Leadership: Getting Results

[August 19, 2026] The year I retired from the U.S. Army, I compiled two electronic books (Part 1 and Part 2) on leadership, listing 82 characteristics necessary to be a leader. Those “books” serve as a shorthand for leadership traits. Both are free, and I encourage you to download and use them as you see fit.

The last trait I wrote about is Characteristic #82: Getting Results. The message is clear. A leader’s success is measured by results achieved, but only through moral means. In this chapter from the book, I’ve made minor modifications.

Historically, the most important factor in leadership has been getting results. This is why, at least today, it is vital to have a leader with a strong moral foundation who can be trusted to do the right thing. Furthermore, the best leaders never believe that the end justifies the means to achieve a goal. That is simply unacceptable.

To leaders, the means (processes and methods) we use to reach our ends (missions and goals) are just as important as the ways (resources available) to get there. This is why Socialism is a failure. It fails because the dream of a utopian society (the ends) has historically been achieved through the barrel of a gun and the gulag (the means and ways). When millions die because of socialist ideology, as in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and elsewhere in the 20th Century, it tells us about the necessity of moral means and ways to achieve a goal. That is pretty darn important.

Any system that treats human lives as expendable fuel for an abstract ideal reveals its true bankruptcy: the moment morality is subordinated to outcomes, the leader ceases to lead and becomes merely an operator of force. History does not forgive that substitution, and neither should we.

Some people will tell us that a leader’s “intent” is important. Frankly, results matter more. In Western societies, we’ve been tilting toward judging leaders by their “intent.” However, this runs counter to the idea of a good leader. True, a leader must first believe in the cause, but then the leader must actually achieve that cause’s goal.

Furthermore, there are no excuses for failure. If a leader is senior enough in the organization, it is expected that they can anticipate all possible barriers to success and take appropriate moral action. A senior leader telling us that something we previously agreed to do cannot be done is also contemptible. In the military, we are fond of saying, “the maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters.”

Getting results also means achieving them even when the leader has no authority and must rely on other subjective skills, such as persuasion. Persuasion and other social skills are essential. It is rare for a senior leader to have all the resources and permissions needed to get things done. That is why developing relationships, building trust and confidence in others, and influencing people to achieve greater things is so important.

When authority is absent, character becomes the only currency left; without it, persuasion collapses into manipulation and influence into coercion. The leader who cannot move people without force has already failed the deeper test of legitimacy.

Leaders get things done. They do it ethically and by taking care of people. They inspire loyalty in both tough and good times. They have what we call gravitas!

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).