Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about the importance of developing leadership skills and maintaining a balanced family life in a talk today at the Lewis and Clark Center’s Eisenhower Auditorium.
The packed auditorium included many students attending the Command and General Staff College.
“You are our future,” said Mullen. He gave the officers some advice about preparing for their future.
“I’d encourage you in the year you are here to take out a couple of books on leading in a time of change,” he said. “I think it is the most difficult kind of leadership there is.”
As a sign of change, he noted the recent Marjah offensive in Afghanistan. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal “engaged with the tribal leadership there told them when we were coming, where we were coming and in fact what our objectives were. That is a whole different way to think about warfare.”
Students asked Mullen a number of questions, including about how to balance their military careers with their home lives.  He recalled that early in his career, Navy officers didn’t use all of their leave.
“I came from a community where the Red Badge of Courage was how many days of leave did you lose,” said Mullen who added his attitude changed.
“We get 30 days of leave and we ought to take it,” he said. “You have to carve out time and you have to do it with your family, too.”
Mullen welcomed a question about the implications of the military possibly ending its don’t ask, don’t tell policy. Last month in congressional testimony, Mullen gave his personal opinion to change the policy. On Thursday, he said his opinion was based on integrity.
Mullen said he couldn’t reconcile using sexual orientation to exclude people “who fight every bit as well as anybody else, who die just like any other, who make a big difference and who want to make a big difference and certainly have.”
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has commissioned a study of the policy.
Mullen said the nation and military must work to improve the standard of living in other countries to prevent wars. He said some officers could prepare by taking an assignment with the Treasury Department or Commerce Department to learn about economic development.
“What we have to do as a military - what many of you have to do literally on the ground where you serve - is to create businesses and jobs,” he said.
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Click here to view the Command and General Staff College's Student Blog website on the lecture.
