On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence PDF Author: Norman F Dixon
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465097812
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 529

Book Description
A classic study of military leadership uncovering why generals fail The Crimea, the Boer War, the Somme, Tobruk, Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs: these are just some of the milestones in a century of military incompetence, of costly mishaps and tragic blunders. Are these simple accidents—as the "bloody fool" theory has it—or are they inevitable? The psychologist Norman F. Dixon argues that there is a pattern to inept generalship, and he locates this pattern within the very act of creating armies in the first place, which in his view produces a levelling down of human capability that encourages the mediocre and limits the gifted. In this light, successful generals achieve what they do despite the stultifying features of the organization to which they belong. On the Psychology of Military Incompetence is at once an original exploration of the battles that have defined the last two centuries of human civilization and an essential guide for the next generation of military leaders.

Firepower

Firepower PDF Author: Paul Lockhart
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 154167295X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 562

Book Description
How military technology has transformed the world The history of warfare cannot be fully understood without considering the technology of killing. In Firepower, acclaimed historian Paul Lockhart tells the story of the evolution of weaponry and how it transformed not only the conduct of warfare but also the very structure of power in the West, from the Renaissance to the dawn of the atomic era. Across this period, improvements in firepower shaped the evolving art of war. For centuries, weaponry had remained simple enough that any state could equip a respectable army. That all changed around 1870, when the cost of investing in increasingly complicated technology soon meant that only a handful of great powers could afford to manufacture advanced weaponry, while other countries fell behind. Going beyond the battlefield, Firepower ultimately reveals how changes in weapons technology reshaped human history.

Liddell Hart and the Weight of History

Liddell Hart and the Weight of History PDF Author: John J. Mearsheimer
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801476310
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
This troubling book offers a striking illustration of how history can be used and abused--how a gifted individual can create their own self-serving version of the past.

How to Think Like an Officer

How to Think Like an Officer PDF Author: Reed Bonadonna
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0811769372
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

Book Description
The U.S. military invests heavily in time and resources to train its officers to be leaders in the broadest sense – forming them not only in military art and science (strategy, tactics, command, etc.), but also in humanistic knowledge, character, and values, as well as how to apply this education on a lightning-fast battlefield or within an inertially slow bureaucracy. The military develops its leaders, at the service academies and in ROTC programs, through very specific but also broad and deep education – a way of thinking that also has wide application in the civilian world, not only in various professional fields that need leaders and thinkers, but also among military history enthusiasts who want to understand how officers have thought across time and among American citizens who want – and, really, need – to understand how our military leaders think, how they advise presidents, how they lead on the battlefield. In a genre-busting book that spans Stackpole’s two longstanding military programs – reference and history – Reed Bonadonna describes how officers think, how they ought to think, how they develop their skills, and how they can improve these skills, as well as how average civilians and citizens can learn from the example of military officers and their program of education. Bonadonna draws from military history, from military arts and science, from literature and science and more, to show how officers develop their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. A military officer is often called upon to be not only fighter and leader, but also negotiator, organizer, planner and preparer, teacher, writer, scientist, and advisor, and needs broad learning. This is a deeply learned and insightful book, one that cites Lincoln, Grant, Patton, Eisenhower, Marshall, and Churchill as easily as Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, not to mention Homer, Plato, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, George Orwell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Joseph Heller, Phil Klay, and even Jane Austen. The book is descriptive as well as prescriptive and should find eager readers inside the military (where officers take seriously their professional education and their professional reading lists) as well as outside, where many look to the military, to military reading lists, and to military history, to glean lessons for life and work.

Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?

Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? PDF Author: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1633696332
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
Look around your office. Turn on the TV. Incompetent leadership is everywhere, and there's no denying that most of these leaders are men. In this timely and provocative book, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks two powerful questions: Why is it so easy for incompetent men to become leaders? And why is it so hard for competent people--especially competent women--to advance? Marshaling decades of rigorous research, Chamorro-Premuzic points out that although men make up a majority of leaders, they underperform when compared with female leaders. In fact, most organizations equate leadership potential with a handful of destructive personality traits, like overconfidence and narcissism. In other words, these traits may help someone get selected for a leadership role, but they backfire once the person has the job. When competent women--and men who don't fit the stereotype--are unfairly overlooked, we all suffer the consequences. The result is a deeply flawed system that rewards arrogance rather than humility, and loudness rather than wisdom. There is a better way. With clarity and verve, Chamorro-Premuzic shows us what it really takes to lead and how new systems and processes can help us put the right people in charge.

On Killing

On Killing PDF Author: Dave Grossman
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1497629209
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
A controversial psychological examination of how soldiers’ willingness to kill has been encouraged and exploited to the detriment of contemporary civilian society. Psychologist and US Army Ranger Dave Grossman writes that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to pull the trigger in battle. Unfortunately, modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. The mental cost for members of the military, as witnessed by the increase in post-traumatic stress, is devastating. The sociological cost for the rest of us is even worse: Contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army’s conditioning techniques and, Grossman argues, is responsible for the rising rate of murder and violence, especially among the young. Drawing from interviews, personal accounts, and academic studies, On Killing is an important look at the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects the soldier, and of the societal implications of escalating violence.

To Dare and to Conquer

To Dare and to Conquer PDF Author: Derek Leebaert
Publisher: Little Brown
ISBN: 9780316143844
Category : Special forces (Military science)
Languages : en
Pages : 708

Book Description
Examines the impact special operations forces have had on world history from ancient times to the present and describes the methods commandos use to carry out their missions.

Going Commando

Going Commando PDF Author: Mark Time
Publisher: Kings Road Publishing
ISBN: 1784187852
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 221

Book Description
'TOUGH, TOUCHING... IT'S A RIGHT GOOD READ' - DAILY TELEGRAPHAt 16, Mark Time wants to become either a geologist or a Royal Marines Commando. So which does he choose? Despite his love of basalt, he chooses the career that teaches him how to kill... and sh*t in plastic bags.Knowing his weak body will have to shape up to complete thirty weeks of commando training, Mark prepares for the Royal Marines by sleeping in his shed wearing only plastic bags. He braves pain by ordering his mate to attack him while trapped in a sleeping bag. He starves himself in a stupid urban survival exercise, turning down the offer of crispy pancakes from his bewildered mother.He is ready.Some might say for the nut house...Often hilarious and yet shockingly sobering, this is the true story of a boy who joins one of the world's most elite military units with only naivety and incompetence equalling his will to succeed.'A cover to cover laughathon' - SOLDIER MAGAZINE

Human Incompetence

Human Incompetence PDF Author: Thomas F. Gilbert
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780937100219
Category : Psychologists
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
"Thomas Gilbert (1927-1995) was a psychologist who is often referred to as the founder of the field of performance technology, also known as Human Performance Technology (HPT). He never completed this autobiography. Clearly, he was still on a journey of discovery with numerous unfinished manuscripts in draft awaiting final revision and publication. Tom's own words introduce his story best. "...I had studied all there was to be known about human learning and that field was a complete mess. I felt I was going to have to do with it what Descartes had done with philosophy, start all over from scratch...Just before going my own way to reconstruct all of psychology...I sat down with [B.F.] Skinner's first book, "The Behavior of Organisms". This was about 1955, and I was a young assistant professor at the University of Georgia. I've never been the same since." While going through a number of storage boxes several years ago, Marilyn Gilbert, Tom's wife of twenty-seven years, found his unfinished autobiography. This book is that work, untouched, which provides intriguing insight into a man who has been referred to as one of the top three most brilliant American psychologists of the twentieth century."--publisher description.
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