Why the Marines?

This book features the U.S. Marines because they are arguably the world s most advanced practitioners of maneuver warfare and because they place an unparalleled emphasis on leadership , which we believe to be the backbone of maneuver warfare. The practices they employ to ensure battlefield success should, therefore, be the most logical point of departure for the employment of maneuver warfare in an environment other than warfare, such as business.

Facing budget cuts and an increasingly difficult mandate to meet mission requirements in the late 1980s, the perennially underfunded Marines adopted maneuver warfare as doctrine in an effort to do more with less. Owing to the leadership of General Alfred M. Gray, 29th commandant of the Marine Corps, and to the publication of the field manual Warfighting in 1989, the maneuver warfare philosophy spread rapidly throughout the organization. After fourteen years of innovation and refinement, the Marines have honed their practice of maneuver warfare to a sharp edge, and today it pervades every aspect of their strategic and tactical thought.

While maneuver warfare is a relatively new initiative, superior leadership has been a hallmark of the Marine Corps since its inception in 1775. As we characterize it, Marine Corps leadership comprises three pillars ” leadership by example , taking care of those in your charge , and leadership development . These pillars, in turn , inspire and reinforce trust , integrity , initiative , and unselfishness , without which maneuver warfare would fail.