the Second. These commanders were in large part military administrators, responsible for bringing enormous enterprises into being, coordinating activities and movements, and solving logistical problems. In the language of Hollywood, they were the counterparts of producers. But in this same language, Patton was a "director," a hands-on leader.
He exercised leadership in very nearly the root sense of the word, motivating men to risk themselves in battle and personally leading them into action. Much of his style of leadership is thus relevant only to the battlefield, not to the office. Indeed, in the routine-bound, business-as-usual world of the peacetime Army between the wars Patton had been nearly a misfit. As a garrison officer in Hawaii in the 1920s, he received a negative evaluation from his divisional commander, who wrote that "this officer would be invaluable in time of war but is a disturbing element in time of peace" (Essame, 1974, p. 23). Nevertheless, certain aspects of Patton's leadership style, particularly his enormous drive and single-minded focus on attaining an objective, can in some degree be applicable in any situation in which a difficult project must be accomplished.
Although Patton had a good deal to say and write about leadership, he expressed his philosophy of leadership primarily through action. Even in his extensive writings, he devoted himself far less to what a leader was supposed to "be" than to what a leader was expected to do; much that will be quoted or discussed below is not explicitly about leadership, but rather is about the nature of combat -- a conception from which his ideas of leadership can be vividly inferred. Likewise, a sketch of his military career is essential to an understanding of his leadership style; particular emphasis will be given here to his earlier career, less familiar than his exploits in the Second World War, but formative of his style of leadership.
George S....