From the front lines to the front office, leadership is all about getting things done.

And military leadership strategies are undoubtedly the most proven and effective forms of leadership in existence, says Patrick Tower, a warrant officer with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Alberta.

"The common goal is mission success," says Tower. "To achieve that, you not only have to unite a team, but you also have to inspire and influence peak performance, under severe stress and often facing grave danger."

It's something Tower is all too familiar with after his nearly two decades in the Canadian Forces.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Tower
Warrant Officer Patrick Tower, on patrol with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Afghanistan, says good leaders can inspire and influence peak performance under severe stress.

A highly decorated combat veteran with tours in Bosnia and Afghanistan, Tower's leadership skills have been put to the test under the toughest of conditions.

Facing intense enemy fire in Afghanistan that killed several soldiers and his platoon commander, Tower - who wasn't the next highest-ranking soldier - took over the mission and led his unit to victory.

Defeating the enemy and saving countless lives in the process, Tower became the first Canadian recipient of the Star of Military Valour, an award second only to the Victoria Cross for gallantry in battle.

While playing down his heroic efforts, Tower recalls that all the leadership principles that had been ingrained in him for 19 years by his commanders came out that day.

"Those principles make us focus on the mission - that's our No. 1 priority - and the next priority is to take care of our people, so even in situations of extreme stress like that, we know what to do."

While commanding corporate Canada may be less "do or die", today's volatile business market is making the workplace increasingly combative.

Economic woes, higher stress levels and slashed spending mean now, more than ever, good leaders can determine business success or failure.

"Anyone can lead people when they're happy, have no stress and have job security," says former soldier and Kingston, Ont.-based author and leadership expert Tom Hoppe.

"It takes a true leader to lead people when they're about to be downsized, have stress at home, or when morale is low. Because when times are tough, leading from authority never works."

Hoppe's leadership style - based on respect instead of rank - stood up to enemy forces while commanding patrols in Bosnia in 1994.

Patrick Tower

After risking his own life to save three children pinned down by sniper fire, Hoppe became Canada's most decorated soldier during one tour since the Korean War.

In his new book, HOPPE: A Journey of Leadership, the former Canadian Forces sergeant talks about his military experience - good and bad - and how its leadership lessons can be applied to all workplaces.

"People always ask me how you can use military leadership in the business world, because in the military, if you tell someone to do something, they'll do it," says Hoppe.

But history has shown that many people would rather go to jail than follow a bad leader into battle, he says, and the same can be said of the corporate world.

"It may not be as apparent, but you'll see it in lost productivity and higher absenteeism," he adds. "If there's bad leadership, people may make six pieces of something instead of 10, or they might take more sick time. All that costs the bottom line."

While it's hard to quantify, Hoppe, who earned an MBA after retiring from the military in 2002, has found that bad leadership takes at least 10 to 15 percent off the bottom line in hidden costs.

Whether it's higher turnover, increased absenteeism or less productive employees, a bad boss can be bad for business.

"It's so simple, but it's a hard thing to see because it's intangible," Hoppe says.

"Unless you sit down and try to figure out how much it costs when you lose someone and have to replace them, and then the new person's productivity drops because the boss is still the problem, you don't see how much it's costing you to have poor leaders."

With an even higher cost for poor leadership on the battlefield, it's no wonder that the army has trained more leaders than all other organizations combined. It's an investment in people that soldiers say Corporate Canada could learn from.

Tom Hoppe

"In the military, everyone goes through leadership training and mentoring so that we can see who would make good leaders. Then we (groom) those people to move up the ranks," Hoppe says.

"In the civilian world, there are more people getting promoted just because they put in their time, instead of assessing whether they'd be a good leader."

Another common mistake many organizations make is failing to recognize the importance of what Hoppe calls "front-line leadership."

Researching his master's thesis, he found that the information available on leadership was at the executive level.

"Most, if not all, of it was focused on executives, while anything on the front lines was considered 'management' and not leadership," Hoppe notes. "A front-line manager must be able to make decisions - not just manage, but lead their team.

"So I would argue that leadership is at all levels. The responsibilities may change, but the key principles are the same."

Those battlefield-tested leadership principles include putting your followers first, understanding your people and promoting their welfare, learning from mistakes and not repeating them, being a good listener, doing what you say you'll do, asking for help when you need it, and always leading by example.

"Leading by example is probably the most important, because if you're doing what you ask people to do, they'll be more likely to do it," adds Tower, who is still serving in the military but recently launched The Tactical Synergy Group, a Calgary-based leadership training company.

"Set the example you want to see, share in the hardships when times are tough, and you'll have a lot more success."

It's an approach Calgary businessman and former soldier Daniel Clayton has used to his advantage. After being wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005, the British ex-pat moved to Canada and launched successful security and risk-consulting companies.

"Pretty much everything I learned in the military, I applied to business," says Clayton, who recently sold his company to Vancouver-based Paladin Security. "My training taught me a lot about trust and discipline."

As he has climbed the corporate ladder, Clayton has also learned that not all aspects of the military mindset transfer from the battlefield to the boardroom.

"It's taken me a long time to adjust to the fact that if I ask someone to do something, I have to tell them why I want them to do that," says Clayton.

"Employees want to understand the bigger picture, where in the military, if you ask someone to do something, they usually won't question it."

Another troop-tested tactic that doesn't work in more relaxed civilian workplaces is trying to break people down, like in basic training, to build a stronger team.

"Yelling and screaming at people to do things doesn't achieve results and I've seen that in corporations," Hoppe notes.

"You can only yell at someone so much before they give up and then the leader has to resort to good leadership skills."

Whether you're leading one person or an entire organization to victory, experts say it's also important to remember that being a good leader takes time.

"You can't just wake up one day and be a good leader," Hoppe says.

"Leadership takes time to build and when difficult times are ahead, the leader that's put in the work to know their people will win."

(Tess van Straaten can be reached at tess@businessedge.ca)