TORC

John Wayne's Sgt. Stryker leads the way in the WW2 movie, Sands of Iwo Jima

War situations bring leadership into very sharp relief – where a battlefield lapse can so easily result in death or injury to oneself or colleagues.

Two classic World War 2 movies,  12 O’Clock High and Sands of Iwo Jima, are noteworthy here – especially for the common leadership practices portrayed by their respective heroes, General Frank Savage (played by Gregory Peck) and Sergeant John Stryker (played by John Wayne). 

Leader turning groups around
Both movies deal with actual events: 12 O’Clock High with the early US bombing campaign over Europe and Sands of Iwo Jima with the amphibious landings and capture of the key pacific fortresses at Tarawa and Iwo Jima.

The common theme is the manner in which the leader succeeds in whipping their respective troops into shape –  from woefully inauspicious beginnings.

Savage is given command of the 918th Bomb Group, a hard-luck unit suffering from poor morale, who just have had half their bombers shot down in a single mission.

Stryker leads a troop of marines, mostly comprising a ragbag of rookies – wet behind the ears in what will be demanded of them in combat.    

Leadership style principles
Savage & Stryker share a leadership style characterised by some common principles: discipline, technical readiness, leading by example and developing successors.

Within hours of arrival, Savage demotes Colonel Gately and Sgt. McIllhenny, closes down the officers’ club and announces to everyone:

“If any man here … rates himself as something special,
with a special kind of hide to be saved… he’d better
make up his mind about it right now. Because
I don’t want him in this group. I’ll be in my
office in five minutes. You can see me there.”

Stryker announces himself with a similar emphasis on discipline:

“Any man that doesn’t want to cooperate, I’ll make him
wish he hadn’t been born. Before I’m through with you,
 you’re gonna move and think like one man.
If you don’t, you’ll be dead … any questions?”

Execution & performance management
Both are sticklers for execution. Savage establishes an unorthodox process for dealing with low performance.

He names one of his fighter planes Leper Colony, assigns the weakest performers as crew and puts (the demoted) Colonel Gately in charge.

He then adds himself on board during training sessions, analysing & coaching them on particular points to improve.

When he adjudges a crew member has sufficiently improved he promotes him out to one of the regular planes – backfilling from there with somebody new that he has identified as not measuring up elsewhere.

Pride as a motivator
This isn’t just a mechanism to address skill weakness.

It is also part of his motivation armory – with individuals, assigned to the Leper Colony, being spurred on to assuage their injured pride, by proving him wrong.

Indeed, pride is a key doctrine for Savage, as he sets out to the squadron doctor on his arrival:

“I think I know how deep the problem is here, Major.
I am convinced that the one thing that will solve it
is pride, pride in this group. The kind of pride that
makes it the last thing a man wants is to be left
on the ground.”

Leading from the front
Stryker is equally focussed on performance – leading from the front and drilling his charges, relentlessly.

Only on seeing live action at Tarawa does his squad fully appreciate these critical traits – as he dashes headlong into enemy fire to single-handedly take out an enemy bunker that was pinning them down on the beach.

So much does their respect for him grow thereafter, that by the time they set out on their final mission to take Iwo Jima, the narrator remarks:

“This time we were a sound fighting unit,  blooded and trained.
Tarawa had blooded us.  Stryker had trained us”.

Developing successors
Savage and Stryker are also alike in the attention they devote to developing a successor – and, even more so, in grooming individuals with whom they don’t initially see eye to eye.

When Savage falls ill, just as he is about to lead their most critical bombing mission, to whom does he turn to take the reins, but none other than the same Colonel Gately that he had originally demoted to take charge of the Leper Colony.

Likewise, when Stryker falls to a sniper bullet, following their successful taking of Mount Suribachi, who steps forward to lead on but Private Conway, who had been the most consistently insubordinate throughout.    

The pride and honour he feels in filling Stryker’s shoes is palpably obvious in that final scene, as he turns to his surviving colleagues and barks out one of Stryker’s trademark commands:

“All right, saddle up, let’s get back in the war.”

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PS. For further leadership tips, please click on the following Torc links:
1. Trapattoni: some lessons in management
2. Flow, Mojo & Drive
3. The Leader as Teacher
4. Management: Machiavellian Style
5. Leadership: Ready, Aim, Fire  

PPS. For related Torc training programmes, please click on the following links:
1. Engaging Managers with Engagement
2. Leading with Emotional Intelligence
3. Leading with Resilience & Optimism
4. Leading with Teamwork & Collaboration
5. The Leader as Teacher