Commentary
Military effectiveness depends upon many factors, the most important of which is military leadership. In a bold new book, Lt. Col. Langley Sharp, of the British Army’s Center for Army Leadership, has written “The Habit of Excellence: Why British Army Leadership Works.”
In the book, he explains why the British army has had great leadership over the centuries as it does today. There are important lessons for the U.S. military in this work.
Sharp begins his work with a historical review of British army leadership from Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army to the army of the British Empire, to the millions-strong force that would fight the World Wars of the 20th century, and the post-1945 military that would fight in Korea and the Falklands, and counterinsurgency campaigns in Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, and Borneo. While always noting that allied militaries, technology, and above all, the British soldier, were essential elements of these successful campaigns, leadership was the cement of victory.
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