text: Operational Art and Science
  LEADERSHIP
  The American soldier…demands professional competence in his leaders. In battle, he
  wants to know that the job is going to be done right, with no unnecessary casualties.
  General Omar N. Bradley
  2-47. Before an operation, combat power is unrealized potential. Through leadership, this potential is
  transformed into action. Leadership is the activity of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and
  motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization (ADP 6-22). Influencing is persuading
  people to do what is necessary. Influencing entails more than simply passing along orders. Through words
  and personal example, leaders inspire purpose, provide direction, and motivation. The Army acknowledges
  three levels of leadership—
  * Direct.
  * Organizational.
  * Strategic.
  2-48. Factors determining a leadership level include the leader’s relationship to a subordinate, number of
  subordinates, scope of responsibility, and time horizons of missions. Regardless of which level a leader serves
  in, a leader is always a direct leader. Direct leaders are task oriented. Organizational leaders are both task and
  mission oriented and lead through subordinate leaders. Strategic leaders apply a global, regional, national,
  and societal perspective to the organizations they lead. Organizational and strategic leaders lead through
  others.
  2-49. Commanders, deputy commanders, and primary staff officers at echelons above brigade headquarters
  exercise organizational leadership. Organizational leaders apply the principles of mission command and
  exercise leadership through subordinate leaders responsible for leading the various organizations that make
  up the larger organization. Since missions for larger organizations are more complex and involve concurrent
  efforts, leaders at higher echelons must encourage subordinate initiative. Effective organizational leaders
  must delegate authority, support their subordinates’ decisions, and hold them accountable for their actions.
  Successful delegation of authority involves convincing subordinates that they are empowered and have the
  freedom to act independently. Empowered subordinates understand that they bear more than the
  responsibility to accomplish tasks. They have the authority to operate as they see fit, within the limits of the
  commander’s intent and available resources. (See ADP 6-0 for more information on the mission command
  approach.)
  2-50. Organizational leaders, particularly commanders, are responsible for communicating intent two
  echelons down and understanding intent two echelons up. This is essential for unity of effort and purpose
  among echelons. Organizational leaders operate within their commanders’ intent and communicate that intent
  to subordinates as a means of providing room for subordinate initiative and decreasing the number of
  decisions they must personally make to keep the organization operating effectively. Organizational
  leadership includes responsibility over multiple functions, such as leading and synchronizing major
  operations. (See ADP 6-22 for doctrine on Army leadership.)
  INFORMATION
  2-51. Information, as an element of combat power, is used in three ways. First, information is used as a
  resource to create the situational understanding necessary for accurate decision making. Second, Army forces
  use information to direct and coordinate actions in the execution of those decisions. Third, information is
  used to affect relevant actor behavior, including friendly, neutral, and threat audiences.
  2-52. Information enables commanders at all levels to make informed decisions about the application of
  combat power. Success in operations demands timely and effective decisions based on applying judgment to
  available information and knowledge. As such, commanders and staffs seek to build and maintain situational
  understanding throughout an operation. Situational understanding is the product of applying analysis and
  judgment to relevant information to determine the relationships among the operational and mission variables
  (ADP 6-0). They also use information to build shared understanding of the situation and purpose of operations
  across the force.