The Heritage Center’s Teacher Fellowship Program was made possible in 2023 through a generous gift from Sara and Harry Fields and General (Ret.) B.B. Bell. General B. B. Bell is a retired Army four-star general. He was born and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and received his Army commission in 1969 as a Distinguished Military Graduate through the University of Chattanooga’s Army ROTC program.
As a four-star general, General Bell served as Commander of all U.S. and Allied Forces in Korea as well as the United States Army in Europe and NATO’s Land Component Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. Among his deployment tours, General Bell is a veteran of the Iraq Desert Storm Campaign where he served as General Norman Schwarzkopf’s personal Executive Assistant. Today, General Bell serves as the Chair of our Heritage Center’s Advisory Board.
General (Retired) B.B. Bell’s Eight Fundamental First Principles of Leadership
Establish within your heart your set of values, and follow them throughout your life.
Lead from the front, both physically and philosophically.
Your subordinates will mimic your actions, so seek the tough jobs, set the example, and let them mimic and follow you—they will!
Issue instructions and guidance as your own.
Never advance yourself at anyone else’s expense.
Reward subordinates / associates for their excellence, never to gain their favor.
Turning your back on a standards failure in your organization sets a new and lower standard.
Never take counsel of your fears.
Recipients
Throughout his 39-year career in the military with his wife, Mrs. Katie Fields Bell, by his side, General Bell led from the front—both physically and philosophically. He assumed the same risks as his subordinates as he felt “Do as I say, not as I do” never worked. General Bell subscribed to the idea “You must do as I say and as I do!” He believed when his troops saw him leading from the front and assuming the same risks they were facing, both physically and philosophically, they would follow his example. “Follow Me and Do as I Do” was the motto. According to General Bell, when “leading from the front,” one must have a positive “can do” attitude and encourage his subordinates to achieve at a level of their maximum capability. He felt human beings can achieve a lot more both individually and as a team than they ever dreamed, stating “Your capabilities and your subordinates’ capabilities are almost unlimited.”
Each year, an outstanding Teacher Fellow will be awarded the General B.B. Bell Fellow Award and will receive a brick and monetary gift to be utilized for further professional development or classroom needs. The larger brick will remain in front of the Heritage Center, displaying the names of the Teacher Fellows awarded each year and serving as a reminder that we are called to do our bit as citizens and patriots, to lead from the front, and that our lifetime efforts are the placement of one more brick on the path to a future our Founders were aiming for.