1. The Cadet Leader Development System
An organizing framework designed to coordinate and integrate cadet developmental activities across the entire West Point Experience.
It is designed to organize cadets’ experiences so that USMA achieves its institutional goals, accomplishes its assigned mission, and realizes its strategic vision.
Provides the structure, process, and content for cadets’ 47-month journey from “new cadet” to “commissioned leader of character.”
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

2. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
Why CLDS?
Few other institutions enjoy both the mandate, and the opportunity, to fundamentally change so much human potential in such a comprehensive way.
The West Point Experience is all about planned change, about systematically transforming people, about fundamentally shaping who they are, what they know, and what they can do.
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

3. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
Purpose of CLDS
Provides a common understanding of how we organize the West Point Experience
Aligns and synchronizes tactical execution of programs and activities within USMA’s strategic guidance.
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

4. United States Military Academy Office of the Commandant of Cadets
Strategic
Operational
Tactical
United States Military Academy
West Point, New York
Military Program
(Greenbook)
Course Descriptions
Office of the Commandant of Cadets
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

5. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
CLDS and Officership
The practice of being a commissioned Army leader, inspired by a unique professional identity that is shaped by what an officer must KNOW and DO, but most importantly, by what an officer must BE. This unique self-concept incorporates four inter-related roles:
 Warfighter
 Leader of Character
 Servant of the Nation
 Member of a Time-Honored Profession
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

6. The Officer as Warfighter
The Functional Imperative:
This characteristic of officership distinguishes Army officers from all other professionals.
Warrior Ethos
Tactical and Technical proficiency in the threat and application of violent force
Intellectual and Physical in nature
Characterized by a Winning Spirit
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

7. Servant of the Nation This characteristic of Officership:
Describes the fundamental nature of the relationship between the military profession and society,
Establishes the principle of military subordination to civilian control,
Establishes each officer as an agent of the nation - a servant,
Creates the moral foundation for the officer’s individual duty, and
Is formally embodied in the Commission itself
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

8. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
Member of a Profession
This characteristic of Officership describes the nature of the Army officer corps as a corporate body
Unique competence or expertise (“Warfighters”)
Authority delegated by society (“Servants”)
Distinct culture
Ethically-based
“Leaders of Character”
A life-long calling, not a job
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

9. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
Leader of Character
Leadership - the process of influencing others to accomplish a mission.
Character - those moral qualities that constitute the nature of a leader and shape his or her decisions and actions.
Leader of Character - seeks to discover the truth, decide what is right, and demonstrate the courage to act accordingly…always.
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

10. Principles of Officership
Duty – personal interests subordinate to requirements
Honor – includes the virtues of integrity and honesty
Loyalty – up and down chain of command
Competence – a career of continuous learning and study
Teamwork – primacy of the group’s mission over self
Subordination – to civilian authority; not politicized
Leadership – lead by example, always
Service to Country – Provide the Nation’s security
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

11. Developmental Domains
Intellectual
Critical, creative thinking for effective response
Physical
Success in combat depends on physical condition
Military
Officers are warfighters
Spiritual
Character is rooted in who we are as individuals
Ethical
Reconcile ethical norms of officership with personal values
Social
Determine appropriate behavior
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

12. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
Design Principles
Consistent with Army Culture
Goal-Oriented and Standards-Based
Sequential and Progressive
Integrated and Coordinated
Cadet Perception of Ownership of Experience
Different Paths, but Common Outcome
Common Core
Required Experiences (Baseline and Enrichment)
Appropriate Balance between Quantity and Quality
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

13. Five Keys to Development
Readiness
Cadets must be ready to learn from experiences
Developmental Experiences
Marked by novelty, difficulty, and conflict to set occasion for growth
Feedback & Support
Multiple formal and informal sources for cadets throughout entire 47 months
Reflection
Essential to development, but must be facilitated
Time
Cadets must assimilate discrete experiences into larger developmental process
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

14. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
What Develops?
Who cadets are
Facilitating process of how cadets make sense of what happens to them is the fundamental challenge of developing their self-concept as officers.
It is more important than knowledge and skills
More to our professional identity than knowledge and skills.
The BE in BE, KNOW, DO
How we help cadets develop a professional identity while simultaneously acquiring professional knowledge and skills.
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

15. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
The Challenge
How we respond to individual differences
From different starting points, through multiple paths, to the same outcome
How we help cadets take ownership of their development
Ultimately, it is up to cadets to make sense of USMA’s developmental experiences in a way that promotes their development as Army officers
How we help cadets develop from success and failure
We constantly look for opportunities to reinforce success
How cadets respond to failure is more important than the failure itself
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence

16. Celebrating 200 years of Excellence
For You to Think About…
What is your primary role developing cadets as commissioned officers for the Army?
What else can you do to help develop cadets as commissioned officers for the Army?
Celebrating 200 years of Excellence