Leadership in the Corps of Cadets- One Cadet's opinion

Norwich University is a school of leadership, and a prime example of leadership is found in the Corps of Cadets. Companies within the corps are lead by company commanders, each commander leading between 40 and 50 cadets.

 Cadet Captain Johndrue Mabb, a 21-year-old senior history major from Germantown, N.Y., is one of these company commanders. He is the battery commander of the Norwich Independent Battery, the Artillery Company of the NUCC. Mabb sat down with the Guidon for an exclusive interview on leadership, from inside the Corps of Cadets.

Mabb described how he personally leads.

"I feel like I lead through my people. I believe it's the job of someone in a higher leadership position to step back, and let their people do the work. They talk with senior NCO's, give them the orders, and let them carry it out, while you just oversee what's going on."

An NCO is a non-commissioned officer, a usually a junior cadet, given authority to complete tasks. The senior cadets, ranked as officers, assume responsibility for what their NCOs do.

Mabb explained how a leader can rely on his team; in his case, the Artillery Company.

"You delegate the authority, and you make sure your purpose and intent is clear, make sure they understand what they're doing, don't tell them how to do their jobs. Just tell them what you want, and have them get it done whichever way they can."

"I do this within my company all the time. I go to my chief of smoke, my senior NCO, regarding issues of training, that's his job," Mabb said.

Mabb says that a leader must always be responsible for his subordinates: "You still keep responsibility over the mission though, so you need to oversee your subordinates the whole time. If anything goes wrong, you can fix the problem, and if everything goes right, you and your subordinates can get credit for it."

Since leaders have to prioritize, Mabb addressed the issue of whether he worked more with the unit as a whole or with individual members.

"Well, when you're leading a much larger amount of people – I was a Cadet Executive Officer for the Army department, with approximately 180 cadets – you lead through your platoon leaders, and you oversee," Mabb said. "But to relate this to the battery- because it's such a smaller unit, I personally have to make sure everybody's doing what they have to do."

Mabb was then asked whether he leans more towards acquiescence, or aggressiveness? Does he disagree with his subordinates?

"If I ever see that my intent, as the commander, is not being met, then I will intervene. Depending on time restraints, I may even have to do the assignment myself, but I avoid this," Mabb said.

"I'll usually take my NCO's aside and have them repeat the task assignment to me, to ensure they understand what they are required to do. I'll say, I usually lean more towards an aggressive style in leadership."

Mabb talked further about his aggressive approach in a fighting situation. He was given an example: "If your cadets were to break out into a heated debate, or possibly a fight, how would you handle that problem within your unit?

Mabb said: "Take them out back, put on a pair of boxing gloves, and let me have a go at it! (He laughs) As I said, I take an aggressive approach. But I am always reasonable. No one wants to follow a tyrant."

Because Norwich is a college leadership experience, Mabb was asked: "How would you take these skills into the real world, or into your career?"

"Oh man, Norwich has definitely taught me as a leader, and given me a set of skills that I don't think any other university could give. I mean; from freshman year, you're at the bottom, you're slowly working your way up, and you're slowly earning more and more responsibilities," Mabb said.

"I feel like that's the best way to do it, so cadets don't abuse power, cadets understand the people they're in charge of, cadets understand where their people are, and what they're going through."

Mabb discussed his moving from the bottom, to the top of the leadership ladder, and how it's helped him improve his leadership.

"I feel like Norwich has done a really good job challenging me, from the lowest rank, to what I am now, overseeing a company. All those skills, everything from how to deal with people, to organization, Norwich has helped me with," he said.

Mabb described himself as a people person.

"I like to lead through my people," he said. "… I'm not like other cadets who are ‘out to get' their people. I'm here to develop them," he said. "I'm out to help them, help them learn, giving them the tools they need to learn.

"I'm here to develop them as leaders as well. That's a big part of being a leader; you develop your own people as leaders. I feel like I do that a lot and my peers may not do that as much," Mabb said.

A key word, Mabb said, was practice.

"You need to practice it (leadership). Yeah, some leaders are born, you may have that quality that makes you stand out as a leader, but you can never stop practicing. You can never get enough of it."

Mabb said: "Every time you put yourself in front of a group of men and give them orders, you're practicing. I don't find it challenging to practice leadership. Norwich gives you plenty of opportunities to practice leadership skills."

Although he practices leadership, he finds the term hard to define.

"That's a hard one. I remember a good quote that I believe in: ‘Leadership is providing purpose, direction and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission, and improve the organization.' This is the purpose and definition of leadership that I follow."

Whether a cadet or traditional student, leadership is always important to learn, practice and teach, according to Mabb. Norwich students are expected to do so, far after graduation day