The Future Of A Professional Officer's Future
Introduction.
When looking the works of Clausewitz and Liddell Hart with respect to who’s works are more helpful to the professional officer today one must first look at what the future operating environment might be and how this affects what the professional officer today should be, in terms of competences.
The United States (US) Training and Doctrine Command (2009: 1) assess that ‘the future operational environment will be even more uncertain, complex, and competitive as hybrid threats challenge us across the full spectrum of operations.’ What this means for the future leadership is that they will be facing forces, some if not most of which will be radicalised by religious ideologies, who will be better trained, armed and equipped, often
with weapons and equipment of the same generation. These conflicts will be multidimensional and to ‘gain an advantage, they will use combinations of activities including political, economic, ideological, informational, and military activities (US Training and Doctrine Command, 2009: 1).
How will this affect the professional officer today? It requires the professional officer to be a Strategic Leader. The US Army War College (2010: 2) defines strategic leadership as:
The process used by a leader to affect the achievement of a desirable and clearly understood vision by influencing the organizational culture, allocating resources, directing through policy and directive, and building consensus within a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous global environment which is marked by opportunities and threats.
When looking the works of Clausewitz and Liddell Hart with respect to who’s works are more helpful to the professional officer today one must first look at what the future operating environment might be and how this affects what the professional officer today should be, in terms of competences.
The United States (US) Training and Doctrine Command (2009: 1) assess that ‘the future operational environment will be even more uncertain, complex, and competitive as hybrid threats challenge us across the full spectrum of operations.’ What this means for the future leadership is that they will be facing forces, some if not most of which will be radicalised by religious ideologies, who will be better trained, armed and equipped, often
with weapons and equipment of the same generation. These conflicts will be multidimensional and to ‘gain an advantage, they will use combinations of activities including political, economic, ideological, informational, and military activities (US Training and Doctrine Command, 2009: 1).
How will this affect the professional officer today? It requires the professional officer to be a Strategic Leader. The US Army War College (2010: 2) defines strategic leadership as:
The process used by a leader to affect the achievement of a desirable and clearly understood vision by influencing the organizational culture, allocating resources, directing through policy and directive, and building consensus within a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous global environment which is marked by opportunities and threats.