Nicholas Jans identifies the distinctive egalitarian leadership principles behind the effectiveness of the Australian defence forces, and shows how they can be applied in any organisation at any level Australia's military consistently punches above its weight, and its approach to leadership is the key to its success. Developed over a century ago by fusing national values with battlefield imperatives, its approach has been fine-tuned over generations. It is now an adaptable and egalitarian leadership culture that ticks all the boxes for best practice. The military assumes no-one is born a natural leader, and that good training makes good leaders. Drawing on his own long military career and defence training programs, and on research, Nick Jans has identified the core principles of this consistently successful approach to leadership. These '3Rs' are the leadership skills which generate loyalty and commitment at an operational level, and they are just as successful in everyday team management as they are in the field. Leadership Secrets of the Australian Army includes real stories from the field and from workplaces, from everyday employees and from well-known leaders. It shows how you too can become a leader your team can believe in, and-equally importantly-how you can help them believe in themselves. 'Read it and be wise.' Lieutenant General David Morrison, AO

Australia's military consistently punches above its weight, and its approach to leadership is the key to its success. Developed over a century ago by fusing national values with battlefield imperatives, its approach has been fine-tuned over generations. It is now an adaptable and egalitarian leadership culture that ticks all the boxes for best practice.The military assumes no-one is born a natural leader, and that good training makes good leaders. Drawing on his own long military career and defence training programs, and on research, Nick Jans has identified the core principles of this consistently successful approach to leadership. These '3Rs' are the leadership skills which generate loyalty and commitment at an operational level, and they are just as successful in everyday team management as they are in the field. Leadership Secrets of the Australian Army includes real stories from the field and from workplaces, from everyday employees and from well-known leaders. It shows how you too can become a leader your team can believe in, and-equally importantly-how you can help them believe in themselves.'Read it and be wise.'Lieutenant General David Morrison, AO

Originally published in 1984, this book tells the story of sixteen of Australia’s most eminent military men, as they performed under the stress of strategy-making and in the heat of battle. In scrutinising critical periods in the careers of such men as Brudenell White, Chauvel, Monash, Gordon Bennett, Blamey and Scherger, it addresses a number of fascinating questions: Is there an Australian style of command? How well have Australian officers been prepared for high command? How have Australian commanders handled the problems of coalition way or co-operation with allies? How have political direction, organisational structures and entrenched defence policy affected the performance of commanders in the field? Each re-evaluation compares performance with reputation. Some of the figures examined are familiar (What was the real basis of Monash’s reputation as a commander? Was Blamey worthy of the field-marshal’s baton?); some are given an appraisal long denied them. This roll-call of some of Australia’s greatest warriors presents a fascinating picture of the realities of war at the top. Each of the sixteen lives examined presents a revealing account of the conditions under which crucial military decisions are made and carried out – on the battlefield, at headquarters, in victory and defeat. The Commanders will appeal not only to students of military affairs but to everyone interested in Australian history and biography.

Much of Australia’s military history literature focuses on battles and the way generals plan and prosecute an action or campaign. But what do generals do when they are not fighting battles? The Battles Before examines the role of senior leaders in preparing an army for war — fighting bureaucratic battles, mobilising forces for operations, or preparing for a future that is impossible to anticipate. The five cases examined in this book focus on strategic leadership and describe how major organisations grapple with political, strategic, economic and cultural change over time. The first three case studies analyse a series of pivotal moments in the history of the Australian Army: the dramatic downsizing that followed the Vietnam War, the seminal 1985 Dibb Review, and the build-up to the East Timor intervention in 1999. Further cases describe planning within a large organisation, particularly the way senior leaders grapple with the demands of multiple operations while facing significant impetus for force modernisation. The final chapter focuses on the crucial role of the Army’s leadership in developing the next generation of leaders. The book concludes with a series of insights into the study of command in peacetime and its relevance to wartime command, particularly given the challenges that face peacetime commanders who operate within considerable constraints. The Battles Before uses recently declassified documents and interviews with key participants in a meticulous examination of a 30-year period characterised by profound and far-reaching change. This was a period that would reshape the Australian Army.