NAVY LEader Development

Framework

May 2019

Version 3.0

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CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS

April 6, 2018

The Charge of Command

Ref: (a) 10 U.S.C. §5947

(b) U.S. Navy Regulations (1990)

Encl: (1) ADM Ernest King CINCLANT Serial 053 of January 21, 1941

(2) Hobson’s Choice (Wall Street Journal, 1952)

The Privilege of Command

1. As a prospective or serving Commander or Commanding Officer, you have been identified as worthy of the privilege 

of command. The decision to select you for command was not made lightly; you were selected based on your 

demonstrated past performance and the trust and confidence that senior Navy officers have in you to lead Sailors 

under your charge. 

2. Command is the foundation upon which our Navy rests. Authority, responsibility, accountability, and expertise

are four essential principles at the heart of command. Effective command is at risk if any of these principles is lacking 

or out of balance.

3. You accept the extraordinary responsibility of command with full regard for its consequences. It is the duty of every 

Commanding Officer to understand his or her authorities and responsibilities prior to assuming command, which are 

clearly laid out in statute and regulations as outlined below. 

The Scope of Command

1. “All Commanding Officers and others in authority in the naval service are required to show in themselves a good 

example of virtue, honor, patriotism, and subordination; to be vigilant in inspecting the conduct of all persons who 

are placed under their command; to guard against and suppress all dissolute and immoral practices, and to correct, 

according to the laws and regulations of the Navy, all persons who are guilty of them; and to take all necessary 

and proper measures, under the laws, regulations, and customs of the naval service, to promote and safeguard the 

morale, the physical well-being, and the general welfare of the officers and enlisted persons under their command or 

charge.” (Ref (a))

2. “Commanders shall be responsible for the satisfactory accomplishment of the mission and duties assigned to their 

commands. Their authority shall be commensurate with their responsibilities. Normally, commanders shall exercise 

authority through their immediate subordinate commanders.” (Ref (b), Paragraph 0702)

3. “The responsibility of the Commanding Officer for his or her command is absolute, except when, and to the 

extent to which, he or she has been relieved therefrom by competent authority, or as provided otherwise in these 

regulations. The authority of the Commanding Officer is commensurate with his or her responsibility. While the 

Commanding Officer may, at his or her discretion, and when not contrary to law or regulations, delegate authority to 

subordinates for the execution of details, such delegation of authority shall in no way relieve the commanding officer 

of continued responsibility for the safety, well-being and efficiency of the entire command.” (Ref (b), Paragraph 0802)

The Standards of Command

1. There are two standards to measure officers in command. The first is the standard for criminal behavior, which 

should be well known to you. The second — and higher standard — is trust and confidence, both with the American 

people we are sworn to protect and across all levels of the chain-of-command.

2. A Commander’s competence and character lead to trust and confidence. Commanders can only feel 

comfortable delegating their authority — sending subordinate Commanding Officers and their teams over the 

horizon and into harm’s way — with the knowledge that those CO’s are both technically competent and share their 

values. If so, their teams will win — performing at or near their theoretical limits — and they will always come back 

stronger than when they left. 

3. Trust and confidence are the two coins of the realm that enable decentralized command and operations at sea; they 

are the key to our effectiveness as a force. Work hard to build and guard trust and confidence.

J.M. RICHARDSON

Admiral, U.S. Navy

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INTRODUCTION

The Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority, Version 2.0 (Design 2.0) makes 

clear that our Navy faces a competitive security environment unlike the past 25 years. 

Prevailing in an environment with this pace and complexity demands agility and 

urgency. It also demands maximum performance from our most important asset: our 

Sailors.

In support of Design 2.0, we will be a dominant naval force, composed of outstanding 

leaders and teams, armed with the best equipment, that learns and adapts faster than 

our rivals. Every person and every unit in the Navy will maximize their potential and be 

ready for decisive combat operations.

To win, our leaders must enable our teams to think more clearly, learn more rapidly, 

and make better decisions more quickly and more accurately than our adversaries. 

We must create opportunities to become better leaders and to make our teams 

stronger. We must be engaged leaders laser-focused on building winning people and 

teams.

As effective Navy leaders, we must demonstrate a deliberate commitment to grow 

personally and professionally throughout our careers. We work from a foundation of 

humility, embracing our core values of honor, courage, and commitment. We pursue 

excellence in accordance with our core attributes of integrity, accountability, initiative, 

and toughness. We commit to improving competence, character, and connections 

in ourselves and in our teams. We set ambitious goals and then inspire our teams to 

achieve the best possible performance.

Serving as a leader in America’s Navy requires a dedicated and coherent approach 

that starts on day one and continues throughout our careers. The Navy Leadership 

Development Framework describes how to achieve this imperative.

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Why leader development 3.0?

The Navy Leadership Development Framework is being updated to Version 3.0 for 

two key reasons:

First, the Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority has been updated to Version 

2.0. Design 2.0 contains bold and ambitious new goals, including goals that affect 

leader development. Because the Framework is tied to the Design, it should be 

updated to account for where we are today.

Second, the two lanes—character and competence—from NLDF 2.0 are being 

expanded to include a third lane: connections. When we deepen and expand our 

connections, we learn faster and build the resilience that leads to toughness. We also 

improve information-sharing across the Navy, which is critical in a rapidly changing 

environment. We strengthen the bonds of trust and confidence.

In this document, we outline how our Navy will develop leaders who demonstrate 

operational excellence, strong character, and resilience through community at every 

level of seniority. The specifics of leader development will be shaped by community 

leaders to be consistent with this Framework, but the fundamental concepts discussed 

in this Framework apply to the entire Navy Team. Read it, talk about it, and put it to 

use.

CHARACTER - COMPETeNCe - CONNECTIONS

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THE GOAL

They connect, communicate, challenge, train, and recover with us. Our Navy leaders 

are humble; they are open to our meaningful feedback. They are ready to learn and 

make all of us better. When they win, they are grateful, and spent from their effort. 

Navy leaders form our teams into a community, with a deeply shared commitment, 

dedicated to the pursuit of victory.

We all need to be Navy leaders, and we must all have this drive. Each of us must ask 

an important question: Are we ready to dedicate ourselves to pursue “best ever” 

performance? If the answer is yes, we can be a Navy leader. The stakes are too high, 

and the security of the nation is too important. We must serve at our limits and inspire 

others to be the best in the world.

When we imagine our truly world-class leaders—those consistently at the top of 

the pack, victorious in our most challenging contests—we see that they embody an 

essential quality:

Navy leaders inspire us to relentlessly chase “best ever” performance. They study, 

innovate, experiment, practice, sustain, seize every moment, expend every effort—all 

to outfox our competition.

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Keeping this inspiration and drive as our North Star, our Navy approaches leader 

development by traveling down a path with three lanes. The farther we travel down 

the path, the more accomplished we become as leaders. 

Lane 1 develops operational and warfighting competence. We must become experts 

at our jobs as we grow. An incompetent leader is a recipe for disaster.

Lane 2 develops character. We must continuously strengthen our ability to behave 

consistently with our core values of honor, courage, and commitment. This keeps us 

worthy to lead our Sailors.

Lane 3 develops intellectual and personal connections. Intellectual connections 

improve competence by sharing mental models, comparing notes, improving our 

ability to anticipate our teammates’ next move. Personal connections strengthen our 

character and resilience by building relationships. We share what we experience, and 

seek to understand what’s going on in others’ lives. Not only in mind, but in body 

and spirit as well. Personal connections—relationships—should certainly expand 

and deepen within our Navy Team, but can and should also include our families, 

our friends, our churches, our health clubs, and other communities. Personal and 

intellectual connections are essential to achieving the highest levels of performance.

Three Lanes on the Path
It’s not uncommon for discussions to frame the matters of compliance and creativity 

as being in tension—operational creativity can be seen in opposition to procedural 

compliance. A fully-developed approach to leadership, however, must recognize the 

value of both compliance and creativity. Properly, they reinforce each other. We must 

know the fundamental, even physical elements of the trade in order to improvise 

safely and effectively. Compliance precedes and then leads to creativity. 

If we reduce leadership to either compliance or creativity, we limit our effectiveness 

and cede advantage to the enemy. As Navy leaders, we must create space for 

creativity and we must also understand the unique and irreplaceable importance of 

compliance. Compliance and creativity must both be nurtured in a top-performing 

team. The science of war is the soil in which the art of war takes root and grows.

As junior leaders, at the beginning of the path, development is biased toward 

individual competence, personal character, and building connections between a new 

leader and their team and with other junior leaders. We learn basic individual and 

team skills, and we learn to lead ourselves. We find mentors.

As we mature as leaders, and move further down the path, leader development 

becomes less about our individual performance and skill, and more about 

strengthening the performance and character of our teams, and deepening our 

connections within the team and with other leaders.

It bears repeating: Senior leaders are judged by the performance and character of 

their teams. The standard for personal performance and character remains extremely 

high—this is a given. What distinguishes senior leaders is their ability to consistently 

and sustainably inspire our teams to constantly improve, to continuously perform at 

“best ever” levels, and to win. To do this effectively, we must build strong connections 

with other leaders and teams. A senior leader who is not connected to others will 

become a liability, will be too weak to withstand challenges, and will risk moving all of 

us away from our goal.

Near the end of the path, a Navy leader comes to embody the Navy’s competence to 

execute our mission, the Navy’s character to behave consistently with our values, and 

the Navy’s connections with our Sailors and the American people. A senior leader and 

the Navy are seen as one.

A Quick Word about Compliance and creativity

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THree Methods to progress down the Path

Our journey of leader development starts with our internal drive to bring a team to 

“best ever” levels of performance. This drives us down the path and its three lanes—

competence, character, and connections. To aid progress down this path, the Navy 

has three approaches that, when combined, offer a rich environment for growth:

Schools that offer education and certification

On-the-job training and qualification in our workspaces

Self-guided learning through reading and other forms of self-study

These three venues—formal schools, on-the-job training, and self-guided learning—

move us forward in our development as leaders. Navy leaders progress along the 

general paths shown in Appendices 1 and 2. Each community has its own specifically 

tailored plan to develop leaders according to these paths.

Self-guided learning doesn’t require solitude. There is much to gain from taking 

college courses at night or online, attending lectures, joining professional societies, 

or participating in innovation opportunities. The intensity of our self-guided learning 

efforts is perhaps the most direct reflection of our drive to be the best leaders 

possible. Leaders with the passion to make ourselves and our teams the best do not 

wait for formal training or formal avenues—we get to it on our own.
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Schools: At each step in our career paths, we can expect to receive a combination of 

formal schooling and training. Formal education at the entry levels includes recruit 

and officer candidate training, more advanced A-schools, and officer warfare schools. 

As our careers progress, these schools are followed by additional formal education 

opportunities at every stage of leadership.

On-the-job training: On-the-job training, to include achieving qualifications, is a 

blend of command training, coaching, encouragement, and self-motivation. Each 

successive qualification is an important step.

Self-guided learning: To be world-class leaders, Sailors must strive on their own 

to expand on the knowledge provided in schools and on-the-job training. Once 

they have achieved the qualifications expected for a tour, they should look for 

opportunities to gain additional qualifications. They study the history of their 

profession. They learn their shipmate’s job. They learn their boss’s job. They 

prepare themselves for the unexpected. The CNO’s Professional Reading Program 

provides a jumping-off point to build knowledge about competence, character, and 

connections—free, online access can be found at: www.navy.mil/ah_online/CNOReadingProgram/

We should read, cross-train, and build our breadth of experience at every opportunity. 

This is what will keep us the best Navy in the world.

We begin to become familiar in our chosen fields through formal accession and initial 

skill-centered schools. This is followed by on-the-job training (including qualifications 

and milestones, scenario-based and technical training, and operations), and self-study 

activities that develop and deepen our technical expertise. Up to the level of Major 

Command or its equivalent, each community provides a specific program aimed at 

producing operational experts.

Growing Competence
Building Character

Character development also consists of formal schools, on-the-job training, and selfstudy. The Naval War College supports our Navy’s character education and training; 

they help integrate the competence, character, and connections lanes into a coherent 

path of leader development. The College will exercise this responsibility in partnership 

with other parts of the Navy—including community leaders (TYCOMs) and operational 

commands—coordinating and supporting their leader development efforts.

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Schools: Entry-level schools lay the foundation for character by making our 

institutional values and expectations clear. Within the enlisted community, each 

successive promotion includes local classes that consist of formal lectures, small group 

discussions, and coaching. For our senior most enlisted, these classes are capped off 

by the Senior Enlisted Academy, which is guided by the goals established in “Laying 

the Keel.” Officers participate in entry-level character development and receive 

further education at the Naval Leadership & Ethics Center, the College of Leadership 

and Ethics at the Naval War College, and as part of formal courses at every level from 

Division Officer to Major Command.

On-the-job training: Every day, we put what we learn into practice. There are a 

multitude of opportunities to strengthen each other’s character. In both formal 

and informal settings, we should take time to discuss the importance of integrity 

and accountability. Character applies in an operational setting—it’s not just for the 

classroom. The best leaders mention it at pre-execution briefs, during execution, and 

during debriefs. We get out in front and help our teammates avoid bad decisions, 

which reflects the power of connections. The strongest messages come through our 

personal examples.

Self-guided learning: Self-study is also important in character development. There’s 

so much to absorb by reading books, articles, and blogs. The CNO’s Professional 

Reading Program, mentioned previously, is just one of many tools available to help 

us take charge of our own leader development. As we all can discover new ideas that 

help us build winning teams of character, some of us may choose to further contribute 

by writing and sharing experiences or insights. Such initiatives help the entire Navy. 
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Highly-connected teams build commitment and toughness by developing a 

sense of belonging and cohesion. This increases the level of energy and effort we 

bring to our mission. Connections expand our competence and strengthen our 

character. Connectedness supports competence by allowing team members to 

better understand professional developments within the Navy. It allows us to share 

experiences, learn from each other, and develop levels of common understanding that 

make us better able to operate as teams, even when we are separated in space and 

time. 

Connectedness supports character by fostering an environment of trust, where team 

members freely discuss mistakes in order to get better. Connections enable honest 

assessment and feedback, promoting rapid learning. Connectedness also allows us to 

anticipate the needs of others and bolster social relationships. It enables us to support 

each other professionally and personally. It makes us more resilient as individuals and 

teams through the trials that inevitably arise. Just as with competence and character, 

connections are fostered in formal schools, in on-the-job training, and in self-study.

Schools: Formal schools set the conditions for connections to develop among peer 

groups, teachers, and mentors. Whether it’s initial accessions training or more 

advanced formal schooling, the shared experiences in formal schools encourage 

connections: Schools can be one of the earliest places in which connections develop. 

Teachers set some of our first examples as leaders. They facilitate relationships, both 

with them and with others. They show us how to lead through an open exchange of an 

ideas. We, as classmates, learn from and help one another. The mental models taught 

in formal schools allow team members to approach new challenges with a common 

frame of reference. That common view allows us to respond in ways that are consistent 

with those of our teammates.

Expanding and Deepening Connections
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On-the-job training: Continued training within individual units increases both 

the breadth and depth of the connections we forge in formal schooling. As our 

relationships deepen, they lead to unit cohesion—the force that compels teammates 

to commit to one another every day. The connections promoted by on-the-job training 

allow teams to best execute the Plan, Practice, Perform, Progress, and Promulgate (P5) 

cycle through an open and supportive climate. We should think carefully about the 

means we use to connect, ensuring they match our particular circumstances. Just as 

the increasing rate of technological creation and adoption affects the global security 

environment, technological changes also affect the ways we connect with one another. 

Social media and other technologies provide easier means to connect over long 

distances, but taken too far, they can also foster feelings of isolation. Leadership is a 

human endeavor. Technology has its place, but it is often a poor substitute for personto-person connections. 

 Self-guided learning: Connectedness is one area where self-directed development 

can be most useful. We can and should make connections in many ways. We have 

many places to cultivate connections: our families, our friends, our faith, our hobbies 

and interests, and our profession. All serve to strengthen our commitment and 

toughness, and to serve as a source of strength, insight, and comfort for others. 

Finally, as described in “One Navy Team” at the end of this Framework, our teams are 

the strongest when they are diverse. Diverse groups make more effective decisions in 

matters of competence and more ethical decisions in matters of character. We can’t 

understand what is in our shipmate’s head if we are closed to others’ points of view or 

life experiences. Our competitive advantage as Sailors will be in creativity, innovation, 

and agility—all allowing us to make better decisions in combat.
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A discussion about leader development must address mentors. Much of what’s been 

discussed so far has been about teachers, coaches, and trainers. Teachers focus on 

transferring knowledge from themselves to their students. Coaches and trainers 

develop operational habits and skills through “sets and reps”—drills and routines 

that perfect our habits. Mentors do all of the above and more, in a way that is more 

personal, involved, and longer term. This special connection helps protégés develop 

competency and character. Mentors probe deeply into their protégés’ strengths and 

weaknesses, challenging them to be more well-rounded and ever better.

Mentorship strengthens both the protégé and the mentor. When we mentor, we 

devote ourselves to our protégés’ growth and success. We transfer energy from 

within ourselves to our charges. We form productive mentor-protégé relationships 

when development comes from loyalty—from mentor to protégé and from protégé 

to mentor—beyond that of a teaching or coaching relationship. This is extremely 

important in leader development. The farther we travel down the three-lane path, the 

more valuable mentors can be. It’s important to seek opportunities to mentor and be 

mentored. These connections can be decisive.

Advocacy activity moves mentorship into the public sphere. By advocating for 

our protégés, we move into action. We scan the environment for professional 

opportunities (projects, jobs, workshops) for which our protégés would be well 

matched—where they would do well and also grow. But there’s more. We then 

contact the decision-makers for that opportunity—make a phone call, send an email, 

have a conversation—and recommend our protégé for the position. This active step 

is important, requiring a further degree of dedication on our part that makes our 

personal commitment public.

Mentorship and Advocacy
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One last thought to close the circle: Consistent with the One Navy Team memo on 

diversity and inclusion, mentors and advocates should deliberately evaluate their 

groups of protégés. Are they a diverse group? Do they represent the true spectrum 

of talent and perspectives of the people we’re sworn to defend? To the protégés, 

mentors are a gateway to a new community, offering insight they could never acquire 

on their own. Mentors can ensure that newcomers to a group feel welcome and 

like they belong. To the community, mentors can demonstrate why their protégés 

deserve seats at the table. Therefore, as Navy leaders, we have a moral and strategic 

obligation to mentor a diverse population—and to ensure that they are connected. 

This supports their growth, the growth of our Navy, and our own growth as well.

The refinement and execution of strategies to implement this Framework are an 

essential next step. Each community lead, as designated by the Chief of Naval 

Personnel, will create a strategy to develop leaders up to Major Command or its 

equivalent. As directed in NLDF 1.0 and 2.0, each community lead will, on a semiannual basis, continue to brief its leader development program to the Chief of Naval 

Operations or Vice Chief of Naval Operations. The Naval War College and the 

emerging Navy University system will supplement and support each community in its 

leader development, and they will maintain a strategy for leader development beyond 

Major Command. The Naval War College will also hold semi-annual briefs to the 

Chief of Naval Operations or Vice Chief of Naval Operations, to track the program’s 

progress.

Way Ahead
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World-class leadership is our Navy’s decisive advantage. First and foremost, Navy 

leaders must have a burning drive to develop people and teams who consistently and 

sustainably deliver maximum performance. The Navy has a robust program of schools, 

on-the-job training, and opportunities for self-guided learning. As we deliberately 

work to develop each aspect of leadership, over time, competence, character, and 

connectedness become three inseparable lanes of the path we travel. Moving down 

this path becomes the most challenging journey we can take as Navy leaders. Per 

Design 2.0, our Navy will produce leaders and teams who learn rapidly, make highquality decisions, and control the high end of maritime conflict. Following the path 

outlined in this Framework will get us there.

Conclusion

JOHN M. RICHARDSON

Admiral, U.S. Navy

Chief of Naval Operations
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