The Army's need is for the industrial quality, the creative quality of leadership. Like carbon to the diamond, character is the basic quality of the leader. Its expression to all audiences must ring with authenticity. But as carbon alone does not create a diamond, neither can character alone create a leader. The diamond needs heat.
Man needs knowledge, study and preparation.
The novice leader may possess the honesty and decisiveness of a General Marshall or Patton, but, if he or she lacks the requisite knowledge, there is no benchmark from which that character can take form. When a surgeon decides in the course of an operation to change its objective . . . To lead, you must know your soldiers, yourself and your profession. Similarly, one's character, attended by knowledge, blooms through application to produce a leader. Generally, this is expressed through teaching or training-grooming and shaping people and things into smoothly functioning units.