Blogging, Writing, and Publishing

While Army leaders traditionally exert influence within their unit and its established chain of command, multiskilled leaders must also be capable of extending influence to others beyond the chain of command. Extending influence is the second leader competency. In today’s politically and culturally charged operational environments, even direct leaders may work closely with joint, interagency, and multinational forces, the media, local civilians, political leaders, police forces, and nongovernmental agencies. Extending influence requires special awareness about the differences in how influence works. Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing . Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many secu...

Setting a good ethical example does not necessarily mean subordinates will follow it. Some may feel that circumstance justifies unethical behavior. Therefore, the leader must constantly monitor the organization’s ethical climate and take prompt action to correct any discrepancies between the climate and the standard. To effectively monitor organizational climates, leaders can use a periodic Ethical Climate Assessment Survey combined with a focused leader plan of action as follows: Begin the plan of action by assessing the unit. Observe, interact, and gather feedback from others, or conduct formal assessments of the workplace. Analyze gathered information to identify what needs improvement. After identifying what needs improvement, begin developing courses of action to make the improvements. Develop a plan of action. First, develop and consider several possible courses of action to correct identified weaknesses. Gather important information, assess the limitations a...