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# Course Designed to Teach Leaders How to Think

## Details

**Authors** Schwandt J, Ryan T

**Year** 2020

**Publisher** ARMY Magazine

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Military

**Kind of engagement** applications

[Read it](https://www.ausa.org/articles/course-designed-teach-leaders-how-think)

## In authors' words

### Abstract

[No abstract published; opening paragraphs retrieved verbatim] The U.S. Army has launched an Innovative Leaders Course. Due to increased complexity and uncertainty in the contemporary operational environment, this academic course has the potential to bring about combat readiness. The aim of the year-old course is to build combat readiness by: First, seeking an understanding of a system and pattern recognition by using methods and approaches to problems such as Systems Thinking v2.0. Second, by using tools and techniques to equip the mind. Third, the course itself serves as the metaphorical grease to teach leaders how to reduce friction and open the curtain to innovation in the Army. Finally, the Innovative Leaders Course is the ideal mechanism for Army leaders to understand and innovate within the Multi-Domain Operations concept and on the multidomain battlefield. Rob McClary is an instructor at the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies (also known as the Red Team School) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which is also home to the Innovative Leaders Course. The two-week course is structured like the Red Team School, which is built upon four pillars: fostering cultural empathy; self-awareness and reflection; decision support and groupthink mitigation; and applied critical thinking. McClary, who is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, came up with the idea for the Innovative Leaders Course, which launched in March 2019. He said the key distinction between the Red Team Members Course, which is taught at the Red Team School, and the Innovative Leaders Course is the creation of an innovation lab where students apply the concepts and tools they are learning to impact real-life challenges.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

An ARMY Magazine article on the Army's Innovative Leaders Course at Fort Leavenworth — a two-week course built on the Red Team School's pillars, plus an innovation lab for real-life challenges.

### What they found (results)

The course builds combat readiness by teaching system understanding and pattern recognition through Systems Thinking v2.0, equipping minds with tools, and opening leaders to innovation within Multi-Domain Operations.

## Commentary

### In short

Article in ARMY Magazine.

**Patterns it shows** P

**How to cite this** Schwandt J, Ryan T (2020). Course Designed to Teach Leaders How to Think. ARMY Magazine.