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Courage and Moral Leadership

Washington, DC; February 23, 2003. After a brilliant 38-year military
career, four-star General Eric Shinseki did something many considered
shocking, if not downright foolish. While testifying before a U.S. Senate
Armed Services Committee hearing on the impending war in Iraq, Shinseki
told the senators it would take several hundred thousand soldiers to keep
the peace in postwar Iraq. Just a simple, candid answer, but one that was in
direct opposition to what Shinseki’s civilian boss, U.S. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, wanted him to say. Rumsfeld had been working hard
to convince Congress that the war would require relatively few ground
forces, and here was the U.S. Army chief of staff telling them from his ex-
perience that it would instead require massive manpower. The Department
of Defense response was quick and unforgiving, with both Rumsfeld and
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz publicly repudiating Shinseki’s
comments.
Chagrined by Shinseki’s refusal to toe the party line and his support
of the Crusader artillery system, which civilian leaders opposed, Rumsfeld
later took the unprecedented step of naming Shinseki’s replacement more
than a year before the end of his term. Neither Rumsfeld nor Wolfowitz
attended Shinseki’s retirement ceremony, a major breach of protocol that
refl ected their disdain for the general.
By mid-2006, half a dozen generals had publicly expressed doubts
over Rumsfeld’s handling of the war and called for him to step down,
but only after they had safely retired. Rumsfeld resigned later that year.
Shinseki had the courage to express his concerns at the beginning of the
war, despite the potential damage to his own reputation and career. In
discussing the general’s willingness to stand alone among the top brass in
bucking the higher ups, a professor of management at the Wharton School
of Business said, “This is someone who at the height of his professional
career . . . in the name of disclosure and truthfulness chose to take the
ultimate hit.” Shinseki himself just sees it as honoring his responsibility
to the young people that the United States “asks to stand up and do the
unthinkable.” Shinseki knows that when there aren’t enough soldiers, too
many people are going to die. “I made it a point to remind myself that
I was fi rst, last, and always a soldier,” he said. 1
Eric Shinseki had the courage to say what he believed. Whether one
agrees or disagrees with U.S. policies in Iraq and Donald Rumsfeld’s perfor-
mance as Secretary of Defense is beside the point in this case. Shinseki was
willing to disagree with his bosses because he felt a moral responsibility to
do so, even though it might cause personal suffering.
Being a real leader means learning who you are and what you stand
for, and then having the courage to act. Leaders demonstrate confi dence
and commitment in what they believe and what they do. A deep devotion
to a cause or a purpose larger than one’s self sparks the courage to act, as
it did for General Shinseki. In addition, Shinseki’s story demonstrates that
leadership has less to do with using other people than with serving other
people. Placing others ahead of oneself is a key to successful leadership,
whether in politics, war, education, sports, social services, or business.
This chapter explores ideas related to courage and moral leadership.
In the previous chapter, we discussed mind and heart, two of the three ele-
ments that come together for successful leadership. This chapter focuses on

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