COL Everett Spain
Professor of Management
Behavioral Sciences & Leadership
West Point Leadership Center
Personal WebsiteCOL Everett Spain grew up in Pensacola, FL, and enrolled at West Point in 1988 (both the Naval Academy and Air Force Academy both told him, "No, thanks!";-)) He enjoys high-performing teams, family, spirituality, sports, and (listening to) acapella. He has served in the 82nd Airborne Division, V Corps (Germany), and has several deployments, including Kosovo and Iraq. He commanded the U.S. Army Garrison (Schweinfurt).
Everett and his wife Julia have four young-adult children, two of whom are currently serving in Army uniform.
Doctor of Business Administration - Harvard Business School
Master of Business Administration - Fuqua School of Business (Duke)
M.S., Engineering Management - University of Missouri (Rolla)
B.S., Environmental Engineering - U.S. Military Academy
Research Interests
Leader development, character development, strategic leadership, talent management, high-potentials, retention
Selected Publications
Spain, E.S. (2024). Keeping the “Best and Brightest” Junior Officers in the U.S. Military. War on the Rocks (online blog), Aug. 1, 2024. https://warontherocks.com/2024/08/keeping-the-best-and-brightest-junior…
Spain, E.S., Konheim-Kalkstein, Y.L., Erbe, R.G., Wilsey, C.N., & Rosenberg, S.F. (2023). We Don’t Do That Here: Using Role Playing and Character Battle Drills to Develop Upstander Behavior at West Point. Journal of Character and Leadership Development, 10(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.58315/jcld.v10.263
Spain, E.S. & Woodruff, T.D. (2022). The Applied Strategic Leadership Process: Setting Direction in a VUCA World. Journal of Character & Leadership Development. https://doi.org/10.58315/jcld.v10.250
Spain, E., Matthew, K., Hagemaster, A. (2022). Why Senior Officers Sometimes Fail in Character: The Leaky Character Reservoir. The U.S. Army War College Quarterly: Parameters 53, no. 4. Required reading in the U.S. Army Infantry and Armor battalion- and brigade-level pre-command course.
Spain, E., Mukunda, G., & Bates, A. (2021). The Battalion Commander Effect. The U.S. Army War College Quarterly: Parameters, 51(3), 10. https://doi.org/10.55540/0031-1723.3083
Spain, E.S. (2021). The Intellectual Giant Framework. Chapter 12 in Teaching and Learning the West Point Way: Educating the Next Generation of Leaders (Ender, M.; Kimball, R., Sondheimer, R.; Bruhl, J. Eds.). Rutledge. ISBN 9780367685867
Spain, E. (2020). Reinventing the Leader-selection Process: The U.S. Army’s New Approach to Managing Talent. Harvard Business Review. November-December 2020. https://hbr.org/2020/11/reinventing-the-leader-selection-process
Spain, E.S.; Lin, E.; & Young, L.V. (2020). Early Predictors of Successful Military Careers among West Point Cadets. Military Psychology vol 32 no.6, pp. 389-407. https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2020.1801285
Spain, E., Mohundro, J.D., & Banks, B. (2015). Intellectual Capital: A Case for Cultural Change, Parameters 45, no.2. https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters/vol45/iss2/9/