In All Things, Moderation: A Philosophy for Leaders

Circumstances Matter

What this means for each person will depend on circumstance. Moderation in fitness for a 20-year-old ranger, a 40-year-old logistician, or a 60-year-old civilian will look very different. Identifying where the moderate ideal lies, in both professional and personal challenges, will always depend on the individual and the situation. For a junior officer, one professional example is patrolling. All Army leaders should understand the principles of patrolling, but a light infantry officer must develop greater proficiency in this field than an aviator. While the infantryman may spend several hours per week studying, training, and refining their patrolling skills, the aviator may not train this for months at a time. Each has found the appropriate ideal for their position, but their proficiency looks very different.

Your personal circumstances matter as well. A newly minted West-Point lieutenant may have plenty of time to develop through reading after work, compared to a recent OCS graduate balancing a spouse, children, and a mortgage, who will find their time limited. Even if both officers occupy the same job, their personal situations are unique. Identifying and achieving the Golden Mean for these two individuals will look different, but both must start with personal reflection.  Before military leaders can practice moderation professionally, they must begin by finding it in their own lives.

How Do I Find My Golden Mean?

True virtue comes through the daily humdrum: the father budgeting to pay for groceries while saving for family theme park tickets; the mother balancing a career with the requirements of child-rearing; the child finding out that one piece of cake is ok to eat while a whole cake makes them sick. For leaders, moderation is deciding when you will miss your workout, family dinner, or your child’s recital for your profession. The easy answers are “never” or “always,” one of which will lead to unemployment while the other leads to loneliness. When we find ourselves in trouble is typically when we have strayed from the Golden Mean for our situation. Fortunately, there are several ways we can begin to practice moderation in our own lives and decision making.

Signing up to volunteer at a charitable organization on post (and keeping it to yourself!) can counteract the excess pride that you feel after receiving an award or distinguishing yourself at a training event. To develop the virtue of wit in conversation, you can read the news more regularly and practice active listening. To develop the virtue of temperance, you can allow yourself only one unhealthy purchase per week and ration it.

Developing virtues through individual decisions with these methods carries over to military leadership. When rewarding or punishing Soldiers, taking deliberate time to reflect, soliciting input when appropriate from peers, subordinates, and superiors, and researching options and past instances of similar conduct will yield a better result than a unilateral decision. This applies to junior leaders responsible for a fire-team as much as to those leading platoons, companies, or higher! As the Army focuses on large scale combat, leaders will be forced to make hard decisions between casualties and mission accomplishment. Assessing how to ration care between the wounded, seize the objective, and preserve combat power for the follow-on mission will require a leader who is well versed in moderation and will not rashly commit their forces and energy in only one direction.

It is important to note that most people have a natural tendency towards one extreme. For instance, a leader who tends towards unoriginality can begin writing at home or join a writing club if they require some more motivation. This helps develop the virtue of creativity, which can pay dividends the next time a commander asks for an “out of the box” solution. Another example common in the military comes from physical fitness. Many leaders gravitate towards one area, such as running, lifting, or ruck marching. Soldiers will quickly identify what type of physical training their leaders prefer and associate them with it. Good leaders make themselves uncomfortable by developing their weaknesses. This makes them more well-rounded and provides a role model for Soldiers who feel as though they cannot develop their own weaknesses. Planning for moderation involves identifying the extremes, deciding where you belong on that spectrum, and working to get there. Often, this can be even harder than taking an absolute position!