Stand Your Ground: Building Honorable Leaders the West Point Way Book

Superficial review: wow, does this need a good edit (a copyedit would solve most of the problems).

That said, I found the book fascinating. Like the Harry Potter character Cedric Diggory, we all face choices between what is right and what is easy. What sets real leaders apart, Offstein argues, is that they consistently choose right and that in most cases they do it almost reflexively.

What separates leaders is their honor, which is learned rather than inborn. As such, it's a skill that can be taught, and the author rather ably demonstrates how West Point teaches it. Each chapter illustrates a particular trait necessary to honorable leaders and the real-world examples of the results of the absence of that trait.

(He can be rather idealistic about USMA's success rate, though to be fair people neglecting to learn what they've been taught isn't the point of the book.)

The first seven chapters describe how to secure the high ground (honor), while the eighth and final focuses on how to stand that ground.

This most definitely isn't a book about USMA; Offstein never mentions the fourth-class system or one of the key ideas at its root, that one must learn to follow before one can learn to lead. But then, those aren't ideas that transfer well. :P

Overall, I look forward to rereading and taking notes (my borrowed copy must be returned today).