Marine Maxims: Turning Leadership Principles into Practice

by Thomas J. Gordon

Overview

Marine Maxims is a collection of fifty principle-based leadership lessons that Thomas J. Gordon acquired commanding Marines over a career spanning three decades of service. Dealing with the complexities and challenges of the contemporary operating environment requires an internal moral compass fixed true. These maxims focus on developing inner citadels of character, moral courage, and the resilience to persevere in a contested domain where information is key. Its purpose is to provide future leaders with a professional development plan that will steel their resolve and enable them to lead with honor. Thematically, these maxims build upon a foundation of character, courage, and will. To be effective, a leader must model and inspire the will to persevere in the face of danger or adversity. The essence of effective leadership is credibility. A leader‘s credibility is derived from a congruence of competence and character. Exceptional leaders are not remembered for what they accomplished, but how they did it. Those that lead with integrity will be remembered as a leader worth following.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682476970
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	11/10/2021
Series:	Scarlet & Gold Professional Library
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Col Thomas J. Gordon, USMC (Ret.), is a career Marine with thirty years of executive leadership experience commanding diverse organizations in the most demanding environments. Now retired from military service, Colonel Gordon continues to develop leaders as the Commandant at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction xv

Leadership Defined xix

I Leadership Philosophy 1

1 Know Thyself 3

2 It Is Not about You 8

3 Marines Don't Care How Much You Know but Will Know How Much You Care 17

4 Do Right and Fear No Man 23

5 Organizations Move at the Speed of Trust 30

6 Your Greatest Impact Will Be on the Ends of the Bell Curve 34

7 If You Treat Them like Adults, They Will Act like Adults 38

8 Do Routine Things Routinely 41

II Toxic Leadership 49

9 Don't Be an Ass! 51

10 Bad Leaders Drive Out Good Ones 54

III Building Cohesion 59

11 That Point Where Everyone Else Sucks 61

12 Make Winning a Habit 68

IV Instill the Will 73

13 True Grit: One More, One More Time 75

14 Embrace the Suck 81

V Instilling Discipline 85

15 There Can Be No Morale without Attrition 87

16 Praise, Correct, Praise (PCP) 92

17 Enforce All the Standards All the Time 96

VI Increasing Proficiency 101

18 People Do What People See 103

19 Balanced Excellence 110

20 Brilliance in the Basics 115

21 Complacency Kills 120

VII Personal Development 127

22 Find Your Blind Spots 129

23 A Smart Man Knows When He Is Stupid 138

24 Don't Allow the Urgent to Displace the Important 144

25 The Eight-Year Rule 149

26 Keep Little People Little 152

VIII Professional Development 155

27 If You Have to Tell People You're in Charge, You're Not 157

28 With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility 161

29 Watch Your Pronouns 166

IX Taking Command 169

30 The Two Most Screwed-Up People in the Marine Corps 171

31 Marines Who Know Where They Are Going Are Easy to Lead 175

32 Know and Meet Standards 180

33 Can Do Easy 184

34 When in Charge, Take Charge 187

35 Command and Feedback 192

36 Spartan Spouses 203

37 Pin It Where You Win It 208

38 The Best Legal Advice I Ever Received Was to Get Good Legal Advice 212

X Communication 217

39 You Said It, but That Doesn't Mean They Heard It 219

40 The Em "E-mail" Stands for "Evidence" 224

XI Leading through Crisis/Failure 227

41 The First Report Is Always Wrong 229

42 Bad Things Can and Will Happen to Good Units 233

43 Failure Is the Tuition We Pay for Success 237

XII On Character 241

44 Talent Can Get You to the Top, but Only Character Will Keep You There 243

45 The Disease to Please 250

XIII Some Dos & Don'ts 255

46 Don't Expect What You Don't Inspect 257

47 Don't Be in a Hurry to Make a Bad Decision 264

48 Don't Make Enemies, but If You Do, Don't Treat Them Lightly 271

49 I Don't Have All the Answers, but I Do Know the Questions 275

XIV Final Thought 281

50 If the Boss Is Not Having Fun, No One Is Having Fun! 283

Conclusion 289

Acknowledgments 295

Glossary 297

Notes 303

Bibliography 317

Index 323

Editorial Reviews

Marine Maxims serves aspiring leaders as a portable textbook, a desk side primer, or a reference.” —DODReads

“Marine Maxims ... provides readers with a thought-provoking narrative to self-analyse and select items from in order to enable/enact professional development.” —Australian Naval Institute

“Marine Maxims is an exceptional guidebook for Marine leaders at any level and, with little modification, to military leaders in any branch of service. Today’s service members stand to learn much from his hard-earned wisdom.” —Proceedings

"If you are looking for excellent synopses of aspects of leadership, chapters with useful bullet points and references for future explorations of each section’s ideas, this book is a must-have. Gordon has done an outstanding job of presenting ideas clearly and summarizing key points in ways that can be used for personal benefit as well as in guiding others in journeys to become better leaders.” —The Strategy Bridge

“Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Thomas Gordon provides a readily accessible and thoughtful handbook for leaders at all levels based on fifty leadership principles, often hard-won, he has learned over thirty years—first as a cadet at the Citadel and then throughout his career as a Marine armor officer and senior leader.” —Modern War Institute

“Marine Maxims by Col. Thomas Gordon (Ret.) is a must read.... This book is the 'green book' of all the invaluable advice mentors bestow and a Marine leader’s life lessons learned over a career packaged in an approachable way... The tools and advice Col. Gordon conveys in this book transcend individual leadership styles or types of command.” —Marine Corps Gazette

"Marine Maxims is filled with incredibly useful leadership lessons that could enlighten military leaders at all levels. Col. Gordon not only presents valuable lessons in leadership but does so in a format that will continue to drive self-development. Col. Gordon must be commended for his dedication to leadership and education. The lessons contained within this book and his approach to improving his skills and abilities undoubtedly improved the U.S. Marine Corps. As his book continues to spread within the military community, there’s little doubt that this warrior-scholar will continue to help support and improve the leadership of the US Military well into the future.” —Small Wars Journal

“From his first days as a Citadel cadet and during his thirty years of active Marine service, Colonel Gordon studied great leaders and great leadership in order to record best principals, best practices, and best publications. But Colonel Gordon is not just a scholar of leadership but an outstanding practitioner as well. He has used those observations he recorded to great effect as he led Marines in war and peace; during training and operations; and with high achievers and leadership challenges alike at all levels of the Corps. Now he has distilled thirty plus years of study into 50 lessons of leadership applicable to all leaders, military and civilian, who desire to maximize their skills at 'getting things done though people'. A true textbook for all leaders or those who hope to be.” —Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills, USMC (Ret), president and chief executive officer Marine Corps UniversityFoundation, former Commander, Marine Forces Reserve

“After over 30 years in uniform, I hadn't expected to learn something new about leadership from a book – but Tom Gordon proved me wrong. His engaging style brings to life a well-covered topic with insights that are extraordinarily perceptive and informative. If you are going to read one book on the topic of leadership – this is it.” —Col. Andy Milburn, USMC (Ret.), former commander, Marine Raider Regiment, author When the Tempest Gathers: From Mogadishu to the Fight Against ISIS, a Marine Special Operations Commander at War

“Tom Gordon has skillfully compiled a treasure trove of useful leadership lessons in his very compelling narrative. A must read for those focused on becoming better leaders and team builders!” —Lt. Gen. Mike Dana, USMC (Ret.), former deputy commandant, Installations and Logistics

“A great field guide of character and competence; the key components of trust and the core of leadership. A compilation of experiences to help shape your own. Tom sees life as an opportunity to learn and we should take advantage of it.” —Rear Adm. Brian Brakk, former commander Navy Expeditionary Combat Command

“Brilliantly useful! Fifty seemingly simple ideas of enormous potential explained for ease of implementation. These maxims outline everything a slated commander needs to consider prior to taking charge. This is not another book on leadership theory. Colonel Gordon turns theory into practice with leadership maxims that can be applied with great effect and has brilliantly captured it all in a book to be used and never be relegated to a shelf. An 'aha!' on every page, this compendium of distilled leadership truths can be applied by commanders at all levels. This is an absolute must read for any first time commander.” —Lt. Gen. David Beydler, USMC (Ret.), former commander, Marine Forces Central Command and II Marine Expeditionary Force

“Colonel Gordon has paid it forward with this compilation of leadership lessons. Every leader needs stories to share, you never want to miss the opportunity to talk about those life lessons. Col Gordon provides a source for every leader to turn to. A good companion to William J Bennett’s The Book of Virtues.” —Lt. Gen. John Toolan, USMC (Ret.), former commander, Marine Forces Pacific and I Marine Expeditionary Force

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