Train Junior Leaders to Make Mission-Aligned Decisions

The best junior leaders in decentralized systems share a few traits: they’re competitive, they’ve got a sense of humor, they don’t fear change, and they’re not afraid to fail. They think like AI—they learn by doing, and they get sharper with each iteration. You don’t get those traits from training manuals. You get them by investing in people.

After leaving the Army, I mentored a young superintendent in a construction company. She learned the two-level-up model and started making decisions that weren’t just good for her team—they made other departments more effective too. She didn’t wait for permission. She understood the mission, and she acted. Over time, her career skyrocketed. She became the go-to leader for high-profile projects, with other departments seeking her field expertise. Senior leaders relied on her to get critical jobs done, trusting her ability to align her team’s work with the company’s broader goals. Her transformation shows how empowering junior leaders to think strategically can unlock effective leadership skills and create outsized value for an organization.

Not every junior leader starts out ready to embrace the two-level-up mindset. Some need guidance to see beyond their immediate tasks. A public example comes from Susan Wojcicki’s early days at Google. Hired in 1999 as one of the company’s first marketing managers—a junior role—she initially focused on tactical tasks like branding and partnerships. At the time, Google was a small startup, and Wojcicki admitted she struggled to grasp the broader vision of organizing the world’s information, as set by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (two levels up). Her turning point came through mentorship and exposure to strategic discussions. Senior leaders like Eric Schmidt encouraged her to ask questions and connect her work to Google’s mission. Over time, she took on bigger challenges, like developing AdSense, which aligned with the higher goal of monetizing search sustainably. By 2014, Wojcicki was leading YouTube, driving decisions that reflected Google’s strategic priorities. Her growth shows that with coaching and opportunities to engage with higher intent, even hesitant junior leaders can excel at mission-driven decisions. ¹

To build junior leaders who take initiative while staying aligned, you have to train them deliberately. One of the most effective ways is to expose them to higher-level decision-making early on. In the Army, we did this by placing junior officers, like lieutenants, or mid-level managers, like Sergeants First Class, on the staffs of higher-echelon units—organizations far larger than they’d ever command. These roles immersed them in the thought processes of senior leaders, letting them see how strategic intent shapes priorities. When they returned to their units two levels down, the notion of aligning actions with higher goals wasn’t foreign. They could execute with confidence, knowing their decisions reflected the bigger picture. This approach translates to any industry. A junior manager in a tech firm, for instance, might join a cross-functional strategy team to learn how executives prioritize growth. Back in their department, they’ll make decisions that support those goals, not just their immediate tasks. By giving junior leaders this exposure, you’re equipping them with the tools to lead in a decentralized leadership model.

If you want junior leaders who can take initiative and still stay aligned, you have to build them. Walk them through scenarios. Share your strategic goals. Challenge them to think bigger. Then step back and let them try.

**Actionable Practices**:
- Use real scenarios in leadership development.
- Teach a decision framework: Intent > Priorities > Action.
- Encourage mission-based language.
- Assign junior leaders to higher-level staff roles or cross-functional teams to learn strategic intent, then apply it at their level.
- Mentor struggling junior leaders by connecting their tasks to higher goals and celebrating small wins in alignment.

**Footnote**:
¹ Wojcicki, S. (2011). Interview with CNN Money, “Google’s Ad Boss”; supplemented by Isaacson, W. (2014). The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. Simon & Schuster.