“Currahee”
In Thomas E. Cronin’s article “Thinking and Learning about Leadership” he begins with explaining how leadership is double natured. Different people have different opinions on what leadership is and how the leader can execute roles on what’s needed to be accomplished. There are many ways to serve and encourage others to do something, for example, Captain Sobel’s method was towards harsh and unfair punishment and Lieutenant Winter’s was more of a charismatic person who was more compassionate and had empathy towards the team. They both had their positives and negatives towards their style of enforcement. Sobel was disliked by the team more than Winters, and Winters didn’t push his team to their capacity to prepare them at full for war. Later on in the article, it discusses if leadership can be learned or if it’s a born gift. In Cronin’s opinion, leaders cannot be taught to be leaders, but they are able to grasp aspects that can enable others to find leadership aspects within themselves. Winters and Sobel had different ways of leading, but both saw the pros and cons of each. They learned from each other and saw their flaws and weaknesses.
In another article by Thomas E. Cronin, “Four Competencies of Great Leader” which go in depth in the management of attention, management of meaning, management of trust, and management of self. The first leadership competency is management of attention through a set of intentions or visions. While Sobel was giving his harsh commands to his team he would refer to their future in war being just as severe, so his team would understand that they aren’t running up hills at impossible time limits for nothing. The second leadership competency is the meaning of management. To make dreams apparent to others, leaders must communicate their vision. Winters saw faith in his team and gave them reassurance they were going to succeed in the war that was on its way. The third leadership competency is management of trust; people follow others who they know they can trust. The team had trust towards Winters due to him being a team person and helping them along the way. Finally, the fourth leadership competency is the