On a recent flight home from a business trip, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself seated next to a friend from our school days at Ballard-Huxley: retired Brig. Gen. David Elwell. Throughout junior high and high school, Elwell (or David, as I referred to him back then) and I were in many activities together – most notably, we both played saxophone and were seated by each other in concert and jazz band for many years. While I was familiar with his impressive career as a military officer and had run into him a few times in Des Moines, we had not been in touch, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to catch up. 

For the first part of our flight, we reminisced about our years at Ballard, recalling teachers and classmates, parties, school activities and class trips. Our conversation soon turned to our personal and professional lives. I was so intrigued by his leadership experiences in the military that I asked if he would be open to an interview for this column. As a Business Record reader, he readily agreed, and his insights are particularly relevant for any business executive trying to lead and execute in today’s rapidly changing and volatile world.

A distinguished career in the military.

Elwell grew up on a farm near Slater, Iowa. After graduating from Ballard High School, he enrolled at Drake University in Des Moines. During his freshman year, his father passed away. He joined ROTC to help pay for college, and was subsequently commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Transportation Corps. Through his more than 35 years of active and reserve service, Elwell commanded at every level from platoon to Sustainment Command, including battalion command in Afghanistan, where he supported Operation Enduring Freedom. In addition to tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, he served across the world and the U.S. He retired in June of 2020. During his military career, he started and maintained a financial advisory practice and today is the owner and president of Elwell Financial Inc., Benjamin Cos. and JPE Family Corp.

Leading in a VUCA environment. 

The acronym VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) originated with students in the U.S. Army War College to illustrate the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of our world after the Cold War. Since that term is now widely used in the business world, I asked Elwell how he addressed environments that could be described as VUCA. 

Elwell explained that VUCA addresses how to plan for situations that are unknown or how to predict the results of your actions when you don’t really even know what your actions will be. He said, “The Army has a saying: ‘The plan isn’t as important as the planning.’” He explained that the military recognizes most plans don’t survive first contact, so what is important is understanding the variables of the plan so that you can adjust quickly as needed. 

Elwell noted that the Army has a formal decision-making process that officers learn early in their career. “The VUCA framework helps an organization see their own strengths and weaknesses – as well as those of the enemy,” he said. “When you see all the interrelated variables, you can more deeply understand the longer-term effects and unintended consequences of your actions.” 

A key part of the planning and decision- making process is contingency planning. He noted that this part of the process is so detailed that there are contingency plans for the contingency plans, the idea being that the very process of scenario planning helps leaders to think through as many alternative courses of action as possible.

“In a VUCA environment, these contingency plans help leaders identify what is known, what is unknown and what they can assume based on knowledge and experience,” said Elwell. “All of this gathering of intelligence is in place so that you have as much information as possible to make the VUCA situation less ambiguous.” 

What prepares you is the preparation. 

I asked Elwell what was the most important preparation he had for leading in combat environments. He reflected that the first 20 years of his career were in a peacetime environment. When he was finally sent into combat in 2003, he felt well prepared, as he’d had two decades of peacetime activities that were similar to the activity in wartime; all his training was preparation for combat.

“In a combat environment, what prepares you most is actually the preparation,” Elwell said. “While that might sound like a funny response, there are years of training, protocols and expectations. There is practical leadership, formal schooling … lots of institutional education. Even when I became a general, I had more formal schooling.” The training along the way included rising in the ranks from tactical roles to operational roles and finally to strategic roles. There was a combination of formal experience, school, mentoring, training and constant feedback. “You are not put in a situation you are not ready for,” he said. “Before you’ve been in a role, you’ve supported the role.” 

He continued: “In the Army, we have a saying: ‘We train as we fight.’ 

“We try to prepare ourselves for the situation: If we think we are going to be in a desert, we train in the desert. If we think we are going to be in a jungle, we train in the jungle,” he said. “Simulations in the environment – or as close as you can get – are among the most important components of being prepared.”

Elwell explained that simulations build confidence and comfort in execution. “When you get to that combat situation, you feel like you’ve already been there because of the simulations,” he said. He observed that while some simulations occur in some businesses, the value of activity such as war games or role play is deeply underestimated. “Many leaders think they don’t need role play because they have expertise and experience,” he said. “But it’s a way to prepare your team and provide a level of confidence that doesn’t happen from just talking about something.”

Leadership style in combat. 

I asked Elwell how his leadership style changed when he was in combat environments. He was especially thoughtful about this question, noting that leadership in combat was different, but maybe not in the way one would think.  

He pointed out that the biggest difference was that in combat, the mission is real. In training, everyone knows that they’re training, and the realities of daily life – families or careers that have been put on hold – are valid distractions that a leader must manage. But in combat, people are away from their homes and families and are now in life-and-death situations. The environment was different, so the leadership needs shifted. “It was actually easier to command in combat,” he said. “Because everything was 100% focused on the mission.”

“In those high-stakes situations, leadership is less about trying to get people to focus and much more about executing the plan,” he said. He didn’t specifically change his style, but his own focus narrowed as well: “In combat, I became more efficient, but that is in part because the team itself was focused.” In business, he said, leaders still have to manage team members who are balancing their lives outside of work, and that generally cannot just stop, unless you’re leading through a crisis. The question in any situation, he said, is how to get your team trained and focused so that you as a leader can spend your energy on execution of the plan, not managing distractions.

Lessons from the battlefield for businesses.

When asked about what lessons from the battlefield were most relevant to business, Elwell did not hesitate, saying, “Everything is about having the right team.”

“All the times I have had the most success is when I assembled the best people into the best team,” he said, noting that, of course, you have to have all the planning down, all the processes worked out. Team members must be proficient in their areas of expertise. “If the team member or leader does not have the expertise, they must have the skill set or the work ethic to grow into it,” he observed. “But if those conditions do not exist, you cannot put or keep that person in that role. It would jeopardize the mission.”

In addition to proficiency, the most important skills for any leader are, in his experience, communication and collaboration: “The leader has to know how to communicate the mission and then merge the team together.” He noted that this can be harder in the business world, where resources may be more limited. But, he noted, “If your team does not gel, or if you don’t have the right people in the right seats, you have to address it immediately.” 

The reward of leadership.

Because his roles involved danger and extreme stress, I asked Elwell what was satisfying about being a commander. In addition to the gratification of knowing he was helping protect our nation, he said that he enjoyed having responsibility at a strategic level.

“I enjoyed making decisions that had an impact on the missions, on the team, on their living conditions … all of it fit together,” he said. At the strategic level of a commander, he noted, he had the opportunity to truly make a difference for groups and individuals. “When you can see that you are adding to the health of any institution, that is something you can feel good about.”

He noted that even when he was involved in commanding forces of 8,000 or more, there was a tremendous amount of support, both in resources and in decision-making. “There was support all the way up and down the chain of command,” he said. “I could get feedback from higher-level generals who’d been in similar situations … if you’re heading the wrong direction, you can count on people to tell you. While that type of critique requires a thick skin, it’s ultimately very comforting to know that others have your back and are doing everything in their power to help you succeed in your mission.”  

Learning to be a part of a team.

I asked Elwell how his upbringing as a small-town farm kid helped shape him as a leader. He said the way he was raised by his family and doing farm work provided values, work ethic and discipline. In addition, going to a small school provided Elwell not only a good education, but also the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of activities. He participated in sports for a time, and was very much involved in speech, drama, chorus and band. All of these activities required him to get up in front of others and to interact in groups or teams. “A lot of our education and being a part of activities is really learning how to get along with others,” he said. “Those are skills that stick with you all your life.”

Ultimately, he noted, learning to be humble when leading and to be part of the team is a lesson he learned as a youth. He noted that the only reason leaders are needed is to serve a team in the quest to fulfill some sort of mission. That is a mentality he says he observes in some businesses, but not all. “It’s not about ego – or if it is, you’ll ultimately struggle,” he said. “It’s important to remember the only reason I was able to be a leader is because my subordinates allowed me to lead them.”  

Leadership lessons. 

While military service is focused on a singular goal of protecting our country, Elwell’s advice around being prepared for uncertain situations, constructing and leading teams, and being humble are universal lessons, applicable in many ways for business leaders. (And, clearly, playing alto saxophone in high school band is a great foundation for any type of leadership.)

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Elwell’s awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary and Service Medals, Defense of Korea Service Medal, NATO Medal and the Combat Action Badge.