The People-Mission Paradox

January 9, 2024

by Stephen T. Messenger

There’s always been a paradox between taking care of people and accomplishing the mission. Some leaders arrive with a “people first” mindset and ruthlessly support initiatives focused on taking care of the person. Others come with a narrative that the mission is the most important thing and relentlessly focus on operational success.

I’ve seen many examples of this, and I’m convinced that the best leaders understand you can’t have one without the other, nor does one lead to the other. It’s less a linear path and more a Venn diagram. People and the mission are synonymous, and you must unapologetically focus on both.  

Leading across the Army

General Randy George, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, took the helm with a clear, mission-driven message to the force in October 2023: “Your purpose is to fight and win our Nation’s wars.” He lays out four focus areas of warfighting, combat readiness, transformation, and the profession of arms.

There’s no mistaking his intent for the Army to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars. This victory will support our soldiers and partners.

His predecessor, General James McConville, published a similar message upon his arrival in August 2019 but with a clear focus on people. His core theme, which he carried with him throughout his tenure, was “People first – winning matters.”

He unabashedly stated that people were his number one priority, and they were the ones who would deliver victory on the battlefield. He believed it was the people who would achieve his focus areas of readiness, modernization, and reform.

So who’s right? General George who focuses on accomplishing the mission supported by people? Or General McConville who wanted people to drive mission success?

I argue they’re both right, so long as neither swings the pendulum too far and they balance their words on both sides of the narrative – which they do.

Leading on the Dune

In Frank Herberts’ 1965 science fiction novel, Dune, Duke Leto Atreides was assigned as the governor of a desert planet rich in a valuable spice he must mine for profit. His mission was to extract and deliver the product back to his government at all costs. He overtly espoused his commitment to the mission.

On this harsh planet, the duke now owned mining crawlers under constant threat from insurgents and giant worms. On an aerial recon in his initial days, the duke spots one of his crawlers threatened, and makes a game-time decision to evacuate the workers instead of attempting to save the trawler and the spice.

After a heroic rescue, Dr. Kynes, an intermediary between the government and insurgents watching the event notes:

“The duke was concerned more over the men than he was over the spice. He risked his own life and that of his son to save the men. He passed off the loss of a spice crawler with a gesture. The threat to his men’s life had him in a rage. A leader such as that would command fanatic loyalty. He would be difficult to defeat.”

Against his own will and all previous judgements, Kynes admitted to himself: I like this duke.”  

Upon return, he again espoused the importance of the mission. His actions created a “fanatic loyalty” to both him and the mission. He cared about his equipment and his harvest. But he also knew he needed the people alive to come back the next day on another machine. Not just those workers he saved, but all his people will unabashedly support him to accomplish the mission tomorrow.

The Stats Tell a Story

In 2013, Dr. Matthew Lieberman, Professor and Director of UCLA’s Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, dug into the stats on this topic in an article, Should Leaders Focus on Results, or People? He cited a James Zenger 2009 study of 60,000 employees to see what characteristics make a great leader. Zenger specifically investigated “results focus” and “social skills.”

Results focus was the desire to accomplish the mission and solve problems. Leaders seen as very strong in this category were considered great only 14% of the time.

Social skills focused more on communication, empathy, and connecting with others. Leaders strong in this category were seen as great even less—12% of the time.

However, leaders rated strong in both categories were seen as great 72% of the time. That’s the good news. The bad news is that in a follow-on study, thousands of employees only rated their bosses as high in both categories 1% of the time.

We must all strive to be in that small percentage of caring passionately about people AND mission success.   

The People-Mission False Paradox

Ultimately, the People-Mission Paradox is less a conundrum than simply a reminder to focus your energy based on what’s happening around you – at this particular time, should I tout the mission or people? It’s important, as General McConville says, to place people as the focus of everything. At the same time, it’s important, as General George alludes, to unashamedly tout mission-success above all. Both generals do a good job of connecting the two ideas in their narratives, just in different ways.

In the end, the people will accomplish the mission and the mission will help the people. They are one and the same. Done right, it creates an environment where success is having a people first mentality while achieving great results.

This is your year!  Leaders read, think, discuss, and write about leadership.  Your first step should be to sign up for The Maximum Standard’s weekly email where you’ll get a leadership vignette delivered for free every Tuesday morning!  This could also be your year to get published in the Maximum Standard—we’re always looking for authors.  Lead well this year!