Most of you familiar with this site have read about the leadership content in the Robert Heinlein book, Starship Troopers. Having read this book many years ago, I have to agree that there are many good principles of leadership weaved into the story. I hardily recommend it to our readers. That said, as I was going through a pile of my old books that one of my kids had taken off the shelves, I came across another early Heinlein book, Space Cadet. Space cadet, cadet stuff… I instantly saw the link and I tossed it into my bag and took it on one of my trips. As I followed the adventures of cadet Matt Dodson, I soon realized that I had found another early example of Mr. Heinlein’s writing that had many principles of leadership that today’s cadet leaders could arm themselves with in order to be better leaders.

Very briefly, for those not familiar with him, Robert Heinlein was one of the most widely read science fiction authors in the 1950’s through the 1970’s. He was also a graduate of the US Naval Academy. His early writing is aimed mostly at youth; his later writing got pretty adult oriented and at times took some pretty wild paths. I believe much of his early writing was influenced by his military background and training and many ageless leadership philosophies are intertwined into his storytelling.

It is important to keep in mind that this book is copyright 1948, which means it was written before then. His predictions of many “things to come” are eerily close to what happened over the next thirty plus years. His book places the main “earth” base for training the cadets in Colorado, this well before the US Air Force Academy was even planned for. In his future world race, religion, and creed don’t matter, all are viewed as equal. In fact one of the important tenants of leadership taught by example in this book is that future officers have to see past a person’s background, race, and planet of origin to treat all beings equally. One of the early characters in the story, a self-promoting jerk who only watches out for Number One and resigns prior to his finishing the academy, later returns to show what happens when you treat others as an inferior race, threatening them from a perceived point of being superior in thought and strength. Ultimately his entire crew is killed (his rich father gives him command of a ship and crew, despite his youth and inexperience) and he has to be rescued by the same naïve do-gooders he made fun of and left behind.

The importance of taking care of your fellow cadets is introduced early in the book. One of the cadets, from an off-planet colony with one-third Earth's gravity, befriends our protagonist and is helped by our band of young cadets. Traditions of the Patrol are introduced throughout the first half of the book. The tradition of answering for four patrolmen who gave their lives in service in a remarkable manner at each roll call, not only gives us an early look at traditions, but also allows the author to introduce important leadership tenants as the story unfolds. (There is a similar tradition at Hawk Mountain. - Ed) These include: not following illegal or immoral orders, despite pressure to do otherwise and putting your oaths, duies and service before yourself.

Older cadets (oldster’s) mentor and lead the younger cadets as they move through their cadet program follow a self-study curriculum (sound familiar?). The only things they do in groups are drills and labs. Discipline is an important part of a cadet’s life and immediately after taking the cadet oath they learn the importance of self discipline in the little things, leading them to develop into disciplined future officers in the big things.

In one examination they go through in early testing, each cadet is given a number of small beans, a blind fold and a small jar with the understanding that the test is completed without using sight; a test of manual dexterity. Our young cadet steps into the line to report his score and sees several of those around him with a high percentage their beans in the jar. Despite trying his best he did not score well, one bean on target, and as he leaves the room to hand in his tools, he finds himself worrying that his low score may lead to his early departure from the cadet corp. Despite the temptation to lie about his score, he reports his poor performance honestly. Curious about the procedure he asks the examiner what is to prevent a person from cheating and is told in reply, “nothing at all, move on to your next test”. Obviously this test had little to do with manual dexterity and everything to do with integrity. Things aren’t always what they appear to be. He learns integrity means doing the right thing even when others aren’t looking. (Especially when others aren't looking. - Ed)

At their swearing in they are welcomed to the band of brothers by the Commandant. He starts by acknowledging that many of them are probably homesick, but assures them they no longer need to be, because they are a part of a new family. Here is another important lesson in dealing with new members and making them a part of your organization.

We have all had the pleasure of dealing with “guard house lawyers” who can quote rules and regs but don’t really understand their purpose and importance, not to mention commander’s intent. One of our characters learns the hard way that becoming a guard house lawyer over a small matter, instead of accepting verbal orders can backfire when you take things to extremes instead of following instructions on insignificant items. His lesson is called “eating pie with a fork”, another valuable nugget about learning how to act in public.

For the uniform fanatics among you, the cadet uniform is a plane oyster colored one piece suit with no markings. It allows the cadets to be uniform but to not get hung up on badges, doodads, and patches. It is plain, functional, and focused a reflection of the role of a cadet. As the story unfolds we discover it is certainly not why a person yearns to join the ranks of the cadets. Of course the Space Marine uniform is full of badges, and doodads that go with the symbolism of the organization. Along with this we get a brief lesson in motivational psychology as our hero struggles with the decision of wanting to be a Marine versus becoming an officer in the Patrol. We learn that people are motivated by different things which in turn cause them to seek certain things in the organizations they join and the careers they choose. Another thing to keep in mind when you deal with subordinates.

Since I don’t want to give away too much more of the story I’ll stop here. Is there some corny parts in it? Any story written more then fifty years ago is going to have some yellowing around the edges. However, following the progress of Cadet Dodson through his journey as a cadet is both entertaining and educational. If you do find the time to read it please let me know what you think about and share it with your fellow cadets.