Dunwoody Ann - A higher Standard: Leadership Strategies from Americas First Female Four-Star General

A HIGHER STANDARD

Copyright 2015 by Ann Dunwoody

Graphics on pages 185 and 191 appear with permission from the Department of the Army.

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First Da Capo Press edition 2015

ISBN: 978-0-7382-1780-2 (ebook)

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Note: Several of the names and identifying details of people associated with events described in this book have been changed. Any similarity to actual persons is coincidental.

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To my parents, who taught me anything was possible.

To the leaders who blazed trails before me.

To the leaders who never gave up on me.

To the next generation of leaders on the benchthis book is for you.

To my husband, who made this journey possible.

CONTENTS

IN THIS BOOK, Ann Dunwoody writes, A hero is an average person who has done something extraordinary. As unusual as it is to start a foreword for a book by disagreeing with its author, I have to say that I disagree with Ann. I do not believe anyone would ever describe Ann as an average person. She has certainly done many extraordinary things. And to me, she is a true hero.

Ann and I were introduced through a mutual friend who thought wed like each other, even though we work in starkly different cultures. At the Facebook office, we have signs on the walls that read, Move fast and break things. Obviously, our military leaders know better than to adopt this policy themselves. Still, from our first e-mail exchange, Ann and I felt connected. She once described it so beautifully, saying, We are kindred spirits in very different worlds.

In 2014, Ann accepted my invitation to speak at Facebooks North America Womens Leadership Day. That afternoon, I watched her inspire fifteen hundred women, offering both practical advice and encouragement. She told us to put our passion before our fear. She spoke of how things were changing. In 1995, she had attended a high-level military meeting where there was not one woman sitting at the table. The only women in that room were delivering coffee. Twenty years later, she urged the women of Facebook to look around. Look at this room, look at yourselves, she said. I am just so proud of you, I am getting goose bumps just thinking about it.

I get those same goose bumps thinking about what Ann has achieved. And Im so glad she wrote this book so that more womenand mencan be inspired by her wisdom and her story.

When Ann became the first female four-star general in the United States military. Her father put it this way: I have followed her career for thirty-three years. Every assignment she has ever had, shes done in an outstanding manner. So it really doesnt surprise me she was the first woman selected for four stars. In turn, Ann credits her father with teaching her never to accept defeat and shares how her familys history of service paved her path. Her great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and brother all graduated from West Point. She herself might have attended the military academy except for one hitch: they didnt admit women at the time. Rather than giving up, Ann found a way. She knew she wanted to serve, and she never lost sight of that goal.

Once Ann joined the Army, she pushed to be the best soldier she could be. In 2005, she became the Armys top-ranking woman when she received her third star. Three years later, she made United States history by becoming our first-ever female four-star general. While Ann credits the Army with shattering the brass ceiling, it was her uniform that was pinned with that fourth star.

I concluded my book Lean In with my hope that in the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders. I did not know Ann when I wrote that, but she is exactly who I had in mind. What distinguishes Ann is not that shes a woman, but that she is a spectacular and inspiring leader.

Deano Roberts was an Army captain who served under Ann when she led the Joint Logistics Command in Uzbekistan. Back then, Deano was an aviation liaison officer. Today, Deano is one of my colleagues at Facebook who works in data center logistics. I asked him to describe what made General Dunwoody unique. He acknowledged that being a woman made her different, but that it was her talent as a logistician that made her stand out.

In the military it is said that you can often fool your boss, you can sometimes fool your peers, but you can never fool your soldiers, Deano explained. General Dunwoody commanded the trust and service of her soldiers, not as a function of her rank or position, but rather as a function of her mastery of her profession [logistics] and her willingness to always place the needs of the soldier first.

Deano remembers one night in Karshi-Khanabad, Uzbekistan, when he was working in a makeshift US outpost in a Soviet-era air basea far cry from Silicon Valley. The conditions were miserable. Rats and rain both streamed in. There was no hot water. The soldiers were stressed and fatigued and still hard at work one night at 2 a.m. when an energetic and vibrant General Dunwoody walked into the tactical operations center, still in uniform, and sat down with the soldiers. In the most concerned and legitimate way, she asked if there was anything she could do for me, Deano said. They spoke at length, and her words and demeanor were both motivating and inspiring. She had an emotional empathy that wasnt part of her training. It was just part of her character, Deano concluded.

I could not love this story more. Study after study sadly reveals that too often, in the workplace, if a woman is competent, she does not seem nice enough. And if a woman seems really nice, she is considered more nice than competent. Ann proved that competence and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Deano praised his commander for being the smartest person in the room when it came to what was happening on the ground. He also recalled the way she patted him on the shoulder, which he found both calming and reassuring.

There is a popular saying in feminism that you got to see it to be it, but that wasnt true of Ann. In all her years serving, she never reported to a woman. Out of necessity, Ann leaned on family members and male mentors for support. As she points out, the men she reported to either believed in me or didnt. She is grateful to the ones who did, especially Sergeant First Class Wendell Bowen, who vowed to make her the best platoon leader in the Army. His confidence in her fed her desire to rise to his challenge. He also encouraged her to be true to herself, something that is important in every profession.