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Adaptability to tech key for military leaders today, say veterans
What makes a leader? That was the question that came up in a session on Military Leadership for the Present Day on Sunday at the 4th Military Literature Festival 2020
Professional knowledge, decision-making abilities, integrity, moral and physical courage, loyalty to country, organisation and self, character, vision, judgement and communication skills are attributes of great military leaders, say men who have led from the front in the Armed Forces. How one adapts to modern technology today counts too, they say.
What makes a leader? That was the question that came up in a session on Military Leadership for the Present Day on Sunday at the 4th Military Literature Festival. Moderated by the senior adviser to the Punjab chief minister,
Lt Gen TS Shergill (retd), it had Lt Gen Balraj Singh Nagal, Lt Gen DDS Sandhu and Air Marshal Kishan Nohwar as panellists.
Taking the discussion forward, Lt Gen Nagal said good military leaders motivated others with their, work, charisma and attributes.
Air Marshal Nohwar dwelt upon the qualities such as intelligence and personal charisma and added that artificial intelligence was an important element today in assessing a leader’s expertise.
Talking about the First Gulf war in 1990-91, he mentioned that the use of technology was evident in that conflict as Iraqi soldiers surrendered before a robot, which was a first of its kind incident.
Lt Gen Sandhu expressed concern over the fact that military leaders kept harking back to the past instead of focusing on futuristic scenarios. Technology was changing rapidly in the modern day world both qualitatively and quantitatively, which is what the top brass in the forces had to consider.
Indian soldiers today are better educated and different from what they were a decade ago. Counting upon loyalty, moral courage, decisiveness of subordinates in their views apart from adaptability to the situation were necessary attributes in today’s soldiers. These qualities could only develop with an effective military leadership, he added.
