It is not often that one encounters a leader who is eminently practical and yet deeply thoughtful. Walter F. Ulmer, Jr., with whom I worked during his tenure as president and CEO of the Center for Creative Leadership, is one such person.
He has devoted much of his life to thinking about and practicing leadership: thirty-seven years in the U.S. Army—in combat theaters in Korea and Vietnam, on the faculties of the Army War College and the U.S. Military Academy (where he was also Commandant of Cadets), and as head of the Army’s human-resources-development group in the Pentagon; nine years with CCL; and now two years working, in a consultant’s role, with various commercial and governmental organizations.
His practical work has been recognized in many ways. He retired from the Army as a three-star general, having received military decorations from the Republics of Korea and Vietnam, from the Federal Republic of Germany, and, of course, from the United States. He has been named an Alumni Fellow of Penn State University and a Distinguished Fellow of the Army War College. And in 1995 CCL initiated in his honor the Walter F. Ulmer, Jr., Applied Research Award, given annually for especially notable field work on leadership.
The present collection is meant to recognize, and share, his thought work. We have selected a number of his essays that were written between 1990 and 1994 as contributions to “Inside View,” the president’s column in CCL’s quarterly publication Issues & Observations, and we have added to this a lead-off piece adapted from a paper that was written last year for a leadership studies project sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation. A wide range of topics is thus covered, but I think you will find that the essays are unified by his emphasis on the essential connection between theory and practice: learning.
Walt is an active and continuous learner, and this is why he is such an effective leader and teacher. Upon reading this collection, I think you will agree with me.
Walter W. Tornow
Vice President, Research and Publication
Center for Creative Leadership