The ability to make tough decisions when needed is crucial in leadership. It is not always easy to make unpopular decisions and leadership can feel like a lonely job. However, it is a leader’s responsibility to make decisions, especially the tough ones.

I use these steps to find the courage to take action: Continue reading →

Classic leadership attributes are generally described and manifested through work and achievement. The good leader thus makes good decisions. However, the ability to accept not knowing what the right decision is and to not make decisions is just as important for the good leader. The concept is called negative capability. Continue reading →

The best combat leaders all have one thing in common: they lead from the front. They share the same burdens as their soldiers. They never spare themselves. They never ask a subordinate to carry out a task they are not willing to do themselves and in combat they physically place themselves in the line of fire shoulder to shoulder with the troops under their command.

But why does leading from the front work so well? Continue reading →

In the Danish army men and women serve in combat units on equal terms. I had a female driver in my reconnaissance platoon in Iraq and two female riflemen in my infantry platoon in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.
Does leading women in combat create special challenges?
Continue reading →

Crack-crack-crack

The air is filled with dust and sharp cracks from bullets passing by mere inches away.

I dive for cover and begin returning fire. After 10 rounds I look around. My sections are in position. Without stopping to think I make a dash across an open field to get to the front section for a better overview.

I find the section commander in a ditch returning fire. He immediately starts to brief me on the situation. The words make no sense to me. I take two deep breaths to calm myself down. Suddenly I am able to grasp what he is saying:

“Four enemy fighters are in position in the hedgerow in front of us. If you can get 1 and 2 section to provide suppressing fire we can close in on them head on.” Continue reading →

”Soren, how does the body react in combat?”

I am often asked this during the Q & A when I speak about Afghanistan.

Reactions in combat are the body’s reactions to stress. Talking about them is often taboo. I had no idea how comprehensive such reactions were before I started studying them prior to my first deployment to Iraq in 2007

In their extreme forms a psychologist would label it ”acute stress reactions”. Such experiences are not limited to soldiers only. Any humans that are exposed to extreme stressors or traumatic events can suffer from acute stress reaction. Continue reading →