President's Office

Shaking hands with graduates who have just received their diploma always causes me to wonder how well The Citadel has fulfilled its mission of developing these young people into principled leaders. This rhetorical question – one that every president has undoubtedly pondered – is not answered until some time after our graduates sing the Alma Mater and toss their hats. For once these young men and women exit Lesesne Gate, they are no longer ours to mold; they become the representatives of The Citadel experience.    

 

As we like to boast, we have only four short years – not five or six – to produce graduates will who understand what it means to be a principled leader. The Citadel attempts to empower our graduates with the knowledge, character and capacity to become 21st century versions of the citizen soldier. That goal is both noble and vague. How well we succeed cannot be tested by any exam; our success is measured by the choices these graduates make in conducting their lives and their careers.  

 

Principled leadership is a phrase we use so much at The Citadel that it could easily become a cliché. One only has to look at our strategic initiatives to appreciate the priority that the Board of Visitors puts on this character trait. Development of principled leaders is the first of our seven strategic initiatives. A phrase in the college’s vision and mission statements – excellence in the education of principled leaders – reaffirms this commitment. 

 

If one were to compare our seven strategic initiatives with those of other colleges, I suspect you would find that last six apply to nearly every institution in the country. Those initiatives address the ubiquitous concerns of colleges: fundraising, the academic environment, the student population, facilities and technology, effectiveness of operations and qualifications of faculty and staff. These are initiatives that can easily be quantified and since I am such a stickler for assessment, you will find elsewhere in this article (page xx) a Citadel dashboard that systematically measures the college’s performance on standards that affect all colleges.

 

Such measurements are important in telling us whether we are getting better or worse. The dashboard indicates our strengths and needs in terms of having the resources and people we need to provide a vibrant learning environment. But if we were only to concern ourselves with such traditional areas as academics, admissions, facilities and fundraising, we would not be The Citadel.

 

It is our focus on principled leadership that sets The Citadel apart.

 

The Citadel’s reputation for producing principled leaders has been well established by sterling examples among our alumni. From the inspiring leadership Thomas Dry Howie, ’29, who stirred his soldiers to push forward to Saint Lo, to the heroic actions of Arland D. Williams, ’57, who gave up his lifeline after the Air Florida crash to save five others, the names of alumni legendary for their leadership adorn our plaques and identify our awards.

 

But an institution’s reputation is not static; it is redefined every day. Our claim for producing principled leaders is measured against the actions of alumni, cadets and CGPS students by everyone we encounter. The inspiration we draw from both our alumni heroes and ordinary graduates who do the right thing tells us that The Citadel has always produced principled leaders. Our challenge is to figure out how this happens and develop a program that teaches principled leadership to all cadets in a systematic way.

 

To quote one of Yogi Berra’s better-known flubs, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might not get there.”

 

We know that The Citadel experience produces leaders. Our challenge is to create a step-by-step training program to formalize the process. We must define exactly how The Citadel experience fosters traits that can help cadets become principled leaders and CGPS students further enhance their leadership skills. And we must tie our leadership training to our core values: academics, duty, honor, morality, discipline and diversity. All young people have values but those values are not necessarily aligned with our core values. Our challenge is to close that gap.

 

Our first efforts have been directed at the Corps of Cadets. We began to design a formal leader development program last fall with the launch of the Values and Respect Program. Finding time to implement a new program in the 24-hour cadet schedule was difficult. As any former cadet knows, the daily schedule is packed. We reassigned some of the drill periods to hold training sessions on character or social issues: honor, leadership, human dignity, alcohol and substance abuse, and sexual harassment and assault.

 

While our efforts represented a major step in defining the skills required to develop leaders, we also learned lessons from our first year’s experience. Some classes suffered from just-in-time preparation. On the plus side, cadets heard some entertaining speakers who also challenged them to think about personal integrity and behavior, prompting lively debates during the process. The feedback we received will help improve the training for the coming year. Additionally, a leadership gift from Steve McManus, ’64, will fund a leadership symposium and also allow us to add faculty and staff advisers to help with the training. That gift, coupled with the work already underway through the Krause Initiative in Leadership & Ethics, will help us gain momentum as we standardize our leadership development programs. As we move forward, we will look for ways to involve alumni in this effort. 

 

One of our biggest achievements in this area has been the creation of a leader development model that will help standardize the training and experiences we provide to all cadets.  The model, illustrated elsewhere in this article, defines the goals of our leadership training for the Fourth, Third, Second and First classes. Starting out as followers during their freshmen year, cadets will gain leadership experience in sequential steps: as one-on-one mentors during the sophomore year, small group or team leaders as juniors and unit or large group leaders as seniors. We are gravitating from a fourth-class system to a four-class system, paying particular attention to sophomores who have, in recent years, have had minimal contact with freshmen.   

 

What we have started will always be a work in progress. Creating a program so that every cadet and CGPS student can have a Citadel experience that enhances their development as a principled leader is a goal I announced at my inauguration. During these first 18 months, the focus has been on the Corps of Cadets with our Values and Respect Program. Providing CGPS students with meaningful opportunities in leadership development is more complex as they already have leadership experiences to contribute to the process.

 

My pledge to alumni is to keep the phrase “developing principled leaders” from being just a cliché. We will continue to refine The Citadel experience by finding standardized ways to develop individuals into leaders who behave honorably and respect others. Through this process, our goal will be to ensure that the promise we offer of developing principled leaders is as tangible as it is inspiring.

 

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Sidebar:            BOV Strategic Initiatives
                        Adopted September 2006