Customer Reviews

The Three Meter Zone : Common Sense Leadership for NCOs

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"The three meter zone" is the zone of the first-line noncommissioned leader. It is the zone of the day-after-day, in-the-face, hands-on leadership. It is the most critical leadership zone; if what is done within the zone is done with common sense and high standards, the product will be an outstanding soldier. If what is done within the zone is done poorly and to low standards, the product will be an elimination action or, even worse, an unmotivated, untrained, unfit soldier who is merely marking time until ETS. As our Army is suffering from dramatically high attrition rates among first term soldiers, CSM Pendry's short book is both timely and useful. He clearly explains how first line leaders can develop themselves and their leadership style, and how they can lead their soldiers to success. I recommend this book be read by sergeants and by company-grade officers. I encourage all battalion and brigade commanders to add it to their unit's professional reading list.

CSM Pendry focuses first on the leader, and explains how he developed his own leadership style. He shows how he changed many of his opinions over the years, and how he critically examined his values to develop a solid foundation for his leadership style. He includes an interesting discussion on the need for counseling of the battalion CSM by the battalion commander, which can be read with profit by every NCO who intends to become a "command team" member. He relates that it was crucial to his own development to simply sit down and write out what the Army values mean to him (he includes, but goes beyond LDRSHIP). It was not easy for him to do, but when finished, he had his position, he knew where he was going, and he knew how he planned to get there. Another concept he found useful was the "personal battle focus," his own mission essential tasks, means of assessing where he was, and a plan to get where he wanted to be. CSM Pendry emphasizes the critical importance of being the example of what we want our soldiers to be - never easy, but absolutely essential to success within the three-meter zone.

In the second half of his book, CSM Pendry focuses on standards and discipline for soldiers - knowing them, respecting and rewarding them, motivating them, training them, and physically training them. The longest and most important of these sections covers "knowing them." Here, CSM Pendry emphasizes that different styles must be used for different people, with the goal of moving the soldier out of the three-meter zone of constant supervision and detailed instructions, into the "fifty" or "one-hundred meter" zones of increased responsibility and autonomy. Readers will find his comments on the need to know and be partners with civilian employees, on the need to welcome newly promoted NCOs into the corps, and on the need to communicate with and participate in low-profile events with soldiers to be very thought provoking.

Finally, every leader should read his comments concerning how too many NCOs and company grade officers have "willed" the Single Soldier Initiatives for Quality of Life to fail; he correctly indicts many leaders for willfully failing to support the program and our own soldiers as the best of them try to improve their style of life.

CSM Pendry has no magical formulas for leaders. He has thought critically about how he leads; he has improved as a leader by applying his insights. Read this book, take up his challenge to critically examine ourselves and our styles. We can become masters of the "three-meter zone" as well. The entire Army will benefit.

I found the Three Meter-Zone to be simply one of the best books on leadership that I have ever read. And there have been many such books that I have read. This book clearly rates as one of the top two or three books that I could recommend on this topic.

Although I have a military background (USMC, late 60s - early 70s), I spent my career in law enforcement. I retired a couple of years ago after almost 29 years, to include time as a "first line supervisor and commander in Patrol Operations and police tactical operations (SWAT).

I found it to be very refreshing that this book was oriented "primarily" towards the first-line supervisor level. Although the principles and concepts outlined in the book were clearly applicable toward supervisory and management positions above that first line level, the thrust of its direction was somewhat unique in the direct approach towards first line supervision.

Additionally, the use of "war stories" to demonstrate specific examples of conceptual thoughts of principle allowed the reader a glimpse of practical applications of the various principles.

It was quite strange that while this book was an easy read - easy to follow, well written, and by no means conceptually "hazy" - I found it hard to finish! And that was only because I found myself reading a section, putting the book down and mulling over what I just read (and sometimes mulling it over off-and-on for hours), going back and re-reading it, etc. before going on to the next section. As a result, it took me quite a bit longer to finish the book that I had first imagined!

This book rates an "A+" for no other reason that the author's identification of one of the key problems facing supervision AND management today: "The Three Ps" (I won't ruin the surprise for future readers by identifying them).

In fact, in my opinion, in today's area of supervision and management - as I know from first hand observation in the law enforcement field and otherwise see both in the corporate world and in the military - the "Three Ps" are THE biggest problems of leadership today. Until the cultural climate adjustments occur that effect the necessary changes in this area, I see no hope for true positive outcomes within those troubled organizations.

This is an outstanding book that tells an uninformed reader exactly how NCO's should motivate, direct, and give purpose for a Three Meter Experience ! FM 22-100 guides soldiers in the Army leadership process through the eyes of Senior Officer Leadership. The Three Meter Zone gives it to you by a Noncommissioned Officer, for Noncommissioned Officers who like to get close and personal. We are in an Army that has sold its soul to corporate America and are being taught to "manage" soldiers instead of leading them. Its good to see a book supporting direct, in your face leadership !! I've conducted a Bold site adjustment on my leadership style and am confident that my shot group is now in the Three Meter Zone!

The Three Meter Zone will enlighten some noncommissioned officers in every branch of service and frighten others. The author explains how noncommissioned officers should be conducting business on a daily basis. Some NCOs will learn that there are senior NCOs who know how business should be conducted. They will be gratified to know that they are doing the right thing on a daily basis, or they will be reminded of how they should be doing it. Some NCOs will be frightened because they either have never been taught the right way to lead or they do not care about leading soldiers. Now they will realize that some senior NCOs know that some people are not doing their jobs. This book based on experiences throughout a long and successful career, is about leadership from the NCO perspective. It is about time that we NCOs police ourselves instead of allowing others to do it for us. I found The Three Meter Zone easy as well as interesting to read. I was able to relate to most of the circumstances that were described in the book. The views of CSM James D. Pendry are the same as those shared by many NCOs today. The author has eloquently described the meaning of LDRSHIP (loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage). CSM Pendry takes real-life situations in which he participated, and explains and evaluates what happened. This will enable others to apply what they read in this book to everyday situations in their own working environment. The author emphasizes the importance of leading by example throughout the entire book. I have read plenty of leadership books and find this one to be the most realistic, without the million-dollar words and the psychiatric approach to problem-solving and leadership abilities. This book is down-to-earth, with plenty of scenarios, quotations and situations that can easily be related to a reader's past, present and future. I highly recommend this book to all noncommissioned officers and commissioned officers; they need to read it and use it as a guide. The Three Meter Zone will not collect any dust on the bookshelf, for it will be referred to in many situations.

The concept of the three meter zone is brilliant for business-- when combined with some of the reading in Small Unit Leadership: A Common Sense Approach (notice some, I wasn't entirely happy with the other book) you'll find that there are four basic types of employees:

1)Willing and Able: Those who don't need huge amounts of supervision (100 meter zone, completely safe and needs a pat on the back every once in a while)
2)Willing and Unable: Those who can be molded/trained (50 meter zone, needs some training to get the job done but is completely willing to learn with some help)
3)Unwilling and Able: 50 meter zone employee who needs guidance to get him back to the 100 meter zone
4)Unwilling and Unable: 3 meter zone employee-- immediate up-training and close supervision required.

The concept of the 3, 50, and 100 meter zones is based off of a training that the author received concerning the Bouncing Betty Mine-- this is an anti-personnel mine that was capable of killing within 3 meters, wounding at 50, and wasn't out of danger-close until 100 meters. As a supervisor, we are the mine. Our job is to get our employees out of our killing zone (in other words, write ups, disciplinary action, etc) as quick as possible.

Like other great military/business reads that have proceeded it the material is given concisely with a minimum of fluff; you can tell that the author knew what he wanted to say and how to say it. I highly recommend this book for those who want to learn more about military doctrine in business; my copy is right next to the Book of Five Rings and the Art of War.

This is excellent reading for all business personel. It is down to earth, grass roots, management. Basically the author teaches that without training, cross training, and effective execution, sense of duty, loyality and taking care of your employees (soldiers),the business is slated for failure. I was so impressed by this book that I bought 4 additional copies and gave them to managers 3 levels up the management chain in our company.

Whenever I read a book of instruction or a manual or something that I may use as a guide, I do it with a highlighter in my hand. Now I have a book that is just as much yellow as the pages are white. I will pass this book on to my new and junior NCOs in my platoon as it is an excellent guide and encourages the type of forum I represent. Rest assured that it will be a well thumbed copy. This book will be required reading for my NCOs because we all know what happens to THE BOOK in a real world situation, but I guarantee you this one will outlast all the revisions to the Army's manuals.

The Three Meter Zone is an organized, thought provoking book from an enlisted leader's perspective - filling a void long neglected. Although focused on the Army, the Three Meter Zone encourages critical thinking on leadership issues faced by enlisted leaders of every service. Dave Pendry writes about leadership issues with sincere passion and seasoned experience. His mature point of view is illustrated with meaningful real-world examples and concepts useful in meeting today's enlisted leadership challenges. It is obvious from the first to the last page, when the school of hard knocks is combined with good common sense, personal or organizational problems are controllable and no problem is insurmountable. His book is honest, forthright, and you can easily see Pendry loves the Army and his soldiers. You will also find he is concerned about current "leadership" trends. Who isn't! Do yourself a favor and read this book. Sam Goodwin, CSM (Ret)

Dave Pendry's insightful book takes a look back over his successful 27-year Army career from a noncommissioned officers perspective. He shares his tried and true leadership style with the reader based on anecdotes from his experiences, and causes the reader to look at their own self from the soldier's perspective. A great read that any soldier of the past two decades will enjoy.

Outstanding guide for NCOs. I bought this book when I was assigned to USAREC and have used it ever since.