#34: LTG (Ret.) Bob Caslen (West Point Legend/USC President) — On Service, Character, & Failure

Today, I am so privileged and honored to bring you insights from a true hero of mine, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Robert Caslen, who currently serves as the 29th President of the University of South Carolina.  Go Gamecocks!  General Caslen served 43 years in the United States Army.  His military career culminated in 2018 as the 59th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Today, I am so privileged and honored to bring you insights from a true hero of mine, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Robert Caslen, who currently serves as the 29th President of the University of South Carolina. Go Gamecocks!

General Caslen served 43 years in the United States Army. His military career culminated in 2018 as the 59th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Under his direction as Superintendent, West Point was recognized as the number one public college in the Nation by Forbes Magazine and the number one public college by U.S. News and World Report. Through the establishment of Centers of Excellence at West Point, General Caslen connected the operational Army with West Point research and intellectual capital. He refined West Point’s leadership program by making professional ethics a priority and essential part of leadership and character development. He worked tirelessly to expand the diversity of cadets and faculty alike, and he dramatically expanded West Point’s minority and women populations to reflect the demographics of the Army that West Point’s graduates help lead.

Working with the Director of Athletics, he revamped the athletic program, made it self-sustaining, and fielded 25 competitive intercollegiate teams. He created partnerships with the NCAA and Department of Defense to conduct research into preventing and treating concussions and traumatic brain injury that have led to significant improvements in prevention and care. He stood up the Army Cyber Institute to build expertise and Army leaders prepared for the new cyber fight. And, fulfilling a pledge he made soon after becoming Superintendent, he led a sweeping reversal of Army’s football program and developed a culture of excellence through winning with character, culminating in Army defeating Navy in 2016 for the first time in 14 years, and beating both Air Force and Navy in 2017 to win the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy for the first time in 21 years.

Before becoming the West Point Superintendent, General Caslen served as the Chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, where he served as the senior military commander in Iraq after the drawdown of U.S. and allied forces in 2011. Caslen held several other notable positions including commanding general of Multi National Division-North during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Chief of Staff of both the 101st Airborne Division (AASLT) and the 10th Mountain Division, where he also served as the Division’s Chief of Staff during Operation Enduring Freedom. He also has served in combat and overseas deployments in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Joint Task Force Bravo in Honduras, and Operation Uphold Democracy and the United Nations Mission in Haiti.

He is a graduate of West Point and he holds an MBA from Long Island University and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Kansas State University. He was also recognized with an honorary Doctorate from Long Island University. He is a member of the Kansas State Engineering College Hall of Fame, received a Life Time of Service Award from the American Red Cross, was recognized with the Honorary Rock of the Year Award for his efforts in diversity as the Superintendent of West Point.

He also received the 2018 Gerald R. Ford Legends Award for lifetime service, and was the 2019 recipient of the NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award, joining the ranks of Tony Dungy, John Wooden, and Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, Ford, and George H.W. Bush. Caslen also serves as the Special Advisor on Executive Leadership and Character Development at Higher Echelon. He is a nationally recognized authority on leader development and author of The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity, which is scheduled to be published in October 2020.

On this episode, we discuss [time marks for audio version]:

His favorite things about living in South Carolina [7:00]
His “Why” for Serving [9:30]
- “The greatest among you is the servant among you.”
- “People talk about legacy and wanting to see their name on a building as a legacy. I’d rather see my legacy as the people I had the ability to influence and to improve their life and give them great opportunities for hope in the future.”
How his view of service has changed over time [11:30]
What is means to be a caring leader [13:15]
- “Caring is not coddling them and babying them. It is developing them.”
Leadership as helping people achieve excellence [15:20]
- “Leadership is enabling people to live a life of excellence. To me, excellence is living to the upper level of your potential.”
- “When you make mistakes, that’s how you grow.”
Developing leaders [17:20]
- “Instead of leadership by attrition, I believe in leadership by development.”
The leader taking ownership over development of team [18:20]
- “When they succeed, the leader never takes credit. When they fail, the leader takes all responsibility. If I’m developing a subordinate and they don’t meet the standard, it’s my fault . . . I look internally and say how did I mess this up.”
- “Development is not just giving someone a job description.”
- “It takes mental and morale courage to sit down with someone, look them in the eye, and tell them they are not meeting the standard.”
Self-leadership [20:40]
- “The most effective leaders are leaders that lead from the front and share hardships.”
- “If you fail on character, you fail on leadership.”
- “Character is the internalization of values. . . Those values are a result of your upbringing . . . the people you hang around with . . . the books you read . . . what you read on the computer screen.”
- “What comes out of us is the true manifestation of what we’ve internalized.”
His morning routine [25:30]
His gym workouts and one way he recognizes excellence at the University of South Carolina [27:00]
Maintaining a calm, composed demeanor [29:00]
- “It’s easy to lose your temper, and it accomplishes nothing.”
- “As a leader, everyone starts to reflect the personality of the leader.”
Leadership advice for high stress, uncertain environments like COVID-19 [32:30]
- “The most important part about leadership in a crisis is to create and maintain hope because people in a crisis must have hope . . . The best way to get hope is to be a leader that they trust.”
- “You build trust through competence . . . character . . . caring . . . and communication.”
His decision-making framework [35:25]
How failure and adversity have shaped him [37:15]
Marriage advice and parenting advice [42:00]
His upcoming book, The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity [46:20]