Retired U.S. General Jim Mattis’s memoir, Call Sign Chaos (2019), and Orson Scott Card’s novel, Ender’s Game (1977), showcase the same qualities of a strong military leader. In Call Sign Chaos, four-star General Mattis describes his experience in the Marine Corps, and communicates how a leader should behave, form a successful team, and which skills to build. In Ender’s Game, young Ender Wiggin focuses on himself, his team, and the critical military skills in exactly the way General Mattis recommends.

The Leader

As military leaders, General Jim Mattis and Commander Ender Wiggin both model authority, scholarship, and trust. General Mattis praises the leadership of one of his own regimental commanders, Colonel Carl Fulford. He remembers Colonel Fulford as: “…firm yet unfailingly polite, he never had to raise his voice. He simply assumed you would meet his high standards. And you did - because you did not want to disappoint him” (p. 22). Colonel Fulford maintains a gentlemanly, calm demeanor, and sets high expectations. His soldiers feel motivated to earn his approval. General Mattis also explains that leaders must remain somewhat removed from the soldiers under their command. He advises: “Consistently maintain a social and personal distance…You are not their friend. You are their coach and commander, rewarding the qualities essential to battle-field victory” (p. 12). Like Colonel Fulford, Ender exhibits a quiet calm and expectation of excellence: “…when [Ender] worked with an individual he was always patient, explaining as often as necessary, making suggestions quietly…” (p. 129). Ender’s behavior also aligns with General Mattis’s recommendation to never stray from the leadership role. As Ender trains with his Dragon Army troops, Ender “… was commander every moment they were together. He never had to remind them of it; he simply was” (p. 129). Ender’s role as the leader is fixed - his behavior creates the separation between himself and his troops that General Mattis deems necessary.

One of the ways that leaders can ensure that they deserve their authority is to commit themselves to lifelong education. According to General Mattis, leaders that educate themselves regarding the lessons of past battles make the best decisions in the next fights. He explains: “Before going into battle, you can learn by asking veterans about their experience and by reading relentlessly…By studying how others have dealt with similar circumstances, I became exposed to leadership examples that accelerated my expanding understanding of combat” (p. 41). General Mattis urges leaders to learn about the perspectives and actions of past leaders. Ender informs and prepares himself for upcoming battles with the primary sources at his disposal - footage from past battles: “[Ender] began to use the video room, filled with propaganda vids about Mazer Rackham and other great commanders of the forces of humanity in the First and Second Invasion…by watching them in sequence, Ender was able to reconstruct whole battles’’ (p. 132-133). Ender studies the moves of the most famous veterans of his army - especially Mazer Rackham. Ender’s independent study of previous battles allows him to see the outcomes of other leaders’ tried tactics.

Besides consistent authority and a high level of scholarship, leaders must practice displays of trust for their teams in order to inspire them. General Mattis imparts: “… it’s not enough to trust your people; you must be able to convey that trust in a manner that subordinates can sense. Only then can you fully garner the benefits…” (p. 239). General Mattis explains that as a leader, he can not assume that his troops know how he feels about them. Leaders must clearly express their trust in subordinates. General Mattis believes that expressions of trust build morale and earn leaders loyalty and high performing troops. Ender voices his faith in his Dragon Army when he says to them before an upcoming challenge: “‘…I do like one thing - that I’ve got an army that can handle it.’ After that, if he had asked them to follow him to the moon without space suits, they would have done it” (p. 131). Ender explicitly tells his soldiers that he trusts them - that he knows they can manage the challenges they face. His army responds with unconditional loyalty and motivation.

The Team

General Mattis insists that leaders must cultivate a cohesive team of soldiers, with effective lines of communication, and empowered sub-commanders. General Mattis warns, “Strangers who haven’t trained together don’t work smoothly together. Once in the fray, they need to work out the kinks. Ideally, they rehearse repeatedly before an operation…” (p. 69). General Mattis explains that when they first begin to train together, troops experience clumsy collaboration. In order to be effective, a new team requires time to practice together before a real battle. Furthermore, General Mattis teaches, “…you need to ensure that [soldiers] are in the same unit long enough to know their brothers and develop trust and confidence in one another” (p. 27). General Mattis stresses that positive feelings among team members are fundamental, and take time to grow. Ender appreciates the importance of team training and bonding. When a group of older boys attacks Ender and his team of young Launchies, Ender sees that, “…the enemy was coming haphazardly, uncoordinatedly; they had never worked together before, while Ender’s little practice army, though there were only a dozen of them now, knew each other well and knew how to work together” (p. 81). Ender does not have many troops, and the ones he does have are smaller and younger than their attackers. However, Ender’s troops do have the tremendous benefit of prior team training and mutual trust. Ender and his cohesive team prevail against the bullies.

Once team members are familiar with one another, General Mattis explains that leaders must maintain open communication throughout the ranks. A leader’s intentions must reach the lowest ranking individuals, and the feelings of the youngest, newest troops must be able to reach their commander. General Mattis stresses that intent must be “passed intact through the layers of intermediate leadership to our youngest Marines” (p. 43). A mission’s success relies on a team’s common understanding of the purpose. The youngest, newest, and most entry-level team members must have a precise understanding of their commander’s goals. General Mattis also feels that as a leader, “If you can’t talk freely with the most junior members of your organization, then you’ve lost your touch” (p. 50). General Mattis engages with soldiers of every rank in order to maintain an accurate sense of his team’s mood. When Ender becomes a commander, “He also knew that he didn’t intend to be like many commanders, who never even saw the younger boys because they were always in the back” (p. 112). Ender wants to have access to all of his troops. As the leader, he does not want to be disconnected from anyone, even the lowest-ranking soldiers, under his command.

According to General Mattis, when sub-commanders clearly understand their commander’s intentions, they are able to thrive in an environment of decentralized power. General Mattis advises: “Leave the ‘how’ to your subordinates, who must be trained and rewarded for exercising initiative, taking advantage of opportunities and problems as they arise” (p. 44). General Mattis believes that when he properly communicates his intentions throughout the ranks, he empowers his capable subordinates to make the best decisions at a fast pace. Ender observes how Bonzo leads his team, and identifies a mistake Bonzo makes: “…the individual soldiers were given little initiative. Once a pattern was set, they were to follow it through. There was no room for adjustment to what the enemy did against the formation” (p. 61). Unfortunately, Bonzo keeps decision-making power centralized. Bonzo’s toon leaders thus waste opportunities. When Ender becomes the commander of his own Dragon Army, “…he trained his toon leaders to use their small units effectively in achieving limited goals. Unsupported, alone, on their own initiative…tactical decisions were entirely up to the toon leaders” (p. 124, 126). Ender trains his toon leaders to be independent leaders. Once Ender’s toon leaders understand the end goals, they are able to determine themselves how they reach those goals.

The Skills

General Mattis focuses on mastery of the fundamentals, flexibility, and speed. First, he urges soldiers to “Be brilliant in the basics. Don’t dabble in your job; you must master it…you need to make sure that your training is so hard and varied that it removes complacency and creates muscle memory—instinctive reflexes…” (p. 11, 27). He claims that when soldiers commit themselves to mastery of basic skills, those skills will be quickly available to them in any situation. Soldiers that train their bodies to memorize the movements of critical tasks can depend on the automatic movements in stressful situations. When Ender becomes leader of an army, he knows “He had to have a well-trained army, and that meant drilling the soldiers over and over again, long after they thought they had mastered a technique, until it was so natural to them that they didn’t have to think about it anymore” (p. 119). In line with General Mattis’s advice, Ender leads his troops towards mastery by way of rigorous training. Eventually, the training allows Ender’s troops to consistently exhibit correct responses.

Mastery of the basics allows soldiers to execute another essential skill which General Mattis highlights: speed. The General shares that “Speed is essential, whether in sports, business, or combat, because time is the least forgiving, least recoverable factor in any competitive situation” (p. 238). He warns that delayed response or slow movements can be punishing, and cause defeat for an otherwise strong army. General Mattis stresses, “…you have to observe what is going on, orient yourself, decide what to do, and act before your opponent has completed his version of the same process, repeating and repeating this loop faster than your foe” (p. 90). General Mattis strives for OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loops faster than his enemy’s. Ender wins battles because of his ability to cause damage quickly, before his enemy can. Colonel Graff asks Ender how his army is so successful and Ender replies: “…our enemies haven’t the time to respond effectively to our new techniques, so we keep beating them…” (p. 134). Ender’s key strategy is speed, which keeps his enemies defensive and disorganized.

Finally, soldiers must remain agile. Regarding agility, General Mattis remembers his own leader, Colonel Fulford, again. In the Colonel’s words, “If one thing isn’t working, change to another. Shift gears. Don’t lose momentum. Improvise” (p. 25). During battle, soldiers must be able to recognize futility, adapt, and implement a new strategy. Ender considers agility when he thinks about how he will train a new soldier. Ender decides that he will keep the soldier “…off balance, never sure what’s going to happen next, so [he is] ready for anything, ready to improvise, determined to win no matter what” (p. 119). Ender trains soldiers to expect the unexpected. A soldier accustomed to new situations can think of creative solutions, and deliver appropriate strategies quickly.

Although forty years separates the two books, Call Sign Chaos (2019) and Ender’s Game (1977) value the same portrait of a leader. General Jim Mattis plainly relates the traits of a successful leader, and Ender Wiggin embodies those traits. The U.S. military leader and the fictional character both value an authoritative, educated, and inspiring leader - one that is able to build a cohesive, communicative, and empowered team. Across the years and genres, the two military texts also value the enduring principles of mastery, speed, and flexibility in battle. The Marine Corps’s Commandant’s Professional Reading List includes Call Sign Chaos in its Leadership section, and Ender’s Game in its Foundational section.

References

Card, O.S. 1977. Ender’s game. Tom Doherty Associates.

Mattis, J. & West, B. 2019. Call sign Chaos: Learning to lead. Random House.