George C. Marshall's Adaptive Leadership

George C. Marshall is often characterized as a one of the most influential leaders, in respect to his work in both the military and civilian fields, of the 20th century and is attributed with developing a unique formula for leadership development based on his personal experiences that is still in use today. When evaluating Marshall in the sense of an adaptive leadership analysis one must consider the adaptive leadership characteristics that describe the actions he has taken throughout his career, such characteristics would include being confident, proactive, a critical thinker, and a change agent. In regard to Marshall’s confidence, it should first be said that throughout his career Marshall believed that everyone should speak their mind,

One very stark example of this trait would be the process set in motion by Marshall following the First World War to expand and modernize the United States Army. Marshall transformed the small force of 189,000 under equipped men into the respectable Army known today by rearming with up to date weapons and equipment, as well as instructing them in modern warfare techniques. These actions that Marshall set in motion were part of his belief that, “We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming power on the other” (Hein). With this statement, given in his 1942 West Point graduation speech, Marshall recognized the need for the United States to become a great world power in the pursuit of an end to conflict. In order to accomplish this daunting feat, proactive action by national leaders was absolutely

During World War II, Marshall was one of the key minds behind the Allied strategy for the invasion of Europe, codenamed Operation Overlord, which capitalized on the strategic weaknesses that the German Army had yet to address, namely the large expanses of beach in Normandy. Following the initial invasion, Marshall was put in the role of coordinator between the European and Pacific theatres because of his ability to critically analyze the information that was reported and develop strategy. For this monumental effort on his part, Marshall was honored as Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1943. Following the conclusion of World War II much of Europe was in shambles and a plan to rebuild was vital if the affected countries were ever to recover. As such, the Allied countries put together a comprehensive European Recovery Program with a large input from George Marshall. This program, later referred to as the Marshall Plan, rebuilt and modernized Europe while creating favorable ties to the United States through trade. The last caveat was put in place to help the economies of all Allied countries involved in the conflict recover and leave in place favorable ties to inhibit further conflict. This plan was a masterwork that shaped the world following massive conflict, and could not have been accomplished without