John Bruce, Jr. : a Sixty-Nine Year Leadership Journey Throughout Change in the United States Army
type: CreativeWork
description: Problem and Purpose The U.S. Army has changed radically in the 68 years since World War II ended, from uniforms to vehicles, from weaponry to organizational changes. While still the Army, its workforce has changed greatly in gender, ethnic, and age composition. John Bruce, Jr. saw many of these changes during his 69-year career as both soldier and executive. How this leader responded to the changes in the U.S. Army over nearly seven decades was the problem I explored. The purpose of the study was to describe how 94-year-old John Bruce, senior executive at the U.S. Army’s Tank-automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM-LCMC), responded to change in the U.S. Army environment during his career. This exploration revealed how Mr. Bruce continued to function for the entire length of his career through his leadership, loyalty, and learning, and showed how these qualities influenced his work, his associates, and his extraordinary length of service. Research Method This was a single case study of one of the U.S. Army's longest-serving civilian leaders, Mr. John Bruce Jr. The methodology of this study design was five comprehensive interviews of peers of John Bruce, plus a similar interview of Mr. Bruce himself. The interviews were structured around questions designed to bring out the life, core beliefs, leadership style, and motivation of a man who served his nation for the length of time that would be considered the entire lifespan of another man. Interpreting John Bruce's evolving leadership vision, core beliefs, style, skills, adaptation to organizational and life changes, philosophy, and role within the organization, as well as his lifelong contributions and personal motivation through the revelations obtained in the interviews, were the particular challenges of this study. Findings Well into his 90s, John Bruce is a man of many talents, blessed with great health and a sharp mind. He came from a sound family background where he learned to love h…
abstract: Problem and Purpose The U.S. Army has changed radically in the 68 years since World War II ended, from uniforms to vehicles, from weaponry to organizational changes. While still the Army, its workforce has changed greatly in gender, ethnic, and age composition. John Bruce, Jr. saw many of these changes during his 69-year career as both soldier and executive. How this leader responded to the changes in the U.S. Army over nearly seven decades was the problem I explored. The purpose of the study was to describe how 94-year-old John Bruce, senior executive at the U.S. Army’s Tank-automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM-LCMC), responded to change in the U.S. Army environment during his career. This exploration revealed how Mr. Bruce continued to function for the entire length of his career through his leadership, loyalty, and learning, and showed how these qualities influenced his work, his associates, and his extraordinary length of service. Research Method This was a single case study of one of the U.S. Army's longest-serving civilian leaders, Mr. John Bruce Jr. The methodology of this study design was five comprehensive interviews of peers of John Bruce, plus a similar interview of Mr. Bruce himself. The interviews were structured around questions designed to bring out the life, core beliefs, leadership style, and motivation of a man who served his nation for the length of time that would be considered the entire lifespan of another man. Interpreting John Bruce's evolving leadership vision, core beliefs, style, skills, adaptation to organizational and life changes, philosophy, and role within the organization, as well as his lifelong contributions and personal motivation through the revelations obtained in the interviews, were the particular challenges of this study. Findings Well into his 90s, John Bruce is a man of many talents, blessed with great health and a sharp mind. He came from a sound family background where he learned to love h…
author: Rakocy, Joseph
keywords: United States. Army., Military History, Psychology
date published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:53:07Z
provider: Andrews University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Andrews University