The call to reintroduce mandatory military service is getting louder. In an earlier update, I shared my thoughts on that debate. Many people responded by saying it would be good for young people to choose Defence: they would learn discipline, build resilience and become better prepared for work and society.

I understand that sentiment, but my fascination with the military comes from a different place: the duty of care that leaders carry.

Over the past years — and now even more through ELiN Partners — I’ve spoken with many leaders who come from the armed forces: the army, the air force, the navy. Sometimes we spoke about collaboration, often about leadership. Those conversations always stay with me. There is a depth in them that is rare. There is so much to learn from people who lead in extreme environments.

In many military leadership principles, the leader is responsible not only for the mission, but also for the wellbeing, morale and discipline of the team. In the British Army, selfless commitment is a core value, alongside courage, discipline and respect for others. Leaders put their team first — up and down the chain of command — and that creates trust. In the tradition of the United States Marine Corps, officers eat last. Not out of humility, but as a symbol: leadership is about caring for your people, not claiming privileges.

What does that teach us in business?

Discipline is not a drill. It is clarity. Clarity about what we do, why we do it and how we do it together.

In organisations, I call this rhythm: the predictability and cadence that give people something to hold on to.

Servant leadership is not softness. It is the strength to set clear boundaries in which people can perform, learn and grow. In the military, they capture it as: execute the mission and take care of your people. You cannot separate the two.

I learned discipline without a uniform

I learned discipline not in the military, but as a staffing recruiter. My week had a strict rhythm: fifteen candidate interviews, fifteen client visits, fifteen proactive candidate pitches and fifteen reference checks. Every single week. Input and output were equally important. And if something didn’t work, the question was always: what went wrong, and what can we learn?

That rhythm worked for me, but I also saw it didn’t work for everyone. Back then, the average colleague stayed only nine months — too much rhythm and too little space. In my early management roles, I assumed everyone had the same pace, the same energy, the same drive. They didn’t. I made plenty of misjudgements in those early years. That insight changed everything.

Too much discipline without space suffocates energy. Too much space without discipline becomes noise.

That is why I work today with the four R’s of leadership:

Rhythm × Space × Relationship × Result

Rhythm: work with a steady cadence and clear agreements about input and output.
Space: plan moments of slowing down. Focus, reflection and creativity are where real growth begins.
Relationship: leadership is a duty of care. Ask yourself weekly whether you have removed obstacles and whether people have the information and tools they need.
Result: make progress visible, compare outcomes with agreements, address deviations early and choose the next step together. Not to assign blame, but to create acceleration.

The conscription debate is not about uniformity

For me, the debate about mandatory service is not about making everyone the same. It is about clarity. You do not learn discipline by having everyone do identical tasks, but by making sure everyone knows what is expected of them.

Mature leadership requires rhythm and space — not rigid rules.

What can you already do tomorrow?

Give every team a fixed rhythm: a weekly start, a check-in and a weekly close-out. Make KPIs two-sided.
As a leader, begin by giving: remove obstacles, share context, bring calm. Only then ask for results.
That is leadership built on trust.

A personal note

For me, rhythm is energy in motion.
Space is the trust to grow.
Relationship is the choice to truly show up for your people.
Result is the proof that it works — not as a finish line, but as a signpost to the next step.

That is how I build teams, and how organisations accelerate: clear, human and with momentum.