Building Leaders The West Point Way

Discover the ten principles that every aspiring leader should learn, straight from the nation’s most powerful leadership lab. Major General Joseph P. Franklin (ret.) believes almost everything that he is as an adult can be traced back to his days at West Point, where he was not only a cadet but an instructor, football coach, and eventually Commandant of Cadets. U.S. Military Academy graduates are found at the highest levels in every walk of life: military, education, business, medicine, law, and government. However, you don't have to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy to embrace its ideals or to benefit from the wisdom that is taught there. In Building Leaders the West Point Way, Franklin shares leadership principles including: Duty, Honor, Faith, Courage, Perseverance, And more Building Leaders the West Point Way uses examples drawn from Major Franklin’s personal experience to illustrate key principles of leadership that are within grasp of everyone. This simple and easy-to-understand resource will help anyone become a better leader.

West Point is the ideal laboratory for studying the dynamics of character, honor, and leadership: first, it operates a comprehensive honor education and enforcement program that has been subjected to rigorous Congressional scrutiny; second, it builds all of its academic, athletic, and military programs on this bedrock of honor. As a result, West Point invests heavily in mentoring, training, and evaluation to ensure the leadership and character development of its 4,000 cadets. From Civil War General Robert E. Lee to astronaut Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin to basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, West Point has groomed leaders whose contributions far exceed the successful management of their immediate charges. By illuminating the principles by which West Point teaches leadership, Stand Your Ground not only provides a unique tour behind the scenes at this revered institution, but, more generally, imparts lessons of honor and character-building that can be adopted by any aspiring leader. Management professor and West Point graduate Evan Offstein approached leaders at the U.S. Military Academy and the Department of the Army with two primary questions: (1) How does West Point develop its leaders?; (2) Can other individuals and organizations apply these methods effectively? Two years later, after conducting extensive on-site research at West Point and with business leaders in a variety of industries, he offers unprecedented access to the process of leadership development at West Point, and practical insights that can, indeed, be applied in any type of organization that strives to operate on the principle of integrity.

West Point has bred more CEOs than any business school, and the leadership skills taught there are truly matters of life and death. Bolder than Sun Tzu, savvier than Gracian -- THE book on learning to lead.

Teaching and Learning the West Point Way is a unique compendium of the best teaching and learning practices from one of the most celebrated and storied undergraduate teaching and learning environments and institutions in America – the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, USA. Drawing on the broad academic curriculum that the students follow at West Point – in addition to military leadership, character development, and competitive athletics – this book describes proven and effective undergraduate pedagogy across a number of academic disciplines. Case studies, strategies and techniques, empirical teaching and learning research results, syllabi, and assignments developed and deployed by West Point faculty are included, which faculty in other higher education institutions can adapt and apply to their own programs and courses. An accompanying companion website provides additional syllabi, course guides, lesson plans, PowerPoint activities, and lecture slides, as well as videos of the editors and authors discussing how key concepts in their chapters might be applied in different teaching and learning contexts. This is an opportunity to gain an in-depth insight into the programs and practices inside one of the world’s premier leadership development and educational institutions. It should appeal to new and experienced faculty and administrators interested in course creation and syllabus design across a wide range of disciplines in educational institutions and military academies across the globe.

With Leadership Lessons from West Point as a guide, leaders in the business, nonprofit, and government sectors can learn leadership techniques and practices from contributors who are teaching or have taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and have served in positions of leadership that span the globe. These military experts cover a broad range of topics that are relevant to any leadership development program in any sector. The articles in this important resource offer insight into what leadership means to these experts—in both war and peacetime—and describe their views on quiet leadership, mission, values, taking care of people, organizational learning, and leading change.

Teaching and Learning the West Point Way is a unique compendium of the best teaching and learning practices from one of the most celebrated and storied undergraduate teaching and learning environments and institutions in America – the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, USA. Drawing on the broad academic curriculum that the students follow at West Point – in addition to military leadership, character development, and competitive athletics – this book describes proven and effective undergraduate pedagogy across a number of academic disciplines. Case studies, strategies and techniques, empirical teaching and learning research results, syllabi, and assignments developed and deployed by West Point faculty are included, which faculty in other higher education institutions can adapt and apply to their own programs and courses. An accompanying companion website provides additional syllabi, course guides, lesson plans, PowerPoint activities, and lecture slides, as well as videos of the editors and authors discussing how key concepts in their chapters might be applied in different teaching and learning contexts. This is an opportunity to gain an in-depth insight into the programs and practices inside one of the world’s premier leadership development and educational institutions. It should appeal to new and experienced faculty and administrators interested in course creation and syllabus design across a wide range of disciplines in educational institutions and military academies across the globe.

A book highlighting 200 Inspirational West Point graduates