LEADERSHIP COMPETENCE - A CHALLENGE FOR THE FUTURE OF MILITARY PROFESSION

This short paper outlines the importance and implications of leadership competence for military profession in general, and officer especially, and the need for training the cadets as military leaders. The officer is educated and trained to win in wars. His job is to train his subordinates to make them better defenders of our nation, country, alliance and their fundamental interests everywhere in the world, to fight, to lead them in combat and to obtain the victory. But the military organization's success on the modern battlefield depends on many factors and a fundamental one is leadership competence of the officers. In addition, most would agree that the next years could produce an exponentially more difficult challenge for our military organization. On the other hand, today's army officer is not exclusively a manager of controlled violence. Our army expects its officers to master the entire spectrum of military operations from humanitarian assistance to nuclear exchange inclusive of complex transnational threats that include peace support operations, weapons proliferation, drug trafficking, military assistance to civil authorities etc. Not many years ago, the emphasis in the officer development process focused on the following two competences: commander and manager. We assume that, today and for future, in the context of the modern military phenomenon, due to emancipation of society, to the increasing level of education, the expansion of the cultural horizon and the increasing human capacity at a higher level the surrounding reality, to increase the chances of success of the military organization, it is absolutely necessary to shape officer's competence as military leader.