Charge the Line

Part 4: The Art of Leadership - Collapse

By Josh Fowler

When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.

Collapse is defined as an instance of a structure or person falling down. In the case of Sun Tzu’s calamities, collapse refers to the opposite of insubordination.

With insubordination, we see the common soldiers being stronger than their officers. With collapse, we see that the officers are too strong on their subordinates.

"Leadership is a balance of authority and compassion." - Josh Fowler

We sometimes forget that we all started somewhere and that “somewhere” was not a full and complete knowledge and understanding of the job we do. Many of us learned by on the job training (OJT) or by being taught, mentored, and coached. As leaders, when the previous do not occur, we have set our personnel and organizations up for failure.