Semper Fidelis: Marine Corps Leadership in a Corporate Setting

By Dan Delany

The Stepping Stone, May 2023

Imagine Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Full Metal Jacket) or Gunny Highway (Heartbreak Ridge) storming up and down cubicles barking orders. While that may help the Marine Corps operate one of the world’s finest fighting forces, they likely wouldn’t be very successful leaders in the business world. Let’s instead focus on how they can get a large organization to operate effectively and efficiently to win battles.

This two-part article will explore the Fundamentals of Marine Corps Leadership and how they can be leveraged in a business environment. Part one will focus on the leadership traits, which can guide early career actuaries to develop skills they will need to become effective leaders, as well as those valuable to career growth. The second part will explore topics more applicable to those currently managing a team of individuals.

First and foremost, Marine Corps leadership training starts on day one. All the concepts outlined in this article are taught to Marine recruits in boot camp before they even earn the title Marine. It doesn’t start when they are promoted to corporal or when they first have direct reports. It begins before young Marines even reach their first unit and is emphasized at various points over a Marine’s career through distance learning requirements or formal training. In other words, Marines are groomed for leadership from the moment they enter the Corps.

The two objectives of Marine Corps Leadership, in order of importance, are mission accomplishment and troop welfare. Missions are simply tasks or objectives an organization wants to accomplish: reprice a product, develop a new underwriting program, improve an administration system, or redefine an investment strategy. Ultimately, there is a need for a group of individuals to successfully work together to achieve an organizational goal.

The Marine Corps’ emphasis on “troop welfare” is focused on an individual’s ability to perform their job effectively, both physically and mentally. There is less concern regarding attrition: troops can’t resign and find new jobs. This means that caring for employees’ workload, development, and rewards may be even more important in the business space.

There are fourteen “leadership traits” the Marine Corps identifies that leaders should strive to perfect. Not any one trait is more important than another and they serve as a guide for recognizing strengths and weaknesses in oneself. These traits are recalled by many Marines using the acronym “JJ DID TIE BUCKLE” and are defined below:

• Judgement: Weigh facts and possible courses of action in order to make sound decisions.
• Justice: Give reward and punishment according to the merits of the case in question. Administer a system of rewards and punishments impartially and consistently.
• Dependability: The certainty of proper performance of duty.
• Initiative: Take action in the absence of orders.
• Decisiveness: Make decisions promptly and announce them in a clear, forceful manner.
• Tact: Deal with others in a manner that will maintain good relations and avoid offense.
• Integrity: Uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles. The quality of truthfulness and honesty.
• Endurance: Mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress, and hardship.
• Bearing: Create a favorable impression in carriage, appearance and personal conduct at all times.
• Unselfishness: Avoid providing for one’s own comfort and personal advancement at the expense of others.
• Courage: A mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables a Marine to proceed in the face of danger with calmness and firmness.
• Knowledge: Understanding of a science or an art. The range of one’s information, including professional knowledge and understanding of your Marines.
• Loyalty: The quality of faithfulness to country, Corps, unit, seniors, subordinates, and peers.
• Enthusiasm: The display of sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of duty.

These traits are not specific to a military environment and are easily transferrable to the corporate world. Integrity is mirrored in Precept 1 of the SOA’s Code of Professional Conduct, which is Professional Integrity and highlights the importance for honesty.

Knowledge in one’s field is not only critical to performing day-to-day tasks, but also builds credibility with managers, peers, and direct reports. Demonstrating initiative and solving problems without being asked will virtually never disappoint a manager and showing up each day with enthusiasm can be contagious for a team.

Even traits that may seem more appropriate for warfighting can still be applied. For example, courage is not limited to overcoming the presence of physical danger but is also necessary to stand up for what is morally right, such as addressing inappropriate comments and actions or “pushing back” on unreasonable demands on you or your team. Similarly, physical endurance may not be important in the corporate world, but mental toughness will certainly be necessary to persevere during periods of high stress (like a 5-hour FSA exam).

While the above traits are typically associated with effective leaders, they are not limited to personnel in leadership positions and can be employed by a worker at any level. And this is how the Marine Corps starts the grooming process for its future leaders. By continuously stressing the development of leadership traits in non-managers, the Marine Corps is ensuring that when personnel are promoted into supervisory roles, they already have a framework to build from. Similarly, early career actuaries can utilize the 14 leadership traits as a foundation for their own development to prepare themselves for future management roles.

The Marine Corps then defines leadership principles, which outline actions and behaviors of a leader. Through consistent execution of these principles, a leader can enhance their effectiveness in managing a team, which will be explored in part 2 of this series.

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.

Dan Delany, FSA, MAAA, is an assistant vice president at SCOR Global Life and an 8-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He can be reached at DDelany@scor.com or via LinkedIn.