Harold G. Moore (1922–2017)

Tough going in parts - a bit like Vietnam itself. When I was in grammar school, my best friend for my first two years was the son of a Lt-Col in USAF who was based in England. Years later, when I was visiting Oklahoma, I met him again. I knew he would have been drafted so asked him what he did in the Vietnam War. His elder brother had been a helicopter gunship pilot. He said he had spent his years as an officer in Georgia, conducting funeral details and honor guards at a military airfield for bodies shipped back from Vietnam. As he observed, "There's nothing like doing that in front of grieving relatives for two years to give you a whole new perspective on war." Reading this book gave me a better perspective on what he and his brother were doing in 1966.… (lisätietoja)

Hal Moore on Leadership, Winning When Outgunned and Outmanned, by Mike Guardia (audio book, 5 hours). This is a business management book based on the military career of Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, USA retired. Moore is noteworthy because of his heroic role in winning the first major battle of the Vietnam war, chronicled in the bestselling book We Were Soldiers Once, Ia Drang — the Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam, and a popular movie (We Were Soldiers) starring Mel Gibson. The first book helps make sense of this followup book. Frankly, I’m guessing this book on leadership was someone else’s idea. While it wasn’t a bad idea, I’m not sure Moore’s experiences leading people are as relevant now than in the decades of his exemplary military service (1940s into the early 1970s). Virtually all of the general’s leadership practices are best practices, but I don’t think the book adds much to the genre. Moreover, his examples are all from his military experience leading troops, and there are not always direct parallels to civilian workers and private sector enterprises. The various examples of military leadership were interesting, and resonated with me due to my military experiences, and for that reason alone I liked the book. Aside from basic management leadership practices (mutual respect, listen to subordinates, ethical decision-making, fairness, praise publicly and punish privately, lead from the front, etc.) there’s just not a lot of new or innovative ideas. Good book but not great.… (lisätietoja)