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Hal Moore on Leadership

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Hal Moore led his life by a set of principles – a code developed through years of experience, trial-and-error, and the study of leaders of every stripe. In a career spanning more than thirty years, Moore’s life touched upon many historical events: the Occupation of Japan, the Korean War, Vietnam, and the refashioning of the US Army into an all-volunteer force. At each juncture, he learned critical lessons and had opportunities to affect change through measured responses. Hal Moore on Leadership offers a comprehensive guide to the principles that helped shape Moore’s success both on and off the battlefield. They are strategies for the outnumbered, outgunned, and seemingly hopeless. They apply to any leader in any organization – business or military. These lessons and principles are nothing theoretical or scientific. They are simply rules of thumb learned and practiced by a man who spent his entire adult life leading others and perfecting his art of leadership.

168 pages, Paperback

Published July 4, 2017

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About the author

Harold G. Moore

9 books100 followers
Lieutenant General Harold Gregory Moore Jr. was a United States Army lieutenant general and author. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. military's second-highest decoration for valor, and was the first of his West Point class (1945) to be promoted to brigadier general, major general, and lieutenant general. He was the co-author (with Joe Galloway) of two successful books We Were Soldiers Once... And Young &We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back To The Battlefields Of Vietnam about the 1965 battle of the Ia Drang valley in Viet Nam, during most of which Moore (then a Lt. Colonel) was the primary U.S. officer commanding. Mr. Galloway was also present during much of the battle, as a combat correspondent for UPI. After a long and distinguished career, including combat service in the Korean War prior to his service in Viet Nam, Lt. Gen. Moore retired in 1977. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Army Distinguished Service Medal, Legion Of Merit (3 Awards), Bronze Star (4 Awards, including 2 for valor), Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm (3 Awards) and many other medals, decorations, and badges. A full length biography of Lt. Gen. Moore ('Hal Moore: A Soldier Once... And Always', by Mike Guardia) was published by Casemate Publishers in November 2013.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
Profile Image for Debbie.
695 reviews
April 28, 2022
Another great book from a man I admire greatly. Hal Moore led my Dad's unit in the Vietnam War and is held in the highest regard in our family.

He was the epitome of a leader....not a boss....but a mentor. My dad served with him in the Ia Drang Valley when many of our troops were massacred. Hal Moore was always the first one to step onto a battlefield and the last one off from it.

This book contains his thoughts on leadership and he writes about many types of leaders, from the arrogant to the humble.

He cared about his men and his story is beautifully portrayed in the movie, "WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE...AND YOUNG."

I highly recommend this to anyone thinking about leadership, military or not, it all applies.

NOTE: I was really surprised that he graduated from West Point "the best student in the bottom 15% of his class." It only goes to prove that leadership is more character than book knowledge.
Profile Image for Molly.
394 reviews16 followers
November 30, 2017
Great read

This a well written book and outlines countless leadership tips, traits, and takeaways. Great for all leaders no matter the experience level.
Profile Image for Fred Leland.
284 reviews20 followers
June 17, 2022
outstanding resource on leadership

This was an outstanding book on leadership principals we can all learn from and apply to our own organizations. The stories and philosophy on leadership from Hal Moore’s service to our country are based on developing TRUST and developing people to perform at their highest level.

It’s a fantastic book I highly recommend.
Profile Image for Sam Bratt.
19 reviews5 followers
February 4, 2020
There is some solid leadership stuff in here for those inside and outside of the military. I think will be something I continue to come back to for guidance.
Profile Image for Richard Day.
48 reviews
December 5, 2022
I listened to this as an audiobook via Audible.

This is a first-class book that provided some excellent leadership advice that is pertinent in both military and civilian environments. What I particularly liked is that, despite being written by a 3* General, most of the advice is applicable to junior leaders. If this book isn't on junior officer reading lists then it should be.

My only criticism is aimed at the audiobook version. As the book is a collaboration, sometimes it's hard to tell when the author is talking or when he is quoting Moore.

All in all, first class and well worth a read.
Profile Image for John David Bull.
92 reviews4 followers
September 14, 2020
I'm a manager for a major retailer and I feel like this should be handed to every leader I've ever had. I've had a few good and a majority that kill the soul of employees. Look at employees as your team not your prisoners.
Profile Image for Abdullah Almuslem.
493 reviews50 followers
August 12, 2022
If you watched the movie “ We Were Soldiers” by Mel Gibson , then you will know Hal Moor. Hal Moor was an American soldier who served in the occupied Japan post WWII, the Korean war, and most famously in Vietnam. The movie “ We Were Soldiers” tells the story of the first major battle between the Americans and Vietnamizes in which Hal Moor was the commander. He was surrounded for three days by 2000 Vietnamizes soldier in a terrible battle that led to a lot of bloodshed. You can see the movie or read the book “ We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam” if want to know more about this.

In this book Moor puts some of the leadership skills he learned during his long career in wars and peace. He recalls some of the stories that occurred during his service in wars and try to extract lessons that can be beneficial to future leaders.

Few Highlights:

There are two things a leader can do: he can either contaminate his environment (and his people) with his attitude and actions, or he can inspire confidence.

It struck me early in my reading in school and in later life that a common theme running through books and stories about great leaders was their positive outlook; their positive mental attitude.

When nothing is wrong, there’s nothing wrong—EXCEPT there’s nothing wrong. That’s when a leader has to be the most alert

The discipline that makes an effective leader begins in the home

Remember this: A worker’s performance often reflects the attitude of his leadership.

If you, the leader, think you might lose, then you have already lost

There is always one more thing you can do to influence a situation in your favor. And after that, one more thing

Not a bad Read

Profile Image for Bruce Cline.
Author 12 books9 followers
February 20, 2020
Hal Moore on Leadership, Winning When Outgunned and Outmanned, by Mike Guardia (audio book, 5 hours). This is a business management book based on the military career of Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, USA retired. Moore is noteworthy because of his heroic role in winning the first major battle of the Vietnam war, chronicled in the bestselling book We Were Soldiers Once, Ia Drang — the Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam, and a popular movie (We Were Soldiers) starring Mel Gibson. The first book helps make sense of this followup book. Frankly, I’m guessing this book on leadership was someone else’s idea. While it wasn’t a bad idea, I’m not sure Moore’s experiences leading people are as relevant now than in the decades of his exemplary military service (1940s into the early 1970s). Virtually all of the general’s leadership practices are best practices, but I don’t think the book adds much to the genre. Moreover, his examples are all from his military experience leading troops, and there are not always direct parallels to civilian workers and private sector enterprises. The various examples of military leadership were interesting, and resonated with me due to my military experiences, and for that reason alone I liked the book. Aside from basic management leadership practices (mutual respect, listen to subordinates, ethical decision-making, fairness, praise publicly and punish privately, lead from the front, etc.) there’s just not a lot of new or innovative ideas. Good book but not great.
Profile Image for Fernando Fernandes.
130 reviews8 followers
June 22, 2023
The book provides some insights into leading effectively in any situation.

Key Points:

1. Lead from the front: set an example for subordinates and take responsibility for your actions.

2. Care for your people: show empathy and understanding, so that trust and loyalty can be built among the troops.

3. Maintain high standards: achieve excellence in every aspect of your work.

4. Communicate effectively: ensure everyone understands the goals, expectations, and roles they play.

5. Make sound decisions under pressure: make tough calls quickly and decisively while considering all available information.

6. Adaptability: adapt your plan as needed while maintaining focus on the objectives.

7. Teamwork: a cohesive unit requires trust, respect, and open communication among all team members.

8. Train hard: train physically and mentally to prepare for any obstacles.

9. Learn from mistakes: analyze what went wrong to improve future performance.

10. Be humble: recognize limitations for growth through collaboration with others.

As you can see, nothing groundbreaking...
I like these two quotes, in particular:

- A worker’s performance often reflects the attitude of his leadership.

- There is always one more thing you can do to influence a situation in your favor. And after that, one more thing.
Profile Image for Robert Enzenauer.
510 reviews10 followers
April 26, 2018
Mike Guardia has done a great service by editing and resurrecting LTG Moore's autobiographical "lessons learned" and creating a wonderful small book HAL MOORE ON LEADERSHIP. This book follows some of the significant events in Moore's career, and creates a wonderful compendium on leadership. by describing the actions and behaviors of both good and bad leaders. I concur with McMaster's commentary that "Moore's lessons apply to the boardroom as well as the battlefield." (back cover). Moore is clear and succinct: Competence, Judgment, and Character is the basics of leadership: inspiring people to work hard and to execute tasks willingly. For me his second principle says it all" There's always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor. And after that, there's one more thing." He describ ed leadership from low level (lieutenants leading platoons) to senior leaders (general officers, or CEOs). According to Moore: "A General Officer should not and cannot be 'one of the boys.' The top leader in a large civiliam organization should not either. Senior executives should hold themnselves a bit apart and aloof. They should not say much, but when they do, it should be well thought out, make goolds sense, and be completely clear and understandable." Strong work Mike Guardia. I have bought several copies to share with physician ldeaders at my hospital.
Profile Image for Robert Enzenauer.
510 reviews10 followers
April 24, 2018
Mike Guardia has done a great service by editing and resurrecting LTG Moore's autobiographical "lessons learned" and creating a wonderful small book HAL MOORE ON LEADERSHIP. This book follows some of the significant events in Moore's career, and creates a wonderful compendium on leadership. by describing the actions and behaviors of both good and bad leaders. I concur with McMaster's commentary that "Moore's lessons apply to the boardroom as well as the battlefield." (back cover). Moore is clear and succinct: Competence, Judgment, and Character is the basics of leadership: inspiring people to work hard and to execute tasks willingly. For me his second principle says it all" There's always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor. And after that, there's one more thing." He describ ed leadership from low level (lieutenants leading platoons) to senior leaders (general officers, or CEOs). According to Moore: "A General Officer should not and cannot be 'one of the boys.' THe top leader in a large civiliam organization should not either. Senior executives should hold themnselves a bit apart and aloof. They should not say much, but when they do, it should be well thought out, make goolds sense, and be completely clear and understandable." Strong work Mike Guardia. I have bought several copies to share with physician ldeaders at my hospital.
117 reviews8 followers
July 20, 2019
Some good quotable bits, but the underlying philosophy did not seem particularly special to me - or, holding it is easy, executing on it is hard, requiring deep tolerance for doing hard things, which ties into the whole way of life which Moore advocates (discipline, physical fitness, morality, sound judgement). His thoughts on considering defeat leading to defeat are a mirror of Bruce Lee's on the will to win in Tao of Jeet Kune Do (something about "the will to win being constant" in champions).

Chapters are structurally inconsistent; chapter summaries in the early chapters tie back strongly to mentioned anecdotes from those chapters, while in later chapters the summaries seemed unsupported, and later chapters often just go into bulleted lists of Moore's thoughts (which I didn't mind, brevity being a virtue, but is an odd change). Some characters seem to have been mangled in the conversion to Kindle (up to and including non-ASCII characters in one instance). Somewhat hagiographic (particularly the OERs chapter, which felt like filler), and a little tainted by survivorship bias (though Moore himself admits that he survived things only by the grace of god / dumb luck).
Profile Image for Richard Rhodes.
33 reviews2 followers
October 15, 2020
Hal Moore was a decorated warrior that displayed courage under fire and extraordinary leadership skills. He was well liked and respected by his subordinates and peer alike. His devotion to his soldiers, employees and the mission are clearly seen in the actions that he took to provide growth opportunities as well as in his lead from the front style. For those that have studied leadership strategies and styles one can see that Hal Moore assumes a servant leadership style and this allows him to put forth the interests of his staff, even ahead of his own.

This book is a well written collections of thoughts, writings, action reports, among other things that the author used to write this work. All in all this is a well written work and the audiobook had a good flow. The author does note and address the fact that because the work is a collection of thoughts and writings that there is some overlap among the stories. However, it did not seem to me that this was an issue throughout the book.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in leadership, business management, military history, or history in general.
20 reviews
March 27, 2024
I like leadership books that make me feel motivated and this book has plenty of that. I didn’t think that there’s anything way out of the ordinary here, at least as it relates to conversations about other books such as Extreme Ownership; however, the annex that includes Moore’s Officer Evaluation Reports is a great addition that I think attributes to not idolizing him too much(respect and worship are two different things). There were moments that I caught a bit of a lag and there’s plenty of reiteration but it depends on how you as the reader feel about driving points home and also trying to learn. He could write it once, but if you forget the principle does it do you much good? I don’t know, I’m not you. So, to each their own with that point. I recommend this book if you’re looking for motivation, enjoy some military history, or just need reminders on how to be a good teammate.
Profile Image for Ben.
81 reviews
December 13, 2025
I've read quite a few books for learning leadership. The lessons in this book is nothing revolutionary. However seeing certain principles popping up repeatedly in various places has lead me to think good leadership principles are nearly universal. These are timely advice that will always matter.

- Leadership is inspiring other people to work hard and take initiative
- Discipline self first before leading others (Never hold others to a standard you won't hold)
- Stand firm on principles (Choose hard right over easy wrong)
- Explain your intent and end state (Do not give orders you cannot justify)
- Respect everyone
- Always learn and keep everyone informed
- Take care of people and they will take care of you

etc. There are much more idioms in this book. I suggest taking the principles that applies to you and apply them.
Profile Image for Riley Pratt.
41 reviews
January 20, 2022
At only 150 pages, Hal Moore: On Leadership packs a concise punch. The book's central thesis--that empathy, trust, confidence, and self discipline make the best leaders--was heartening and valuable. It felt good to see a respected, decorated military leader condemn those "leaders" with god complexes, aggressive tendencies, or bad attitudes. Moore's advice, while often very general and unoriginal at times, is useful and can be applied in any setting, military or otherwise.

Reading the story of Moore's life and the confident aphorisms sprinkled about certainly left me with a can-do spirit--and feeling a whole lot braver than I'd felt before. I had to read this book to prepare for ROTC next semester, but I'm glad I did. Its straight talk and clear instructions relieved some of my anxieties about that transition--and my future at large.
Profile Image for Stuart Sullivan.
64 reviews
September 13, 2018
An excellent insight into the mind of a true combat leader. Hal Moore was portrayed on the silver screen by Mel Gibson in "We Were Soldiers", this is his biography and lessons learned through the course of his incredible career. The lessons of leadership are direct, concise, and applicable in any walk of life, not just the military. His shared leadership are universal, and provided in anecdotal form, concise chapters, and summarized for discussion by youth leadership groups such as church, 4-H Junior Leaders, Scouts, etc. An amazing man with a knack for keeping it simple, direct, and honest.
240 reviews2 followers
August 4, 2021
A Leader Once and Always

Lt. Gen. Harold "Hal" Moore learned much throughout his military career, and he imparts the most important lessons here, in "Hal Moore on Leadership." Through hardships, victories, failures, and challenges, General Moore kept his head by following some basic principles, such as respect, listening to instinct, understanding why an action must be taken, and self-discipline. He was a great proponent of physical fitness and the wonders it can work for both mind and body. Any aspiring or current leader would do well to read this book, and learn from a man who led for his whole career, and did it to thr best of his ability.
346 reviews
May 2, 2023
Exceptionally accomplished leader's reflections on successful leadership. All solid recommendations that LTG Moore clearly executed well at every echelon - but nothing particularly new. You'll see the same advice in most leadership manuals. I think the key thing missing - and not sure if this is something LTG Moore reflected on significantly - is application over concept. I think that's where LTG Moore shined where others might falter with the same advice. Worthwhile, but probably better to just do case studies of LTG Moore's accomplishments and read his biography - at least for military readers.
Profile Image for Stefan Shirley.
101 reviews2 followers
February 27, 2024
I’m not the biggest fan of military books but when a senior leader strongly suggests reading something, you read it.

On Leadership is just that, a collection of leadership narratives by retired LTG Hal Moore. His style, as reflected by his OERs show a very straight forward leadership. His principles are:

1. Three strikes and you’re not out.
2. There’s always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor. And after that, there is one more thing.
3. When nothing is wrong, there’s nothing wrong. —EXCEPT, there’s nothing wrong.
4. Trust your instincts.

Five stars. Short read.
Profile Image for Ryan Rench.
Author 20 books18 followers
August 9, 2019
I just love a gritty war-torn man telling it like it is. That's Hal Moore.

He's a no-nonsense and to-the-point guy, and the lessons from experience are the best kind. This book lays out a few war stories and a lot of leadership principles based on really leading others. It is occasionally profane as one would expect from a book about our military men, but the overall tone was respectful and upright. I appreciated the kind of man he was, and I think it's needed in today's boys.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants some advice from someone who's been down that road a while.
Profile Image for Michael Barros.
211 reviews4 followers
July 9, 2021
This book was perfectly crafted. He covers the main points at the start, then expands on each throughout the book, identifying sub-points. Each chapter ends with a review of the sub-points. All the points are connected by a chronological narrative of Gen. Moore’s life.

Lt. General Moore was a hard, tough man who had the energy and will it takes to be hands-on & lead from the front, while never becoming a tyrant. He’s one of those individuals that makes you reflect on your own life and feel like “Man, I need to step it up in all areas.”
Profile Image for James Trixler.
10 reviews
March 22, 2022
First off, Hal Moore had my heart from the first time I read “We Were Soldiers Once… and Young”. This book is a great view of how he looked at leadership throughout his career. Interestingly enough the LZ X-Ray was pretty much pushed past since there was already material on it, this I did not expect but appreciate. Hal Moore is a leader of leaders and has great wisdom in this book. My 5/5 is well deserved, book was a quick ready but well worth every word on the pages. Thank you for this great book!!!
Profile Image for Christopher Piehota.
Author 1 book7 followers
February 22, 2018
Exceptional recall on a remarkable leadership career. Highly quotable and recommended.

This was an excellent book on leadership and a good summary of Moore's evolution as a leader. This is not a military history book. This book was entertaining and educational and highly recommended for anyone seeking to learn about basic, timeless leadership principles or for someone who may just be seeking a tune up for what they already practice. Highly recommended.
17 reviews
October 13, 2021
I think you get to a point where after you read a number of the leadership books over the years, they all start to blend together. There are definitely some good pointers in this book from a leadership perspective, these are also very common leadership traits and actions.

For me, I had trouble with the narration, to a point where I almost could not finish the book. This is more a matter of preference than anything.
70 reviews
January 19, 2025
Outstanding leadership book, probably one of the best I've read. LTG Moore is probably one of the best Army leaders of the 20th century sitting next to men like MAJ Dick Winters. The book gives principles that seem unconventional but upon reflection and implementation, they are crucial to his success. His ability to detach and not react negatively to situations is pinical. Overall an outstanding read.
Profile Image for Antonio Santoyo.
127 reviews2 followers
June 1, 2018
Very enjoyable. Reads like a handbook and it’s not, therefore, as thrilling as “We were soldiers;” but a very good book for anyone in a leadership position.
Spoilers alert: the subtitle “winning when outgunned and outmanned” is just a catchphrase alluding to the Ia Drang Valley battle, and not actual tactics discussed in the book, which is what I expected.
22 reviews
July 18, 2018
An inspiration to a leader

As a Fire Department Officer, a Paramedic, Educator and Father this book showed me more about my life than I expected. I will read this more than once, as Gen. Moore was a true leader. His Life, his service and his leadership are well represented, and his thoughts on leadership really lead one to look at their life and make changes.
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