Woke up to several texts from journalists asking my thoughts on "West Point dropping duty, honor, country from their motto?" and one wrote "does this mean the Academy has gone 'woke'?"
My first thought: "let me get a cup of coffee before addressing this craziness."
A 🧵 1/9
This week, graduates received a letter from LTG Steve Gilland -the Superintendent (the USMA college president)- of @WestPoint_USMA informing of changes in the MISSION STATEMENT (NOT the motto).
The letter specifically said the MOTTO "Duty, Honor, Country" has NOT changed. 2/
Now, I know LTG Gilland well. He's a great soldier, terrific leader, and a common-sense guy.
As any leader - general or business CEO - knows, you have to continuously assess and analyze your mission statement.
In fact, I teach this to MBA students in leadership classes. 3/
A good business mission statement defines what the organization does. It states the reason for your existence and delivers that statement to your team - and others outside your team - in a way that is easy to digest and understand. 4/
Gilland wrote in his letter:
"Our responsibility to produce leaders to fight and win our nation's wars requires us to assess ourselves regularly," Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland wrote in a letter to cadets and supporters on Monday.
It's a succinct and understandable message:
5/
Here's the new mission statement:
"To build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation."
"the Army Values" replaced "Duty, Honor, Country." 6/
IMO, inserting "Army Values" expands the mission.
BTW, the Army values are Loyalty, DUTY, Respect, Selfless Service, HONOR, Integrity and Personal Courage (LDRSHIP), and all these contribute to serving the country well.
All Americans would do well to live up to these. 7/
It's important to also note, as the Supe says, that "Duty, Honor, Country" was added to the Mission statement...in 1998. So it's not like it goes back to 1802, when the Academy was founded on the banks of the Hudson. 8/
A final thought...
In the last few months, many in my class of 1975 from West Point have become closely connected to our 50th anniversary class of 2025. These are some of the best young people our nation has to offer.
They understand their motto, and they know their mission.9/9
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