Marine Maxims: Turning Leadership Principles into Practice. Thomas J. Gordon. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2021.
Before you finish the author’s introduction of Thomas Gordon’s Marine Maxims, Gordon confronts you with the assertion that there is nothing new in this book, that it is an accumulation of others’ ideas. On the surface, Gordon is correct. The concepts he discusses are not new. But dig a little deeper and Gordon’s assertion is also irrelevant. The value of Marine Maxims is in Gordon’s organization and synthesis of the material; his summation of each section; and the massive bibliography he provides for readers’ personal growth through further reading.
Gordon’s book is divided into thirteen different sections, each one is on a different aspect of leadership. He begins with “Leadership Development,” proceeds through topics including “Personal Development” and “Leading through Crisis/Failure,” before ending with his summary “Some Dos & Don'ts.” Each section is further divided into more specific concepts or single incidents that illustrate the section’s larger idea.
What sets Gordon’s book apart from Shusko’s is that at the end of each section, he offers “Saved Rounds” and “Recommended Reading.”
This is where Gordon’s book is different from most textbooks on leadership. Marine Maxims is not meant to be consumed in a single reading, much like Tie-Ins for Life: Stories that Teach Great Values and Inspire Moral Action by Joseph Shusko, also a retired Marine colonel. Shusko offers stories indexed by topic as well as an essay on leadership and mentoring. It is meant to be used as a resource for sharing a relevant story to teach a specific point. Marine Maxims is best read in similar fashion, consuming a single two or three page section per day, taking time to think about what the author has written. Reading this book from beginning to end at a faster clip risks losing much of what Gordon communicates.
What sets Gordon’s book apart from Shusko’s is that at the end of each section, he offers “Saved Rounds” and “Recommended Reading.” Recommended reading is obvious from its title; these are books and articles related to the section topic. Not all of these recommendations are recent writings – C.S. Forester and Bruce Catton are among Gordon’s recommendations–and not all are from generals, nor are all military books. Gordon’s recommendations include the story of New Zealand’s All-Black rugby squad as well as C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and its relevance to personal blind spots. If there is a subject that can be related to leadership, Gordon has explored it and incorporated those lessons into his work.
“Saved Rounds” is a quick list of tips related to the section’s topic, rarely more than a phrase in length. The “Saved Rounds” and “Recommended Readings” from each section are concise and useful. They are useful enough that, regardless of anything else in the book, these two elements from each chapter make Marine Maxims an essential possession for people interested in effective leadership. Indeed, the Saved Rounds maxims are useful enough that they can be used on their own as training tips for people seeking to train and mentor young people as leaders. While the author’s reference points are his own military experiences, there is nothing in his Short Rounds points that restricts the usefulness of his insights to just military application. The points are useful for teaching adults or young people.
Gordon’s compilation of ideas and concepts from across the gamut of leadership philosophy and his ability to communicate these ideas is brilliant.
Given the author’s background, it is expected that he will emphasize core values of the U.S. Marine Corps, but his leadership observations go beyond the Marine Corps’ fourteen leadership traits, eleven principles, and the three core values of honor, courage, and commitment. Gordon refers to these as character, courage, and will. This is what makes Marine Maxims an excellent resource. Gordon’s compilation of ideas and concepts from across the gamut of leadership philosophy and his ability to communicate these ideas is brilliant. For officers and NCOs, Gordon’s observations are easily put within the framework of the USMC’s leadership traits, building on that foundation of leadership. The book may not be original in material, but is excellent for distilling insights from hundreds of sources into readable portions.
If there is a criticism to be offered, it is the regular use of acronyms and abbreviations. While most of these are common military terms, as a civilian, this meant regular reference to the glossary at the back for terms such as BAMCIS, GCE, MMOA-3, or R4OG. It is a small quibble since Gordon’s intended audience is clearly the military community and those in leadership roles within it rather than a wider civilian audience. With that noted, the constant acronym use is only an inconvenience as the glossary provides a thorough list of the abbreviations used throughout the book.
This will not be a satisfactory text if you are looking for something radical or something revolutionary in terms of leadership philosophy or education.
There is one other criticism, though this is not of the author, but of the publisher. Marine Maxims is high-quality, the print clear and readable, but while I appreciate and personally prefer having a book in hand, we are well into the 21st century; having an interactive electronic version of Gordon’s work would be amazing as a teaching and learning tool.
Within my profession (volleyball), former USA U-18 National Team coach Jim Stone wrote an instructional book titled A Game Plan for Better Practices. It was specifically designed with interactivity in mind. There are links within the text, clickable for further reading or clarification of terminology used. There are relevant videos embedded so readers can watch the concept in action with the text immediately next to the video and in many instances when discussing certain skills, links go to various levels of application, from introductory and intermediate, to advanced. Applying this to Marine Maxims would turn Gordon’s work into a living document, easily added to and amended, updated regularly. An electronic version would make Gordon’s book into an instantly usable teaching tool, possibly as the primary text and workbook for a leadership class.
This will not be a satisfactory text if you are looking for something radical or something revolutionary in terms of leadership philosophy or education. None of the elements will be new. On the other hand, if you are looking for excellent synopses of aspects of leadership, chapters with useful bullet points and references for future explorations of each section’s ideas, this book is a must have. Gordon has done an outstanding job of presenting ideas clearly and summarizing key points in ways that can be used for personal benefit as well as in guiding others in journeys to become better leaders.
Jim Dietz is the CEO of the Dietz Foundation, the world’s only non-profit game publisher. He spent two decades running Jolly Roger Games. He has more than thirty years coaching high school and college sports and has done presentations and published articles on leadership and coaching. He can be reached on Twitter at @FoundationDietz. His personal blog is Thinking Beyond the Box.
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Header Image: Untitled, June 12, 2019. (Hannah Skelly)