Mattis tells Tri-Citians: Know the difference between mistakes and lack of discipline
When former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis first signed up for the Marines, he wasn’t looking to rise through the ranks.
“I loved this area. I loved the hunting, the fishing, swimming in the river. I actually thought about being a teacher, which probably surprises my teachers,” he told a crowd of nearly 1,000 Tri-Citians on Wednesday.
“I think at the time, I was on the road — the leadership road. The U.S. military demands leadership,” said the retired Marine general.
The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce invited the Richland native to their monthly membership luncheon to talk about what he learned about leadership.
Mattis said he couldn’t refuse the offer to talk to the hometown crowd.
“It’s like all organizations in the world, the leadership of the Marine Corps gets the behavior they reward,” he said. “Whatever your leadership rewards in your organization, that’s the behavior you’re going to get. .... Eventually an organization reflects the personality of whoever is given the responsibility of being up at the top.”
The Marines wanted to cultivate initiative and aggressiveness.
For an example, he used the story of a young Marine who was talented with computers and smitten with a colleague. He hacked into Mattis’ computer and sent her an email from me to her saying, “By the way, Private First Class so-and-so is the greatest Marine in the entire division.”
While it turned out to be a surprise for him, it represented the attributes the organization wanted to foster, he said.
“Great initiative, not the best judgment. A private first class does not want to see a two-star general,” he said. “He was young enough to make a mistake like that, which would have been an ethical mistake up above. ... He got punished by being assigned to my personal staff.”
It’s important to understand the difference between a mistake and a lack of discipline, he said.
Allowing for initiative
Much of his advice focused on allowing subordinates to take ownership of their work. It allows the people in the front of the organization to band together and work toward a common purpose, he said.
“They way I would make sure of that on my level is that I would not put a whole lot of detail in my orders. I left a lot of room to allow them to write in how they were going to do it,” he said. “I was very clear about what I wanted them to do.”
He wanted to know their plans for communication, medical evacuation and reconnaissance, but he left the rest of the details up to his subordinates.
Leaders also need to watch out for complacency, and have good ways of getting feedback from subordinates, he said.
Mattis resigned as Secretary of Defense last December after a policy dispute with President Trump.
Earlier this fall, he warned that bitter political divisions threaten American society, saying he views “tribalism” as a greater risk to the nation’s future than foreign adversaries.
He has said he worries about the state of American politics and the administration’s treatment of allies.