“Broken Windows” Leadership

In the 1980s, criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling introduced the “Broken Windows” theory of policing: the idea that visible signs of disorder—broken windows, graffiti, public intoxication, minor thefts—if left unaddressed, signal that no one is in charge and that no one cares. This permissiveness creates a permissive environment for more serious crimes to flourish. The message is simple: when you ignore the small stuff, the big stuff doesn’t stay small for long.

Whether you agree with the theory’s implementation or not, there’s an undeniable truth in the psychological and cultural signals it highlights. And it doesn’t just apply to city streets. It applies to barracks, motor pools, briefing rooms, and command posts. In other words: Broken Windows isn’t just a theory of law enforcement—it’s a blueprint for leadership failure. Or success.

The Battlefield Version of a Broken Window

Every leader has walked into a unit space and felt it immediately: the energy, the posture, the order—or lack of it. A dirty common area, unsecured arms room, unshaven troops, PT uniforms that look like they’ve been through the laundry in Baghdad’s Tigris River. These aren’t aesthetic complaints. They’re indicators. They tell you what kind of culture the leader is tolerating, and by extension, what that leader is willing to accept in performance, standards, and discipline.

You don’t get tactical excellence by tolerating strategic sloppiness. If a leader can’t be bothered to correct a crooked flag or enforce the uniform standard, then what else is going unchecked? Maintenance lapses? Paperwork shortcuts? ROE violations?

Soldiers are watching. Always. And what you walk past, you endorse.

If you want a textbook example of what happens when you don’t address low-level “broken windows” issues, I encourage you to read the book Black Hearts. It’s the true story of a US Army unit’s descent into dysfunction, culminating in a war crime involving the rape of a 14-year-old girl and the murder of her entire family. It started with loose uniform standards and, after a long and dark road marked by multiple failures of leadership and personal morality, led to homicide. When I headed West Point’s MX400 “Officership” capstone program, it was mandatory reading. It is not a good story–no story involving the crimes described in the book can be considered “good”–but it is an excellent example of what happens when leaders ignore the broken windows inside their organizations.

Don’t Confuse Discipline with Micromanagement

Broken windows leadership isn’t about obsessing over shoe shines and cornered bed sheets. It’s about the standard—the one you establish, the one you reinforce, and the one you live by. Leadership isn’t just setting the bar. It’s walking the line every day to make sure others clear it. If you’re not able–or simply not willing–to enforce a standard, then remove the rule or establish and explain the exception.

If you think calling out a soldier for skipping shaving is just about facial hair, you’ve missed the point. It’s about presence, readiness, and accountability. It’s about signaling to that soldier and their peers that the little things matter—because one day, the big things will. What you don’t want to do as a leader is for the led to have the perception of a la carte leadership; that they, and you, will simply pick which rules to follow and which to ignore whenever it’s convenient. To put it more bluntly: if you ignore the broken windows, one day you’ll find your whole house is on fire.

Culture Is Built in the Gaps

Culture isn’t created in PowerPoint or change of command speeches. It’s built in the gaps between major events—between deployments, between field problems, between evaluations. It’s in those moments where no one’s looking but everyone notices. That’s where broken windows leadership lives.

You want a unit that shoots, moves, and communicates like demons in the dark? Then you better have a unit that picks up trash, makes formation on time, and actually reads the weekly FRAGO. Because the skills may differ, but the mindset is the same.

You don’t get one without the other.

Fix the Window, Win the Fight

This isn’t about being a martinet. This is about mission command. It’s about creating an environment where discipline–and disciplined initiative–is normal, not novel. Where troops understand that the details matter because their lives, and the mission, depend on them.

Fixing a broken window in your organization might be as simple as finally addressing the NCO who always shows up five minutes late. Or the officer who never returns emails. Or the staff section that’s turned “good enough” into a mantra.

When you see a broken window, take action. Don’t wait for a metaphorical murder to happen before you realize you should’ve swept the stoop.

Leadership is hard. It’s supposed to be. But if you take care of the windows, the building stays intact. And sometimes, that’s all it takes to keep the enemy outside instead of in.

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Charles Faint served over 27 years in the US Army, which included seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with various Special Operations Forces units and two stints as an instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also completed operational tours in Egypt, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea and earned a Doctor of Business Administration from Temple University as well as a Master of Arts in International Relations from Yale University. He is the owner of The Havok Journal, and the views expressed herein are his own and do not reflect those of the US Government or any other person or entity.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.