater self-awareness, an understanding of the situation and task, and to be able to adapt the lessons learned to future situations.

Humility

• You can learn from anyone if you are ready and willing to learn.
• However, ego can hinder learning.
• Leaders recognize that humility is a part of the career-long learning process.
• Effective leaders also recognize that they are not an expert in every topic and seek out those who are experts and learn from them, regardless of relative rank or position.