CONCEPTUALISING AUTHENTIC MILITARY LEADERSHIP FOR ADAPTIVE DECISION-MAKING IN VOLATILE, UNCERTAIN, COMPLEX, AND AMBIGUOUS ENVIRONMENTS

Contemporary military operations in contested, multi-domain environments demand leadership frameworks that integrate ethical discipline with operational agility. This study synthesises authentic leadership theory with adaptive decision-making doctrinal frameworks to address a significant theoretical gap: the absence of a unified model linking relational and moral authenticity to accelerated decision cycles within volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts.
Through systematic integration of peer-reviewed scholarship (2010–2025), NATO doctrinal guidance, and empirical research on leadership resilience and simulation-enabled training, the researcher develop the Integrated Authentic–Adaptive Leadership Model (IAALM). The analysis reveals that core authentic behaviours – principled transparency, balanced information processing, and relational clarity – serve as catalysts for decentralised initiative and rapid learning cycles characteristic of mission command. Three mediating mechanisms – psychological safety, interpersonal trust, and shared operational understanding – constitute the pathway through which moral anchoring translates into tactical tempo without eroding legal-ethical compliance.
The IAALM demonstrates that units cultivating psychological safety and trust relationships achieve faster situational understanding and disciplined risk calibration under uncertainty. Institutionalisation mechanisms include doctrine-aligned training methodologies, mentorship frameworks, structured reflection cycles, and extended-reality (XR) simulations. The model provides scalable policy guidance for NATO and national militaries seeking to prepare leaders who sustain both ethical resilience and decision velocity in contemporary operational contexts.