tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18109168830638094702024-02-20T16:03:13.063-05:00O'Brien on LeadershipThis site is a forum for discussion on leadership and leaders in many different communities: business, politics, the military and others. My goal is promote meaningful discussion on the qualities of leadership and promote the development of better leaders. I also maintain a blog ( http://commonsense4unitedstates.blogspot.com/ ) wherein I discuss political and other issues of the day.Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-72216740526988258962014-05-31T14:46:00.005-04:002014-05-31T14:46:58.983-04:00Learning from the VA Mess<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
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{page:Section1</style><span style="color: #262626;">As I am sure everyone
knows, Eric Shinseki resigned his position as Secretary of the Veteran’s
Administration. That is appropriate if only because that is how Washington
should work. As I was told many years ago, once ‘you’ become the lead part of
the story, you need to go. This of course pertains mainly to senior appointees,
but the point is simple: Shinseki isn’t supposed to be in that job for his own
good; he is there – as is every appointee in every administration – to further
the platform of the president who appointed him. So, once you are more news
then the organization or the platform the odds are you are taking away from the
platform. Thus, time to go.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">All that being said, what
can we learn from what has happened and what is happening with the VA?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">I had an opportunity to
talk with a very experienced Washington lawyer this past week about much of
this. I made the statement that we don’t even know what is going on at the VA,
in a fundamental sense: we don’t have a comprehensive inspection system, and
the VA – like all the other departments in the government – has never been
independently audited. (The VA, like every other department and agency in the
Executive Branch has an Inspector General and a Comptroller – but they do not
attempt top to bottom audits, the federal government uses its own accounting
system [one that is so far removed from the accounting procedures used by
private and commercial sectors that use of it would land you in the hoosegow]
and there is no formal process of inspection, reporting and grading in most of
the departments, the uniformed services being an exception in that specific
regard.)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">As my friend said, right
now you probably couldn’t complete an audit – a true audit – of the VA. They
have operated within the rules of the federal fantasy world that – like DOD –
no one really thinks a true audit is possible. (In the mid 1990sDOD was ordered
by Congress to switch something approaching ‘common accounting practices’ but
has failed to do so. In 2010 Congress ordered DOD to be ready for a ‘full
audit’ by 2016; just several weeks ago the comptroller for DOD told Congress
that the DOD was not going to be able to meet that deadline – 7 years isn’t
enough to prepare for an audit.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">So, the first lesson we
need to learn is this: you can’t know what is right and wrong if you can’t know
anything. Said differently, you need to keep orderly books. That sounds pretty
mundane, and pretty obvious. And while it is for corporate America, there are
many small businesses, and even more charities, non-profits, and state and
local government agencies that simply don’t have squared away books. And if you
can’t put your finger on your assets and liabilities – all of them – then you
have no starting point. So, get your books straight.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">The second point is this,
and this pertains to any organization of more than two people, you need to have
standards and you need to inspect to those standards. In the early days of any
organization everyone knows ‘where you are going,’ and everyone is working just
as hard as they can. But that knowledge and passion can fade quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With it will also fade your excellence.
So you need standards. And you need to have some sort of inspection and grading
process. Recommendation: set really high standards, ones that look impossible
to meet. And establish a yearly (at a minimum) inspection regime for your major
elements – whatever they are.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">Now, this doesn’t need to
be onerous, dramatically formal, or terrifying; it doesn’t need to be a form of
punishment. But there does need to be some process to ensure high standards are
set and met. Inspections can be used to identify problem areas where you need
to commit more training assets or any other type of assets, to include
leadership attention. In fact, done properly, inspections can become a key tool
for constant improvement of the organization and the people in it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">Third, your organization
– the formal organization – will very rapidly grow into its own ‘persona,’ and
as such, it will consume energy to protect itself, not help your mission.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">As a result, performance
can be misleading; you need to regularly dig into the actual workings and
understand what is going on. For example,</span> there was certainly some good,
and in some cases ex exceptional medical treatment in Russian hospitals at the
peak of the Soviet Union; but that's not because the system worked, it's
because there is a common thread of decency in most people and the bulk of the
people who end up as doctors and nurses - anywhere, any time - want to help.
So, they do. The question that needed to be asked then (assuming the leadership
in the USSR cared – which they didn’t) and which needs to be asked and answered
now with regard to the VA is whether the system is helping, neutral or hurting
the practice of doctors and nurses helping patients.</div>
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As an old friend used to say (3 decades ago),
whenever you debrief any operation, and your decisions in that operation, you
need to know what decisions worked and why, which ones didn't work and why not,
and which ones were irrelevant and why.</div>
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<br /></div>
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How many times have you heard (said for that matter)
something to the effect 'well, the director (CEO, President, etc.) was all
hosed up and the directions were a mess, but we figured out a way around the
road block and made it work.' (That is nearly the motto of some organizations.)
Every time someone says that they are saying the system - the organization -
isn't part of the solution. At best it is not helping and not hurting. But, in
all likelihood, it is hurting.</div>
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<br /></div>
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You need to take the time to understand precisely how
your organization is helping – or hindering – your people in the performance of
their tasks. And you also need to understand if and when you are having no
impact on the organization, when your ‘decisions’ have no meaningful impact on
operations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, if your people
are constantly commenting on ‘finding a solution’ outside the system, you have
a serious problem.</div>
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<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-91789626805101732412014-05-26T13:40:00.002-04:002014-05-26T13:40:35.865-04:00Lessons Learned<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<style></style><span style="color: #262626;">When people talk about
leadership they love to talk about vision, and mission statements and
‘motivating the troops,’ and all the other pieces that can make being a leader
– at any level – both challenging and exciting. But there is another piece to
leadership, and it is as necessary a part of leadership as are the fundamentals
of vision, intellect, communication and the rest. That piece is the process of
learning from mistakes.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">In the military,
particularly in certain high performance communities such as fighter aviation
and Special Forces, there is a process that is known colloquially as ‘the
debrief.’ In fact, there are a broad range of ‘debriefs,’ from the intense, 20
minute long, pointed tactical debriefs that take place immediately after every
flight or every special warfare ‘problem’ – whether operational<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(real) or exercise, all the way up
through theater-wide collection of ‘lessons learned’ that take weeks or months
to assemble and are analyzed by the various war colleges and such offices as
the ‘Center for Naval Analysis.’</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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All of these
various efforts have as their goal improving the performance of all those
involved and all those that will follow. Properly done, this process will
improve both the planning and execution of any effort, unit level training, and
the equipment used, and most importantly, will improve the decision-making
ability of those involved.</div>
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<br /></div>
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There are three
major cognitive categories of every de-brief or lesson learned: </div>
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- What worked
and Why?</div>
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- What didn’t
work and Why not?</div>
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- What worked
in spite of your actions?</div>
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There are more
possible ways to parse this, but when done properly, these three major
subdivisions will in fact encapsulate all the other possible categories.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is nothing
more than an effort to learn from experience, so that all benefit from the
mistakes of others. To do it well requires several characteristics, including
the ability to accurately collect information on what has taken place, the
ability to accurately relate and analyze that information, and the ability to
coldly and clinically analyze and evaluate the results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This last item, the ability to
understand what happened and reach an accurate conclusion, is the most
important part of the entire process. Without it the process is meaningless.
And without it, it is impossible to become a top decision-maker.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Good
‘debriefers’ become such because they practice the art for years, continually
honing what can only be described as an art. To watch a top fighter pilot or
SEAL debrief an operation is to understand the full scope of a real
professional. It requires dedication to excellence, discipline and a critical
eye; and years of practice.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Of course, one
of the real problems with Lessons Learned is that if you keep at it long enough
you will eventually arrive at a problem in which the next step is ‘start over
with a completely different concept.’</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is perhaps
the hardest decision that any organization can face – though to give the ‘devil
his due,’ DOD has made this decision from time to time. Examples mainly can be
found in procurement decisions in which certain classes of weapon systems have
been terminated. For example, in the 1960s DOD and the Air Force ended the B-70
high altitude, supersonic bomber when it became clear that the technology trend
for future weapons made the survivability of such an aircraft unlikely.
Businesses have the advantage that they can attach profit and loss figures to
many concepts, making the decision to stop easier in some – but certainly not
all – cases.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But, in the
end, the key is that the experiences of the past need to be continually
analyzed and assessed and good leaders will evaluate those assessments and
decide when it is time to say ‘enough.’</div>
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<br /></div>
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It is worth
noting that this is what is not happening in the federal government; we have
several echelons of leadership that are seemingly incapable of recognizing that
they are incapable of controlling what is happening in the ever expanding and
increasingly complex departments and agencies. Large businesses have the
advantage of clearly understood returns on investment/profit and loss
statements to ‘keep them honest’ – hard data points that allow them to ‘fall
back’ onto more or less objective material; governments do not. Healthcare can
be measured either at the very personnel level – between you and your doctor,
or it can be measured in profit and loss statements among the various
businesses that make up the health care industry. But the efforts to control
large and sprawling operations such as government health care are showing an organization
that has already unraveled. But the leadership refuses to see that the only
reasonable step at this point is to reduce the size of the effort and their own
span of control.</div>
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<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-46534996638761195392013-12-28T14:46:00.004-05:002013-12-28T14:46:53.488-05:00CHARGE!!!<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .5in; text-align: justify;">
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--></style>Several weeks ago
(On December 3<sup>rd</sup>) a man died who had a great deal to tell us about
real leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The and was Edwin
Shuman III, a retired Navy Captain, an A-6 pilot, father of four - two sons and
a daughter and one stepson, grandfather of nine, great-grandfather of one,
brother to five - three sisters and two other brothers, an instructor at the
Naval Academy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a
Prisoner-Of-War in Hanoi from March of 1968 to March of 1973.</div>
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<br /></div>
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He was noted among
the other ‘inmates’ as the guy who, in December 1970, organized the first
church service in the prison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
this act he and four others were severely beaten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they did have a church service, and many more in the
years that followed.</div>
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<br /></div>
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There are a great
many things to say about Captain Ed Shuman – all of them good; he was an
exemplary man in every way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
also an excellent leader and there is an important lesson in leadership to be
learned from his actions.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It is important to
understand that Shuman was not the senior man in the prison – not by a long shot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he happened to be the senior man in
the crowded room that held 42 prisoners. And so he took charge; he acted as he
believed was right.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Very few will ever
face the kind of situation faced by Captain Shuman and the other POWs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are a host of valuable
lessons to glean from his actions, the simplest and most obvious is this: when
you believe something needs to be done – take charge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t really matter whether it a great issue or a minor
one; if you think something really should be done – then take charge, get ‘it’
started, whatever ‘it’ might be.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is not
necessarily an easy thing to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a natural reticence in most people to act, to lead, when they
are clearly not ‘in charge.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
there certainly are certain times when it is clearly inappropriate to act and
passivity is the preferred course of action.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But our real fear
in acting overwhelmingly involves two possibilities: 1) that we will ‘go off’
in the wrong direction, or 2) that even though we are going in the right direction,
we will be chastised for ‘leading the charge.’</div>
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<br /></div>
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And neither really
is that important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A story a
friend of mine used to use perfectly illustrates the point: the rhinoceros and
the turtle:</div>
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<br /></div>
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There were two
animals on the svelte in central Africa, a rhinoceros and a turtle, and they
were friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rhinoceros was
always going off, charging at things and running off in a great hurry, breaking
things and getting everyone angry at him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His friend the turtle moved slowly and deliberately, with no miss-steps
and no grave errors, and everyone liked him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other animals noted all this and one by one they asked
the wise old owl what they could learn from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The owl answered:</div>
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<br /></div>
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“The turtle is
patient and calm, and never offends anyone.</div>
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The rhinoceros is
loud, brash, constantly charging about, constantly breaking things, and he
makes everyone upset and angry.</div>
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Therefore, it is
best to be…the rhinoceros.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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“But why?” asked
all the animals.</div>
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<br /></div>
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“It is simple,”
replied the owl, “the turtle never gets anywhere or accomplishes anything of
note.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter what direction he
heads, it doesn’t matter. The rhinoceros on the other hand is loud and brash
and he breaks things. His eyesight isn’t very good and he sometimes even breaks
things he wants to keep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he
makes things happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when he
goes off in the wrong direction others see him doing so and tell him and he
turns and heads in a new direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And when he is finally pointed in the right direction he charges through
any barrier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rhinoceros gets
things done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be a rhinoceros.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Every
organization, of any size, engaged in any and every kind of activity, needs
rhinoceroses if it wants to succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As a boss, you need to foster an atmosphere that allows people to “take
over” and “lead a charge.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one
of the folks in the middle, you need to be ready to lead a charge, to stand up
and take command.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be a
rhinoceros.</div>
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<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-52041450697315637432013-12-20T14:29:00.004-05:002013-12-20T14:29:47.077-05:00Branches and Sequels<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> ‘It is a bad
plan that admits of no modification.’ - Publilius Syris</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Planning is a
strange thing: everyone does it to some extent, some people are more diligent
and formal about it; but very few people do it well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
There are some
simple reasons for this, but the two key reasons are this: a well constructed
and complete plan is usually a good deal of hard work, and such a plan requires
hard choices and that means good leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the thing of it is, a well-constructed plan is actually
worth a great deal more than simply the plan itself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
This is because
of a couple of things that are intrinsic elements of the process of making a
good plan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
1) The boss
(irrespective of what kind of organization) views the plan as his.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good plans begin with the ‘goal’ of the
organization, and that goal comes from one person: the boss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
2) The first
details – the ‘guidance and intentions’ that spell out what the Boss really
wants and how he, in general terms, he wants to get it – are also creations of
the boss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
3) As the
planning process advances and the plan is developed, the Boss stays involved,
works with the planning team, and approves the plan at each major step.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good plans thus become completely
infused with ‘the Boss.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that
means he has completely ‘bought in.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
4) Good bosses
know that the plan IS the future, and they put their best people on the
planning team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These people will
first plan the team and then assist in its implementation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one knows the plan better then the
planning team, and no one will know better how to implement it then the
planning team.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
5) Good
planning means that the planning team has spent considerable amounts of time
understanding the environment in which they function: the economy, the
technology, the law, the competition, the local and regional business climates,
etc., etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They understand the
organization itself: its strengths and its weaknesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They understand the trends, and they
also understand - at least as well as anyone else in the organization - various
indicators that something has changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They will know when to execute the basic plan, and will also know when
the situation has changed and the plan no longer ‘fits.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
6) Good
planning also means that a wide range of options – courses of action – have
been considered before a final recommendation was made to the boss from which
to develop the strategy and implementation plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those options form the basis for variations on the plan,
what are called ‘branches and sequels.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Branch plans are variations of the plan that are designed to respond to
changes in the organization, the environments – particularly the competition –
or both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sequels are follow-on
plans, plans for what happens if the first plan succeeds – based on the new
conditions, and plans for what happens if things don’t go quite as per the
plan, again with variations based on those new conditions.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The result is
that the value of a plan is as much – or more – in the process that produces
the plan as in the central plan itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When done right the process produces not simply the plan but a small
core of people who are fully informed as to the goals and motives of the boss,
his boundaries – what he will and won’t do, what he will and won’t consider for
further action, a detailed knowledge of the organization and its capabilities
and limitations, a detailed knowledge of the ‘world’ in which they are
operating – competition, laws, technology, etc., and a ready ‘playbook’ of
actions that have been looked at, in some cases studied in great detail,
perhaps even ‘gamed,’ and a knowledge of what might and might not work in given
situations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Plans come and
go; every good leader and every good organization not only has decent plans,
they know when to modify the plan, and when to flex to a branch plan, and when
to move to a sequel, and when to move into a new plan development cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good plans and good leaders don’t fall
in love with their plans; they stick to their goals and use the plans and the
planning process to achieve them.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The lesson here
is summed up best by President Eisenhower, who had helped to craft a wide range
of US military plans throughout the 1930s and throughout World War II: ‘the
Plan is nothing, but the Planning is everything.’</div>
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<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-50420449601545142262013-12-07T15:42:00.001-05:002013-12-07T15:42:20.431-05:00Nelson Mandela RIP<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Nelson Mandela
died the other day, may he rest in peace.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
There are a
great many people who will right much better eulogies of his life and
accomplishment then I am able, so I will only add a few thoughts on some of the
leadership lessons Mandela taught – and can still teach through the history of
his life and struggle, and they are applicable in virtually any situation,
especially any leadership position.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
There are many
lessons we can draw from his life, but I’m going to focus on just 4:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Don’t let power
corrupt you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is one that the
vast majority of people fail to understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Lord Acton noted more than a century ago: ‘Power corrupts
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Mandela could
have had absolute power, he could easily have held onto the Presidency of South
Africa as long as he wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
as with a few other leaders before him, he drew a lesson from history, walked
away, and set a precedent for the peaceful and regular transfer of power.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
This is so much
more difficult to do – in any setting – than is commonly appreciated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The temptation is always present to
hold on, and the justification is that ‘I am needed, they [whoever ‘they’ are]
can’t survive without me.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether
we are leading a Scout troop, a small business, a large business or a
government, it is easy to convince ourselves of how crucial ‘we’ are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But good leadership is about making
yourself ‘dispensable,’ about leading people to focus on the long-term goals,
to train others to handle the problems, to lead – and to delegate, and to
remove ourselves from the solution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the end good leaders make themselves unnecessary, and then freely
cede power and position.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Focus on the
big thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mandela focused on the
big thing: on freedom and equality and a better government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made the idea of equality and
representative government the issue, not the past, not injuries already
suffered, but the new country, the future, the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Achieving your goals is difficult under
the best of conditions; achieving them while letting your focus wander is
impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The leader has to stay
focused, and he has to keep everyone else focused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is always a demanding task, and he performed it very well
indeed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Don’t hold a
grudge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the other side of
the coin to maintaining focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is very easy – far too easy – to turn any situation into a matter of feeling as
if you are owed something for the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even if you are, the truth is you will never get anywhere if that is
your focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you expect both
restitution for previous grievances AND you expect to achieve something
worthwhile, you are living in a dreamland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one has the energy and the necessary life-span to do
both. You cannot look forward and backward at the same time, and holding a
grudge is all about looking backward.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Smile. The
simple truth is that no one can long endure working for any goal if they aren’t
in some sense happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that
begins with the Boss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you show
up at work, no matter what work is, and the Boss is always upset and angry and
unhappy, in the end you will be too, and all of you will find it that much more
difficult to reach your goals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
On the other
hand, even under the worst of circumstances great leaders find ways to get
folks to smile; it may be a grim smile, it may even be gallows humor, but they
will find a way to get folks to smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even in the worst of times, the pictures of Mandela showed his
captivating smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Churchill
in bombed out sections of London flashing his ‘V for Victory’ sign and his
determined smile, there is more to be gained by a smile then a grimace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
There is much
more, but those four points are enough for now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-73078954133074676792013-12-05T11:35:00.000-05:002013-12-05T11:35:16.436-05:00Experience: How Much is Enough?<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> There are all
sorts of adages about experience and they are particularly common when we talk
about leadership and management.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the truth is that the basic fact of experience is often ignored when
it comes to selecting very senior leaders for organizations of any size, to
include our within government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thus we elect people with no substantive leadership experience to be
governors (or presidents) and we feel nothing terribly wrong with appointing
people with no leadership experience to head huge departments of the
government.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
There is an
obvious problem with a demand for too much experience; you can draw up a dream
resume (I see them all the time) that is so extensive anyone who had actually
achieved all the ‘required’ elements would need to be 150 years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I saw one recently – from a Defense
Contractor – who was looking for a recently retired Army or Marine Colonel with
combat experience as a brigade / regimental commander, a master’s degree,
fluency in a second language and extensive experience on procurement of a major
program, with Joint Staff experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When you looked at the details it was literally impossible to have done
all that they wanted.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And other jobs
obviously can’t be perfectly duplicated: you can’t be the governor of a state
before you are governor of a state, ergo, you never did ‘that job’ before. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Which leads to
a simple question: what is ‘enough’ experience to lead a huge corporation or a
state (or the country)?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
First, a
warning: everyone has limits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very
often, more often then we like, someone who did well at one level of leadership
fails at the next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While often
passed over as simply the ‘Peter Principle’ (though real enough), the real
issue is that people do have limits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The man who is competent running an organization of 100 people sometimes
fails – and fails dramatically - when running one of 1,000.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
(The converse
is rarely true: someone is a poor leader in smaller organizations but succeeds
in larger one; there are a few examples, but they are rare and always have some
strange explanation.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Two points come
to mind: you need several leadership positions before you reach a certain sized
organization; and you need to have had time to think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me explain.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
You need to
begin with smaller organizations, one that lets you learn the fundamental
dynamics of leadership, how people work, how to communicate, how convince
people and build followers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is as true of absolute dictators as it is true of the manager of a corner drug
store: there is a real need for real followers, people who believe in
supporting you – for whatever reason.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
A small
organization, perhaps less than a dozen, certainly less 40 is needed for a
start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An organization of such a
size lets you learn ‘up close and personal’ how people relate to each other, to
an organization, and to their assigned tasks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in very real sense – as I will explain in a second – you
can experience every possible leadership challenge in a small organization; the
differences between a small and large organization can be in many cases only
one of numbers, not the real leadership issues. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
(That military
platoons are no larger than 45 men is a demonstration of this point,
particularly when we remember that the leadership of a platoon really rests in
the hands of the platoon sergeant; that is why the platoon sergeant is there:
to lead the platoon and to teach the brand new officer with the titular
leadership role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, in fact,
and ideal structure to learn how to lead.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Once you have
had some experience leading a small organization you need some time to sit and
think about what you have learned – a rotational schedule of 2 years in
leadership and a year out is probably best. Under ideal circumstances you would
have one or two small organizations, and one or two medium organizations (100
to 200 people in size) before you end up with an organization of roughly 500.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The 500 man
organization (and the number can fluctuate up and down a bit – the more
structured, the larger) is a key experience, as it is the last organization
that anyone can actually lead and feel and see and know the whole
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What everyone finds
is that it is at this sized and organization that they have the most rewarding
leadership experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having led
several organizations of this size, and several larger than this, the key is
the realization that with a 500 man organization you are right on the edge
having a personal contact throughout the organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Every leader or
manager when he first takes over such an organization will feel that it is
perhaps just a bit too large to control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As they gain some experience they will learn at first to control it, and
later find that the level of interaction and response from such an organization
is almost the perfect fit, just the right size to both ‘be in charge’ and have
enough size that the organization can accomplish significant things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Then you get
moved up the ladder and you find yourself in charge of 1,000 or more
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And suddenly everything
has changed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The truth is
that this is the break point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somewhere
between 500 and 1000 people it become truly too large to control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are smart and capable you
realize this quickly and count on your staff and your deputies – the folks who
are in charge of those departments underneath you that have anywhere from 100
folks to 500 folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you aren’t
smart you try to run 1000 people the same way you ran 500 – and you will
eventually learn that you can’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
This is the key
leadership lesson: once you reach 1000 people you find you are back to leading
that team of 20 or 30 or 40.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
have your key staff, and you have your key deputies – the leaders of the
smaller units.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They become the
people you actually lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must
lead them, train them to manage and train them to build followers, and give
them the ‘tools’ and resources so that they can do their jobs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
(Again, in the
military a battalion – anywhere from 450 to 650 men – is the largest medium
sized commands, and commanders are still in the field with the troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next command echelon, known as a
‘major command,’ is a brigade (or regiment in the Marines) and is one that is
commanded by a colonel and a staff and the ‘hands-on leadership’ is with the 3
– 5 battalions found within each brigade.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
This leadership
lesson is the key one to transition between running a small and medium sized
organization and a large one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once
you have learned the lesson you can arguably run an organization of 10,000 or
100,000 or 1,000,000, because the real lesson is the same: you are no longer in
direct control, you have staffs and deputies and others who are real, regular,
daily contact with the people who do the real work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a simple lesson to learn in one sense: you can learn
it the first time you are “in charge” of a large organization and realize that
the folks doing the work have no real idea who you are or what you really
want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The truth is
that the majority of senior leaders never learn the lesson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most – the vast majority – of the
leaders of large organizations (and the military is as guilty as anyone else)
either end up trying to run the organization as if it had only 100 people all
located under one roof, or they try to run it as if it were nothing more than a
large-scale accounting problem, just a bunch of numbers that can be moved
around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In most large and well funded
organizations there is enough management ‘padding’ that senior leaders can
focus on stock prices and quarterly returns and technology and their lack of
leadership skills are ignored until a problem develops and then they are promoted
to the board and someone else is brought in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can go on for quite some time with institutional
inertia preventing collapse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the end real leadership is needed to save the organization (if it private), but
the truth is most private organizations don’t last that long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The number I have heard quoted is that
the average $1 billion business lasts 12 years before being bought up by
someone else.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, they can
develop a good idea or business model, grow too large for the ability of their
leadership, stumble along for a decade or so, and then be bought up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
This is equally
true in government, where we routinely see large departments in state and
federal government headed by someone who was a senior staffer or elected
official for decades and who has no leadership experience of a large
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, they come in,
run the department for 2 years, it stumbles along – often wasting a great deal
of money – and then the department head goes off to a new position (often to
head a large corporation) with a well credentialed but misleading resume.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
But if you want
someone to take the organization into the future, to actually grow it and make
it thrive, you need real leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that means the leadership needs real – meaningful – experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-36042655345337567232013-11-29T12:03:00.002-05:002013-11-29T12:03:57.485-05:00Peter Murphy<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Thank you to
the Marine Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last week (on
Saturday, 23 November) the Marines held a memorial service for a friend of
mine: Peter Murphy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter died
last week (on the 15<sup>th</sup>) after several years of sickness – he was a
good man, a good husband, a good father, a true friend and a real patriot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He will be missed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
I first met
Peter in the mid 80s, shortly after my brother and his wife moved into a
townhouse in Alexandria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Murphys lived a few doors down and I met them shortly on my first visit to
Washington that year (I think it was in the fall of 1985).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that I seemed to meet him every
time I came to Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began
to make it a point that every time I was in the Pentagon I would go past his
office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow it all seemed fine
to me, though as I look back, it probably wasn’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Peter Murphy
was appointed the legal counsel to the Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1984
(a position he held until he retired in 2004) – I was a lieutenant in the Navy
at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was, I suppose,
the rough equivalent of a Vice Admiral, I was a (very) junior officer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet every time I swung by his office he
would stop what he was doing and spend time talking with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect I swung by his office several
dozen times over the course of the next 20 years, as well as meeting him
frequently at my brother’s house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The same stories were told by a host of figures: of a wise, kind and
good man who loved his country, his friends and the Marines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That he was an excellent counsel for
the Marines is demonstrated by this one simple fact: he was Counsel to six
different Commandants: Generals Kelly, Gray, Mundy, Krulak, Jones, and Hagee,
and provided key counsel and advice to literally every single Marine 3 and 4
star officer for more than two decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If his advice was anything other than sterling it is doubtful that he
would have survived working for such a collection of demanding figures.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Peter Murphy
loved the Marines (I should note he also served in the Army in the 1960s), and
one of my favorite stories is of a meeting of admirals and generals in the late
80s or early 90s during which the subject was the implementation of the
management theory ‘Total Quality Management’ – though changed within the Navy
Department to ‘Total Quality Leadership.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a good deal of contention as to how it would be implemented,
and what it would mean for the Marines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As might be expected, there were some strong opinions from some Marines
that this theory, which worked very well in some settings, perhaps wasn’t the
right fit for the Marines, with a 200 year legacy of small unit leadership and
adaptation in combat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter said
nothing until finally they were ‘going around the room’ asking if anyone had
anything else to add.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Peter
said:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Well, the
Marines were here for 200 years before TQL and I suspect that in 200 years the
Marines will still be here.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Marines in ‘the back of the room’ began to hoot and bark as only Marines
can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meeting was over.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Peter Murphy is
a superb example of what everyone should want in a counselor: extreme
professional competence, brains, unflappable demeanor, a true care for the
organization and for those around him, and the willingness to always tell the
truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an example we should
all follow. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
He was a good
man and a true friend, and I will miss him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May he Rest In Peace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-8258552391029513432013-11-09T12:13:00.004-05:002013-11-09T12:13:51.145-05:00A Plan That Works???<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> It’s a great
scene: Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in the basement of a large
library, stalking a ghost, and Dan Aykroyd yells: “Get Her!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They rush the ghost, the ghost flares
up at them, and then we next see the three of them running out of the
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, as they sit on
the steps of the university Bill Murray turns to Dan Aykroyd and says: “That
was your plan?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Get Her?’”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Unfortunately,
that is in fact about how involved are many of the plans we bump into on a
daily basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was reminded of
this just the other day: I was talking to someone – a trusted and competent
observer – about the plans of several state agencies and the associated
companies – multi-billion dollar firms - that work with them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The state in
question is large, heavily populated and has access to the most competent
business and university minds of the nation or the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The agencies, which are responsible for
electric power monitoring and public safety, as well as crisis response, have a
fairly long record of fair to poor response to major crises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I would say miserable record,
but I am trying to be charitable.) The companies involved have an equally fair
to poor record in sustaining the providing of power to their customers during
various crises and contingencies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And all have
plans.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Ask them and
they will tell you: “We have crisis response plans for extreme heat, for
extreme cold, for flooding, for fire damage, for hurricanes, for tornadoes, for
terror attacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have multiple
‘continuity of operations plans.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have support plans to assist in neighboring power grids as well as in
neighboring states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we have
top executives who were paid to produce the plans, and others who will monitor
the plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these folks
also have ‘Ops Centers’ and ‘Crisis Response Teams’ and all sorts of neat – and
expensive - ‘toys’ that they drag out whenever there is any sign of a crisis.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And yet every
time there is a good-sized storm, or some other unusual – but not unprecedented
– event, they step all over themselves and the people they are supposed to
support suffer for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s why:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The plans
stink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the ‘leadership’ is not
equipped – either through experience or training – to deal with the crisis.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
A few weeks ago
I had the opportunity to spend several weeks – working with a small group of
friends – training a particular military organization to respond to various
crises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This small team has been
working together providing this training for 5 years, but also, everyone has
several decades of experience responding to crises, and training to respond to
crises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, we have all, in one
form or another, worked with various civilian organizations in the preparing of
plans, as well as the training and mentoring of leadership teams to respond
properly in a crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several
points stand out:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Even working
with the organization we work with – and have for the past 5 years – which is
arguably the best organization in the Department of Defense in response to
crises and unusual developments, mistakes are made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Top people, literally the very best, make mistakes – at
every level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the senior
leadership down to the newest guy (and all already have years of experience and
training), mistakes are made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over
time plans are made that can account for ‘error rates,’ and the leadership is
trained to recognize mistakes early, as they are happening, and correct them
before things ‘go south.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
requires hard work, good mentoring, training and exercises.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Crisis
leadership, more accurately, good crisis leadership requires good leadership
and lots of experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one
handles a crisis well the first half-dozen times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And experience is of essentially no value without a
structured approach to analyzing each crisis after the fact and drawing from it
the appropriate ‘lessons learned.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Creating good
crisis and continuity of operations plans are ‘non-trivial’ events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone thinks they can, but history,
even very recent history, shows this to be false.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>FEMA’s performance in Super Storm Sandy was in many ways a
replay of their performance in Hurricane Katrina, and arguably worse, as there
was better warning and the region hit had more possible flexibility in the
response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That FEMA is, in fact, a
crisis response organization makes FEMA’s actual response a textbook
demonstration of just how difficult this is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Good plans
without a vigorous exercise program are as valuable as the exercise bike that
is never used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plans need to be
practiced: to find mistakes, train people, identify new and better options, and
to train and condition watch teams and the leadership.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Few if any
companies, or public service organizations or the like, can afford as vigorous
and thorough a training and exercise program as the military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they can benefit from even a
limited planning, training and exercise program, if overseen by the right
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Private corporations and
organizations such as utility companies, and specifically the leadership of
these organizations, should take some time to find some people who have the
experience in leadership, planning, training, and exercise generation and spend
the time to develop meaningful crisis response capabilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will seem expensive – most
particularly in the amount of time that you will need to commit to training and
exercises (hiring the consultants will be relatively insignificant), but it
will be paid back when you have a real crisis and find you have a plan that
really can be implemented, and really works.</div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-83753501686616461162013-10-24T17:12:00.001-04:002013-10-24T17:12:14.234-04:00Good Leaders Don't Do Their Own Brain Surgery<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> It has become commonplace for our
current leaders – in politics, business, the military, etc. - to never admit to
any failings, to any gaps in their knowledge, to never show that they rely on
others for key expertise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems
that the leader must appear to be all-knowledgeable, and let no one else share
in the credit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any counsel that he
might receive, and advice, if and when provided, is provided only in private,
out of the line of sight of any media or devoted followers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Such is the arrogance, the hubris
of some of our so-called leaders that it leads me wonder if they do their own
dentistry or brain surgery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
as an old boss and friend of mine used to say, ‘if you learn nothing else from
watching me, learn what not to do.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Thankfully, such was not always
the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Machiavelli’s ‘the
Prince,’ written in part to provide guidance to the new Doge of Florence
(Lorenzo de Piero de Medici), Machiavelli makes a point of commenting that
great Princes have great advisors, advice that has been shortened in modern
times to ‘A Prince will be known by the counselors he keeps.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what Machiavelli said is more
subtle than that, and it has a lesson for anyone in any position of leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The following comes from Chapter 23 of
‘The Prince.’)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Machiavelli stresses that the
Prince (fill in any position you want, from President to Governor to CEO to
shop supervisor all the way down to Scout leader), should be both ready to ask
for advice and someone who patiently waits to hear the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the truth needs to be the whole
truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Machiavelli tells
the Prince that he should be displeased with anyone who withholds the truth –
for any reason.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Machiavelli also notes that a
Prince who is not wise cannot have wise advisors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If by some chance a less than wise leader finds himself with
wise advisors, he will soon lose de facto control to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Machiavelli is adamant that history has
shown that a Prince with poor advisors is not wise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter what you may think about a leader, if he surrounds
himself with mediocre advisors and assistants, he is himself mediocre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when you find a leader who is
surrounded by poor counselors, you are right in believing he is neither a
competent nor a wise leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it
is possible, he should be replaced.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If on the other hand you find
wise counselors, acting in the nation’s or organization’s interest, and serving
the leader (President, CEO, etc.) the root of that is the leader’s wisdom, not
that of the counselors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Leaders who
respond to problems by suggesting that they did the right thing, but their less
than adequate deputies didn’t know what they were doing, or that ‘someone made
mistakes’ and thereby shift the blame are simply trying to hide their own
failings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every leader will have
deputies who make mistakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How quickly
the leader owns up to those mistakes and when necessary corrects the errant
deputies – and perhaps moves him if need be - is a good indicator of how
capable a leader he really is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The better, the
more capable a leader is, the more he will be seen to seek out top-flight
counselors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is an easily
deceptive practice; many leaders seek to confuse by selecting counselors with
known biases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of choosing
bright and capable counselors who will present them with the truth, they choose
those who will present them with what they – the leaders – already believe; the
real truth is withheld from the ‘boss’ so that he is ‘protected,’ the accepted
truth is never challenged, and the hubris of the leader is never challenged.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
But great
leader are willing to brook disagreements and accept hard truths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great leaders know that problems only
get fixed when addressed: the faster they are recognized, the faster they will
be addressed, and thus the faster they will be corrected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you take on more and more
responsibility that behavior requires ever more intestinal fortitude,
delegating authority to your subordinates so that they can execute your orders,
but accepting responsibility for their actions, accepting the truth and moving
quickly to address real problems and solving them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The one good
thing in all this is that such behavior is learned behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can practice it every day; from day
one, begin with the simplest things: choose the best subordinates, delegate
authority, trust your subordinates, accept responsibility, demand honesty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a while, these too can become
habits – and good ones.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-52757746492861863902013-10-19T15:33:00.005-04:002013-10-19T15:33:52.630-04:00The Basics<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Once again, I’m
back to basics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t
coincidence that Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying “football is only two
things - blocking and tackling.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
I was reminded
of this during the past several weeks when I had the chance to work with a few
true professionals, who I am also fortunate enough to call my friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are all retired Army, Navy and
Marine special ops types and we were assisting in training a special ops unit
preparing to deploy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What struck
me is that at the extremely high level of professionalism shown by these units,
two items are of particular note.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first is <u>not </u>that everyone is individually trained to a very
high standard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, that is a
‘given.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, it is this:
individuals, no matter how well trained, do not form an effective team simply
by all ‘being in the same room.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The real first
step is ‘Making a Team,’ of bringing together a group of very high level
performers and forming them into a high-performance team, where the various
skills and strengths and weaknesses (and even among the very best units
everyone has weaknesses), are matched, and where self is subordinated to team
success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key to that is
leadership, specifically the fundamentals of leadership: clarity of goals, the
necessary intellect to develop the plans to train and then execute a plan to
achieve those goals, the effective communication of the plan, the equally
important process of tying together individual and team goals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And no one does
that better then the senior ‘non-commissioned officers’ – the Master Chiefs –
of the Navy SEALs and the Sergeant Majors of the Marines and Army
Rangers/SOF.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a hundred
different styles, but in the end each one does the same thing: work with the
younger sailors and soldiers and build teams. Each has his own style of
communicating, and his own brand of charisma – of passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can be rough, and they are all
exceptionally demanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they
are also some of the most effective communicators and teachers - and leaders
you will ever meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They know how
to build teams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is the team
that produces such spectacular results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact, I would suggest that one of the few places where I have
witnessed real synergy – where the result is more than the sum of the parts –
is in these units.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Most companies,
corporations, organizations of every stripe claim synergy but they are only
kidding themselves, and they fall well short of actually even reaching a true
‘sum of all the capabilities of the team members,’ never mind something more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many proximate causes for
these failures, but the ultimate cause is that they fail to make real teams,
which is itself a failure of leadership.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The rest of the
leadership ‘puzzle,’ the second piece to this puzzle, is the process of leading
the team, of using this synergy to effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That task falls on the commander of the unit and the few
other more senior officers (and the senior enlisted – who bridges the gap
between the two leadership efforts).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The commander’s task is to properly use the skills of the team as a whole,
that synergy developed above, to achieve specific tasks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only must the commander communicate
effectively, he must be an effective decision-maker, one who has walked the
same path as the sailors he leads, and therefore has the moral authority to give
the orders that place the sailors into the situations they will face.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Again, there
are a number of different styles of commanders, but all do the same thing:
provide that combination of guidance, intellect, decision-making, and moral
authority that results in a focused team, acting how, when, and where needed;
exploiting the small teams – each made of highly trained men, yet allowing each
team member to fully capitalize on his own unique talents and innovative
skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That comes from long,
tough training; but also from clear, common goals, accurate planning, crisp
communication, and months and months of team-building.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
In short, it is
basics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it applies to every
organization under the sun, whether military, government, corporate, whether in
big matters or small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leadership
is leadership; there are no shortcuts and there is no way to build a team
without a clear focus on the basics. Of course, the reality is that many in
leadership positions either have never really focused on the basics or for
whatever reason believe that somehow they don’t apply to them, that they are
the exception.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And just as Vince
Lombardi is proven right every weekend when we see winning teams execute the
basics – blocking and tackling, and those that try to be too clever by half,
lose to those practicing the basics, so do we see in the corporate world as
well as in politics ‘leaders’ failing to adhere to the basics and in the end
undermining their own organizations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-83702239109800762932013-10-14T11:53:00.003-04:002013-10-14T11:53:36.725-04:00Christopher Columbus <div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> 521 years ago
12 October, around 2 AM, a lookout onboard Pinta – Rodrigo de Triana – sighted
land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Columbus may not have
arrived at the ‘East Indies’ or eastern Asia, but he had found the New World.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
There has grown
up over the past several decades a whole industry of people who have debunked
him; we have been told that multiple Viking voyages had reached North America,
and indeed the remains of small towns, dating back roughly 1,000 years, have
been unearthed in Canada’s Maritime Provinces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Irish also lay claim – via Brendan the Navigator – to
having reached these shores well before Columbus, perhaps as early as the 6<sup>th</sup>
or 7<sup>th</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
there is, of course, the speculation that Egyptian sailors, using reed boats,
may have journeyed here more than 3000 years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And while there
is debate as to who first reached the New World, others bemoan the subsequent
exploration and colonization of the New World by the Old, and the destruction
of the Aztec and Incan civilizations; and while certainly there were many
deplorable events in the following centuries, I must admit remain a bit
confused as to why I should weep over the destruction of civilizations that
actively engaged in human sacrifice (both of them) or cannibalism (the Aztecs),
or the blame heaped on Columbus as if he brought all this on, or the idea that
somehow if he hadn’t found the New World that it would never have been found
and none of what followed would have happened.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Yet the fact
remains that it was Columbus who opened up the New World, leading four separate
expeditions over the years, and leaving the New World – and the whole world –
fundamentally altered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arguably,
all that happened would have taken place anyway without Columbus; it just would
have taken place a few years later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that misses the point: it happened the way it did, and it all
started with Columbus’s epic voyage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
He had led his
small fleet of three ships west from Spain on August 3<sup>rd</sup>, and they
departed the Canary Islands on the morning of September 6<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They sailed westerly for 36 days,
no maps, only a compass, a half-hour glass to mark the passing of time, a log
to measure ship’s speed through the water, and the knowledge of the stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Columbus had a quadrant for obtaining
an ‘altitude’ of a star, but he didn’t use it at sea, only ashore once he
reached the West Indies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with
just these simple tools, throughout his four voyages his navigation skills were
remarkable, particularly in accurately finding his way back home to Spain.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Columbus was,
in fact, a great explorer and leader, a man with the most of the traits needed
for a great leader: a clear goal / vision, the intellect and drive to turn that
vision into a real plan, the ability to communicate that vision and goal to
those he needed to influence – in his case Ferdinand and Isabella (the King and
Queen), a superb decision-maker with clear moral authority, and at least to
some (the King and Queen), a charismatic man.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Whether he was
all these things to the men who made up his crew isn’t really known, though there
is some historical reporting that suggests that he was a demanding ship’s
captain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the times, and the
traits of many who became sailors in that age, that is likely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, given what he was trying to do –
sailing off the map so to speak (there were maps, they showed you could sail
straight west to China, and they were well short on the real distance – and
detail) – it is probably fair to say that he would not have accomplished
anything if he had not been stern and demanding.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Columbus
managed not only to convince the King and Queen to fund his voyages, he
convinced men to sail with him, and then repeated his voyage 3 more times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He remains one of the great ship
captains, and great navigators of all time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in practical terms, he is still the discoverer of the
New World.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
What Columbus
can teach us about leadership is, in many ways, the same thing that we can
learn from many of the leading figures of history: Columbus was a driven - we
might say obsessive - man, he was committed to his goal of reaching the Indies
and was fearless – and tireless - in pursuing that goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But great leaders are often (usually)
obsessive, single focused, committed, tireless in their chase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They live and breathe their dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if they are bright enough and
talented enough, they can reach that goal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Enjoy Columbus
Day!</div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-63969996564763604962013-09-22T18:19:00.002-04:002013-09-22T18:19:57.722-04:00The Action Plan<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> One very useful
tool in overcoming inertia is an action plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been given a hundred names (one of them – the First
100 Days – might almost be said to have become institutionalized among
politicians).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the idea is
useful as something to grab the imagination of all involved and jump-start the
organization (company, crew, city, state, country, etc.) as it moves in a new
direction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
In simple
terms, the action plan is nothing more than the translation of the strategic
plan into specific actions for each department or division or section of the
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And constructing an
action plan is actually fairly simple, except for one thing: it requires hard
decisions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Imagine a large
industrial firm with a good deal of competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the sake of the discussion it might have the following
major departments</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Operations</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Personnel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Finance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Marketing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
IT</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Facilities</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Administration</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And one other
division: Plans (and Competitive Analysis)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The strategic
plan being complete – and specific timelines identified, each department is now
given individual goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
should be done as a round-table effort between the executive and the department
heads – mixing aggressive performance and wisdom – moving fast, but not too fast,
balancing the entire organization so that one department doesn’t move too
quickly or too slowly relative to the others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
With various
time lines or performance gates clearly established, each department now
identifies what they need: in personnel (specific types (engineers, architects,
welders, drivers, carpenters, secretaries, etc.)) and levels of experience, and
specific training – for each location of the organization); what types of
equipment, what types of facilities, how much additional money, IT support,
etc. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
It is during
these sessions – at which the Boss (be he the Chairman, President, CEO or
whatever other title is used – the Boss is whoever gets to actually make
binding decisions) must make the final decision on who will do what, when.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As each department presents its
proposed timelines and requirements (in manpower, material, etc.) the Boss
needs to make the final call that will bring everyone into a coherent package –
that makes it a team solution, while providing the details that turns the
strategic plan into specific tasks for each department.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
It is during
thing development that each department will establish performance standards –
metrics – by which progress will be measured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These too are presented to the Boss for his final approval.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Each department
then will spend a few days – at most several weeks – developing the individual
tasks for each office in that department – within the assigned timelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are presented to the Boss – and
once approved, these are compiled by the planning team and become ‘the Action
Plan.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The one element
that needs to be mentioned it the Planning Team, which also takes on the role
of the Competitive analysis team; simply put, their job is to watch the
competition and to watch the market place and to ensure that as the plan is
developed and implemented that it remains relevant to what is going on in the
world around you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a huge
task stated in a single sentence, which is why your brightest people need to be
on your planning team.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Finally, all
this is then packaged into a presentation to the entire organization – giving
everyone an overview of each of the steps being taken by each department, and
an overall review of the goals and plans of the organization as a whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, unless you are in a fairly small
organization, each department will break off and present to its people their
specific departmental action plan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And once that
is done, as soon as is humanly possible – Begin!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do not hesitate, sooner is better than later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One final word of advice: place some
‘low hanging fruit’ in the plan for the first 30 or 60 or 90 days, things that
can be done that are only moderately difficult, so that each department can
show progress; establishing and maintaining enthusiasm in the initial phase of
the plan is essential for success.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-6253870097765300822013-09-19T17:02:00.001-04:002013-09-19T17:02:35.138-04:00Pirates, Putin and the Mid East<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Early in Act 1 of Gilbert and
Sullivan’s ‘the Pirates of Penzance’ the Pirate King tells us that: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
“Many a King on
a first class throne,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
If he wants to
call his crown his own,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
Must manage
somehow to get through </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
More dirty work
then e’er I do.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
That little piece of wisdom –
painful wisdom, but wisdom none-the-less – Keeps coming to mind over the course
of the last five or six weeks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The first instance involves
history: 78 years and a few weeks ago the Emperor of Japan announced the
surrender of Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This followed,
as I suppose (hope and pray) everyone knows, the dropping of atomic bombs on
Hiroshima (6 Aug 1945) and Nagasaki (9 Aug 1945).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the years that have followed those bombings there have
been countless arguments made about ‘what Truman should have done’ and further
arguments that there was in any case no reason to drop the atomic bombs on
those two cities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I’ll begin by stating that I am
not a big fan of the concept, as first postulated by General Giulio Douhet and
later BG Billy Mitchell (and Gen. Walther Wever and Marshall Hugh ‘Boom’
Trenchard, et al), of strategic bombing; the idea that large scale bombing of
civilian populations will so undermine morale that it will force any nation to
surrender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one thing, the idea
has been shown to be fallacious in almost every case: the German bombing of the
British in World War II, the British and American bombing of Germany in World
War II, the American bombing of Japan in World War II (with an important
‘footnote’ – see below), the US bombing of North Vietnam; in each case bombing
served mainly to stiffen the resolve of those being bombed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, the bombing had other
effects, many of them supporting the military aims of those dropping the bombs,
but the central concept of undermining morale, and thereby bringing an early
end to the war, never panned out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Second, if you have ever seen a
city or town that has been burned out, it is not something that you would want
to have happen to anyone, to include your enemies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>War is a brutal business and once you are in it you have to
do extreme things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But all in all,
if you can avoid it, and particularly if it isn’t necessarily working, I’m more
or less against the idea of carpet-bombing cities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The footnote or exception of
course, is the outcome of the two bombs – atomic bombs - dropped on Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their immediate effect was to destroy
the two cities, and immediately killed perhaps 140,000 people total.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tens of thousands more died over the
following years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, more
importantly, it forced the Emperor’s hand and he surrendered – with conditions
– but the war was over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(It is
worth noting the discussion on how much this bombing affected German and
Japanese wartime production – until early 1945 their production of war
materials climbed each year, as they learned how to do more, under more extreme
circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, while there
is the oft repeated argument that this bombing deprived tactical forces of all
the various air defense assets, that blade cuts both ways; US and British et al
investments in the strategic bombing campaign were massive and arguably would
have been as productive if not more productive if used elsewhere.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What is often forgotten in any
discussion about Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the actual situation Truman faced:
the war was dragging on; bond drives in the US were coming up short, after 10
years of depression and 4 years of war Americans were tired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Truman had several options: he could
continue the conventional bombing of Japan and hope that they would eventually
surrender – nothing that we knew of the Japanese suggested that would
happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All experience during the
war had shown, as mentioned earlier, that bombing of cities only made people
more determined to resists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Second, he (Truman) could order an invasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The casualty estimates of an invasion were staggering: US
intelligence in fact suggested that the Japanese were hoarding weapons for a
vast national spasm of violence to save the homeland from the invaders, and
casualty estimates for the US assault forces ran from a low of perhaps 30,000
dead and 90,000 wounded for the initial assault (Codenamed Olympic – a landing
on the island of Kyushu), to a high of approximately 250,000 dead and another 1
million wounded – US personnel only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Japanese casualties were estimated to be at least 3 times US casualties.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The second – follow-on – invasion
of the main island of Honshu would occur almost 6 months later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casualty figures for this invasion
(Operation Coronet) – an invasion that would be twice as large as the D-Day invasion
– were several times greater than those for Olympic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In short, the invasion of Japan
would cost the US more casualties then it had suffered in all of the World War
up to that point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Japanese
casualties would be in the millions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The third option was to drop the
bombs and see if they ‘pushed the Japanese government’ to surrender.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Truman thus found himself in the
situation that any leader – like the fictitious king referenced by the Pirate
King above - often finds himself: facing a series of at best very unpleasant
options.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Truman could continue wide-scale
conventional bombing, which was killing tens of thousands of Japanese every
week; invade and kill millions – and suffer hundreds of thousands of US
casualties as well, or use the new weapon and see if they could force the
Japanese to ‘quit’ early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they
chose to continue fighting, then he would probably have ordered the
invasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had nothing but bad
choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He chose the bombs, the
war ended early, and, as unpleasant as it was and unlikely as it may seem, he
probably saved hundred of thousands of US lives, and probably millions of
Japanese lives in doing so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The point in all this is that the
real world is never like the discussions held in academia, where there are
clear choices and the results are definitive and final.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the real world no decision is final
and few if any choices are clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Add to that the simple truth that most of the people you are dealing
with in ruling circles around the world aren’t really very nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not altruists, and though they
do sometimes have their nation’s best interests at heart, at least in some
sense, they are often also quite willing to keep their people on tight
leashes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a world where many
nations face the choice of anarchy or police state we often find ourselves
dealing with governments that choose police state and government controlled
societies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There is a natural tendency,
particularly among Americans, who have grown up in a blessedly free country, to
bridle at the thought of dealing with such governments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But before we make the choice to back
some revolutionary movement, we need to ask ourselves a simple question: what
is the real US interest?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short,
we need to first look out for the US.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The common objection to this
roughly follows the argument that supporting a revolutionary movement that
advocates political freedom and representative government IS in the US
interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, while it is
preferable to pursue long-term vice short-term interests, the simple fact is
that the US has a difficult enough time pursuing short-term interests; trying
to chase down long-term interests when it involves the actions of other nations
is nearly impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
sometimes you just can’t make all the pieces fit together.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Two different thugs have made the
US look foolish in the course of the last several weeks: Vlad Putin and Bashir
Assad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Assad in particular, in his
interview with Fox News and Dennis Kucinich (tip of the hat to both of them for
that effort – it is always good to get a look at the evil around us) made a
mockery out of the US foreign policy community, turning their language back on
top of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did at least
demonstrate for another generation just how smooth and slick is real evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Putin of course, continues to play the
US leadership for fools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US
may be in the right, but our leadership isn’t playing in the same league as
these two.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And so we arrive at the questions
of the day: What of Egypt?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What of
Syria?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What of Iran?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For that matter, What of Russia and
Vlad Putin?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the US to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer is simple: act in the US
interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is more
complex: what is the US interest?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And here is the great failure: we can’t really identify the US
interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are back to the same
old chestnut: what are US goals?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘Goals’ is the impolite word for ‘US interests.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what we need to ask ourselves is
this: what do we want Egypt (and Syria, and the rest of the Mid East, and
Eastern Europe, and Asia) to look like in 1, 3, 5 and 10 years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what are we willing to commit –
what assets – to make that happen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This requires that we take off rose-colored glasses, and more
importantly, that we refrain from getting too wrapped up in our own moral
high-ground and look at the world through what might be called a ‘Machiavellian
squint.’ </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Take Egypt, which we have
conveniently ignored for the last several weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the US interest in Egypt: is it the Suez Canal and
World Trade?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it the security of
Israel’s western border? Is it general stability in the Middle East?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it the rise of democracy in the Arab
World?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it prevention of the
rise of another Sharia State in the Arab World?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can the White House and the State Department put those – and
any others – in order of importance?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What is it that we are trying to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are they willing to commit to achieve these goals?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Money?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Equipment? Political or economic pressure?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Force?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Troops on the Ground?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They need to accurately answer them – and soon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
None of this will be easy, and
assuredly, none of this will yield pleasant answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the ‘king on a first class thrown,’ the folks in the
White House keep finding to their dismay that a good deal of this is dirty,
unpleasant work, difficult work, and that in the end everyone ends up with a
little ‘stink’ on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it
doesn’t ever end, and it will never end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
(There is a pedantic argument
that some will enter into about ‘vital US interest’ vs simple ‘US
interest.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a simple way
to settle it: consider two cases – defense of an ally from foreign attack – say
Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, US desires to see
international sports free of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both are, strictly speaking, matters of
some US policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the first case
the US is willing – over and above any and all treaty obligations – to defend
Canada with US lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no
question: Canadian security is in the US interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the second, the US is – I would hope – probably unwilling
to spend more than some hot air to further that issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply speaking, while it is something
we would like to see, we have many other things that warrant concern before we
get to the issue of PEDs in international sports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it will directly affect the lives of average Americans
and we are willing to commit US forces, it – whatever ‘it’ is – is ‘in the US
interest.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we are not willing
to commit forces, then it really isn’t in the US interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are only willing to expend hot
air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The point is not lost on
many; arguments inside trade organizations about this or that price point for
this or that commodity may sound important – and they are – but unless it
actually threatens the US standard of living or US security the simple truth is
the US will be more likely to ‘roll over’ to preserve the trade agreement as a
whole then to harrumph over one particular issue inside the trade treaty.)) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-89531712932665855362013-09-19T16:33:00.002-04:002013-09-19T16:33:49.526-04:00Overcoming Inertia: Changing the Rules<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Overcoming
Inertia: There is perhaps no single facet of any organization where inertia is
greatest – where you stare more clearly into the face of the problem – then in
the process of dealing with ‘the Rules.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Every
organization has them; from the most basic three man fishing club to the US
government rules are the daily guidance that ensures everyone acts ‘according
to the wishes of the organization.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rules (and regulations and policies and all the other categories) are
the guidance, the minutia, that keeps every person and every office and every
department, every ship, airplane, fleet and army, acting in the ‘right
way.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old saw from the
military that there is ‘a right way, a wrong way and an Army way’ is accurate:
there is, there must be, an Army way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And to succeed in the Army you must do things the Army way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
But if you want
to change the Army (or your fishing club), you really must change the
rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the larger and more
complex the organization, the larger and more complex are the rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More to the point, if you are trying to
change your organization, but you do not change the rules, and certain rules in
particular - rules that govern selection and promotion of people, standards of
performance, standards of behavior, rules that truly guide the people in how
they act and who they are - then all the other rules can be changed and you
will have little long-term impact on the organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can grind through dozens of
strategies, vision statements, guiding principles, ‘town halls’ to talk about
change, slide presentations, pages and pages of social media releases and all
the rest; it won’t matter if you don’t change the rules.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
On the other
hand, change how the organization defines its people – its real rules - and you
will affect substantial change.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
As a general
rule for changing any organization, and overcoming organizational inertia, the
following rules – at a minimum - should be changed:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Hiring and
Firing rules: as mentioned earlier, the power to hire and fire and promote
needs to be taken out of the hands of ‘the organization’ (also known as the
Personnel Department or Human Resources, etc.) and placed in the hands of the
leadership – so that those who hire and promote, etc., are clearly known, and
when they succeed it is evident and when they fail to promote the right people
it is also evident.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Paperwork and
Reports: Reporting requirements should be constantly monitored, eliminating
those reports that are redundant or do not clearly support ‘the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mission.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Ethics and
Standards: These must be kept to an absolute minimum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a large and complex society that already defines
morals, ethics and standards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are also a wide range of professional organizations (the ABA, the
AMA, the FAA, etc., etc., etc.) that define behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you really need another layer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only if you intend to set substantially higher standards
should there be any effort in this direction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Culture: the
rules that act as the ‘grease’ to the organization; (young and small
organizations try to avoid these rules (though they are present), older and
larger ones generate them by the score).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Many of these rules are unwritten, but in as the organization matures,
they become more and more important in defining the organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before you attempt any change, you need
to understand these particular rules, and you need to have an understanding of
which ones need to be addressed if you are to change the organization.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
In the final
analysis, in any organization the Rules need to be changed if you hope to have
a meaningful impact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may find
many rules are protected by law or contract or corporate governance agreements
– some of this is good, some of this are signs of nothing more than
institutional inertia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One way to
start this process is to begin with the simplest rules: periodic reports –
which ones are needed, which aren’t?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Procedures for dealing with customers or filling orders, work schedules,
etc., etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a hard look at
your organization’s rules on the ‘little things: schedules, report formats (not
the reports themselves, just the formats), appearances (titles on doorways,
types of stationery, etc.), everything should be considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Begin with the trivial and items not
focused on in the major goals of the organization and work ‘up’ from there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-63391750755463431332013-09-16T20:43:00.002-04:002013-09-16T20:43:45.490-04:00Abandon Ship!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, there was another horrific event in the nation today: the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. For those of you who have not been there, the Navy Yard is a fairly small base that has occupied that piece of land for more than 200 years. There are any number of lessons to draw from this horrific event, and I have already written about it on my other blog. But there is an leadership lesson that also needs to be drawn.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I heard today, as I listened to this even unfold, that the Chief of Naval Operations (the CNO as he is known in the Navy) was at his house on the Navy Yard when the shooting started. (There are a number of old, beautiful houses on the base that are used for houses for admirals stationed in the Washington; perhaps the largest and most beautiful is designated as the CNO's house.) The report noted that as soon as the shooting started the CNO was moved off the base.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
WHAT????????</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Everyone take a second and re-read that. The CNO is at the pinnacle of the US Navy; while he technically is not in command of anything - chiefs of the various services are really administrative positions, responsible for providing advice to the Service Secretaries (the Secretary of the Navy), the Secretary of Defense, and the President, and for assisting in the preparation of the annual budget. But service chiefs have all been in command, they are supposed to be the exemplars of leadership, they are supposed to at the minimum act like they are in command.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here's what should have happened: on being informed that there was some sort of shooting going on in the Navy Yard, and then being informed by his security detail that they wanted to move him, the CNO should have said: 'This is my base, I am staying right here. And I want to see the Commander of the base. We shall stay here and work with the police and the SWAT team, but we are NOT leaving. Now empty out the rest of the base as best you can.'</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Leaders, particularly military leaders, must accept risk. They also need to accept the fact that they are just men. If somehow, unlikely an event as it might be, the CNO was killed, we could - honestly - replace him before sundown. That's the way it is supposed to work: no one is irreplaceable. We don't want irreplaceable men in command, and we don't want them thinking they are irreplaceable. More to the point, we want them setting the example of leadership we expect in a combat force. The CNO did not do that.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When the ship is in extremis the senior man needs to set the example. There are many things about a base that make it vastly different from a ship. But the example of leadership under stress should bring similar answers. In this case the CNO let himself get bundled into a car and hustled off to safety. It is true that there was little in fact that he could do. But there was little he needed to do elsewhere. And the example he set today was a miserable one.</div>
<br />Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-84437064450785136552013-09-04T15:12:00.000-04:002013-09-04T15:12:28.377-04:00Overcoming Inertia - Your People<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
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-->While there are
five major facets of change in any organization, the one that really is the
hinge upon which turns the execution of any change is people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a friend I know said many years ago:
a ship without a crew is just a hunk of steel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it is with any organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the practical, day-to-day level people aren’t your most
important asset, they are your ONLY asset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And that
translates into some simple rules about People: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Hiring –
whether you are changing the organization or not, you – the boss - should be in
charge of hiring: you should personally approve standards for the various
positions, you should approve all key hires, and you establish the rule that
for those people who work directly for you, you personally hire them – that
applies throughout the organization: everyone hires their immediate
subordinates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you promote
someone to general manager of a site, from that day on he is responsible for
hiring all the people who report directly to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only does that ensure that he will get the people he
wants, it also allows you – as the general manager’s boss – know exactly who is
responsible for hiring ‘the new superstar’ in sales or engineering or whatever
the case might be, you will also know which of your general managers is not
good at picking people.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Moving and
Firing – In every organization people will need to be changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any time you are making a major change
in an organization, and arguably many minor changes, there is a need to shake
up the personnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can true
even in the most basic scenario for the simple reason that all people get into
habits of work as much as habits of behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want people to do different things, or do the same
thing differently, but you don’t change anything around them, you are making it
that much more difficult for them to change.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Some people may
need to be let go, some will need training or education, nearly everyone will
need to move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of the most
brilliant examples of getting everyone involved – and aware of real change
Robert Townsend told the story that he once led the change of a large business
in which he announced a series of dramatic changes on a Friday afternoon and
then told everyone to assemble in the parking lot on Monday morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Monday morning he then sent everyone
into the building but everyone’s office and desk had been moved; not only was
the structure of the company – the ‘line and block’ diagram different, many had
different jobs, and everyone was working at a different place in the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The message was clear: everything is
changing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that change made
people a bit uneasy, forcing them to pay attention to their new tasks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Training and
Education – Do you know why Navy SEALs are so capable?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because they practice some really
simple rules: they take the best people available, they set incredibly high
standards, and then they train to them – endlessly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as is possible, every organization should do the
same: set high standards, and then provide the tools and training so that the
people in the organization can achieve those standards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a general rule no organization
provides enough training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Obviously, training and education can be very expensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But whenever possible it greatly
benefits any organization to train its people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in particular, if you are changing the organization and
the tasks that each individual has been assigned, some training is warranted so
that people can be comfortable with, and proficient at, their new role.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Performance
evaluation – Finally, you need to take performance evaluation out of the hands
of everyone other than you and your managers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keep all your people informed, but start adjusting your
performance evaluation system so that it actually works for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will take time and is by no means
an easy thing to accomplish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
the goal should be to identify what people are doing well, where they can
improve and how to do so, where lie there particular strengths and weaknesses,
and where the organization is not supporting them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember, the purpose of the performance evaluation should
be NOT to punish people but to figure out how to improve someone’s performance
and to improve the overall organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There may well be a few people who simply don’t fit with the organization,
and the performance evaluation system should also be able to identify
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the key is that you –
the boss, and your management team need to spend real time honing the
evaluation system so that it becomes something that helps you, helps the organization
as a whole, and helps your people.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-55773089038196466802013-08-27T16:04:00.002-04:002013-08-27T16:04:33.793-04:00The Plan <style><!--
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The Second Item
you need to overcome the inertia in your organization is: a plan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
It is quite
common for folks to denigrate planning, and many are fond of quoting the
apocryphal comment from the German General Staff officer that the reason the US
Army was successful was that ‘war was chaos and the US Army practiced it every
day.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
That makes for
a good quote, but it is mostly nonsense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you don’t think the movement of military forces requires planning
then you are confused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The larger
and the faster you are moving them, the more planning that is needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The planning necessary to reliably to
purchase gear, train people, maintain aircraft and ships, etc., and then move
to a combat theater is substantial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>US training may emphasize being able to improvise, but the
‘improvisation’ is built on a foundation of detailed planning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
And, the fact
is we all make plans – simple ones and complex ones – all day long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when we are trying to figure out
how we achieve our goals with our company or organization we really need to
engage in formal planning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
There are real
limits to planning as well, the most important being that plans work very well
for tightly focused organizations (such as armies).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is one of the (many) reasons that large, broadly
scripted organizations, such as governments, routinely perform so poorly: the
planning attempts the impossible – achieving multiple complex goals under a
single plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Narrowly focused
organizations – to included tightly focused governments – can achieve great
things (think NASA and the race to the Moon); broadly focused organizations
rarely do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this is one place
where planning gets a ‘bad reputation.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But in that case it isn’t planning that fails, the organization has
already failed by reaching for too many goals at the same time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Briefly,
assuming that you have a clearly stated goal, your plan should explain what is
happening, why each major step is taking place, and, as you work down into the
details, the role of each individual or group in each step.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone must be provided a meaningful
role in the new plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cosmetic
roles will be spotted in an instant and are poisonous to the organization.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The process is
simply stated and each step is completed in order: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Clear Goals</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Guidance
& Intent – from the boss – what he means and what he is thinking </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Assumptions
(Major issues – if your premise is the price of oil has to be $100 per barrel
for everything to work – you need to tell everyone that…)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Constraints
and Restraints - Things we must do and things we will never do</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Understanding
the World Around Us – particularly the market sector of this organization</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Develop
various Courses of Action</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Choosing a
Course of Action</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Developing a
detailed implementation plan and a kick-off plan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
- Execution</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
These steps are
easily stated, but not easily completed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Good planning requires a committed and involved leadership, a small but
well-chosen planning team, and inevitably the complete support of the entire
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bringing in someone
to help orchestrate the planning and the planning team is also a good
idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it has to be the
leader’s and the organization’s plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A good plan aggressively executed is better than a perfect plan with no
commitment from the front office or buy-in from the organization as a whole.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-18833874666438877892013-08-02T17:22:00.001-04:002013-08-02T17:22:35.330-04:00Your Goals - Part 2<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> So, how do you bring clarity to
your search for your Goal?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As I mentioned earlier, you have
to do a good deal of soul searching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Begin by asking yourself this question: Where do I want to be in 20
years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take out a pad of paper,
something you can burn later – no one sees this homework – and write down what
you want – start by putting everything down, engage in some crass materialism:
degrees, jobs, positions, income, numbers and types of cars, boats, airplanes,
houses (size, location, size of yard, etc.), wife or husband, kids, dog, where
you vacation, who your friends are, etc., etc., etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When you are done, fold it up,
put it in your pocket and go for a walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When you are done with the walk – and are all alone, pull it out and
take a look at it: is there anything you forgot?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put it on the list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fold it up again and put it away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tomorrow, in a quiet moment, take a
look at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Now, is there anything on that
list you can live without?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Seriously think about it: do you need this or that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The car, the boat, the second (or third
house)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this or that position
vital?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you can live without it,
strike it off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go through this
process several times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you
are done you will probably find you have a short list, and if you are like most
people it will contain just one or two things: some sort of professional
achievement (president of the bank, a master welder, a board certified surgeon,
the mayor of the city, your own farm, etc.) and a personal item (happily
married, some kids).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If you are already the head of
your organization, and perhaps happily married, you may well find the list
harder to create, and harder to edit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, do it anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you
are finally finished, you should have one or two things listed that are your
core goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Now do the
exact same thing for your organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This will be a bit more complicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, you probably don’t exercise absolute authority over
your organization, few do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
start with this guidance: what would it look like ‘if I were king?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would you want the organization to
look like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you want it to
be in 10 or 20 years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same
time, do you even see yourself in the organization in 20 years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, all well and good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If not, is this about your legacy or is
it about the needs of the organization and the community it supports?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is when it gets hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as you juggle those different
perspectives, you need to consider when and under what conditions you would
leave the organization.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
After you have
cycled through this process several times, you should now have two – short –
lists: your personal goals, and your organizational goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will need to do some more
soul-searching at this point, particularly as the head of some organization: do
your personal goals conflict with your organizational goals?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If, for example your number one
personal goal is ‘spend more time with my wife and kids’ and the organizational
goal includes growth and expansion – you may find you need to consider turning
over management of the organization or in some other way changing your
relationship with the company.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Having
successfully done that, you now need to call in someone you trust, but someone
who has some experience developing long-term plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, be careful: there are a great many people
who say they can do this, and who have drafted all sorts of plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most plans are so poor that they
actually represent a risk to the organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of the major car companies that self-destructed over
the last 4 decades – world-wide – had strategic plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had spent lots of money on those
plans, but the plans were no good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So spend some time and get the right planner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One hint, many large management-consulting firms have a
great deal of talent, but those aren’t the people who show up to help you
construct your plan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Show the
planner the goals you have for your organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What he will (or should) then do is dissect those goals
until he fully understands them, and then challenge you to further refine the
goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His focus is to ensure that
the goals are first: crystal clear; second, if there is more than one goal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(ideally there is only one), the goals
are prioritized and do not conflict with or contradict each other; and third,
that the goal (or goals) are as briefly stated as is possible without losing any
clarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You should now argue with
the strategic planner: you both need to make certain there is no confusion or
ambiguity in this goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you
are both satisfied, you have your goal; you are ready to move forward.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-23317142579684973142013-08-01T12:48:00.002-04:002013-08-01T12:48:32.547-04:00Rise to the Occasion?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> There is a saying that people are
fond of, and it is almost totally false: ‘Rise to the Occasion.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth is, with very few exceptions,
people don’t rise to the occasion, they fall back to the occasion, in the sense
that when things become tense and difficult they will fall back on their
training and mental and physical conditioning, on what they have learned and
how they have been taught to act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even in the event of a single individual who acts with great courage
under extreme circumstances, the odds are that there was some training, some
conditioning that took place that led him to be that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether from his parents or a teacher
or a coach, someone planted and nurtured a seed that had matured and was present
when he stumbled into what Teddy Roosevelt called ‘his crowded hour.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is particularly true among
groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, when Marines hear
gunfire and immediately head towards the firefight it is because that is the
sum-total of their training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
it is a testimony to their leaders who have instilled this response –
particularly in a group where the fear of one individual can engender nearly
universal panic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And so, when you see groups of
men acting heroically, it is well to take note, and ask yourself some questions
on the leadership that produced such men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
All of which came to mind the
other day – July 30<sup>th</sup> – the 68<sup>th</sup> anniversary of one of
the great tragedies in the history of the US Navy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
For most of America it is an
event that they know of only because of that greatest of all summer movies:
“Jaws” and the character Quint (played by the inestimable Robert Shaw) who
recounts the story – a true story that fit well into the movie - behind one
scar on his arm, one that he got from removing a tattoo.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Tattoo in question was the
USS INDIANAPOLIS, a heavy cruiser built in the 1930s and which served as
flagship for Admiral Spruance through much of World War II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the spring of 1945 it went back to
California for some repairs, and then carried to Tinian key components of the
atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On July 30<sup>th</sup>, shortly after midnight INDIANAPOLIS
was torpedoed and sank in less than 20 minutes, probably less than 10, though
exact numbers are obviously hard to come by.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Of the 1196 men onboard, between
900 and 1000 made it into the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because of some egregious breakdowns in command and control and
oversight the ship was not reported as missing for 4 days, and the men in the
water were spotted more by serendipity then anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the men in the water were
actually in the water, with only a lifejacket, presenting nothing much more
than little black dots in the water – the black dots because their heads were
covered in oil that spilled from their ship as she sank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The aircraft that spotted them had been
sent out to look for them, but having witnessed, and participated at least
tangentially in, a number of rescues at sea, spotting people in the water is
seemingly impossible – much harder then it would seem, or as it is portrayed in
movies and the like.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
By the time ships moved in to
pick them up, only 317 men were pulled from the sea, one of whom died shortly
after being rescued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, of the
1196 men aboard ship, 880 died, and somewhere ‘north’ of 600 died after getting
safely off the ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To compound
it, the Navy then engaged in a witch-hunt to blame someone, and ended up
pinning the blame on the Captain, Charles B. McVay, rather than accept blame
for what was a monumental error and tragedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Captain McVay is the only man in the history of the US Navy
to have been court-martialed and for losing a ship during war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The US Navy lost more than 700 ships
during WWII, only Captain McVay was court-martialed). I read somewhere, and I
don’t know the veracity of this comment, that he was the only man – among both
the allies or the axis powers – who was court-martialed during WWII for losing
his ship in combat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is a long and complicated
story and I encourage everyone to spend a few minutes researching it, because
the real story is in the heroism and courage and leadership of the men in the
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was fortunate to know one
of them: Captain (then LCDR) Lewis Haynes, the ship’s surgeon, and the senior
officer with the largest single group of survivors in the 4+ days in the ocean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Captain Haynes was a good friend
of my father, and I remember him visiting when I was young – but old enough to
understand what he was saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
didn’t speak about it much, and in fact I only remember one time that he told
us the whole story, and I can see him to this day sitting in our den, quietly
telling the story, trying to hold back the emotion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was one of the finest men and finest officers I ever
met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I have learned since
then is that the quality of leadership that had been shown by the officers and
chiefs of INDIANAPOLIS is central to their incredible performance in their long
purgatory in the ocean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The lessons that stand out among
all others – and they apply to any and every organization that is trying to
achieve great things or be ready for any situation: you must train your people
as hard as you can, you must set high standards and maintain them, and most
importantly, no matter how high the standards, the senior leadership must
adhere to even higher standards – of both performance and behavior.</div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-60814065491104052872013-07-30T15:34:00.002-04:002013-07-30T15:34:09.516-04:00You Need A Goal<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> You’ve heard this before –
probably a hundred times – you need a clear goal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Call it what you will, the goal
is what you are really trying to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There has been a lot written about goals, much of it confusing as
hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I used to think I understood
the difference between goals and vision, but then I read a whole bunch of
‘Goals, Visions and Guiding Principles’ statements from a whole bunch of major
organizations and I decided either they were loony or I was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I opted for the former.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Goal is what you really want
to achieve, the end point: Win the World Series, Defeat Nazi Germany, ‘Land a
Man on the Moon and return him safely to earth in this decade,’ marry George
Bailey and live in the old Granville house (Mary Hatch, It’s a Wonderful Life).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But, getting to the point where
you can write down a clear goal is not as easy as it seems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, the overwhelming majority of
us are not at all clear on our goals, either our personal goals or our
professional ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have sat down
with any number of heads of businesses, and other organizations, helping them
to craft a ‘strategic plan,’ a plan to move their organization – and themselves
– forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time and again I have
been struck by how few of them are really clear on where the company or
organization is headed or where they are headed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The easiest thing to do is to
identify some dollar figure: ‘increase annual sales to X.’ Of course, that can
be questioned simply by asking: ‘at the expense of profits?’ That will lead to
the question of sustaining profits, which implies capital investment, or are
you going for a ‘quick kill?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
goal is starting to look a bit more complicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trying to answer the question of the real goal of an
organization simply with a number can be done, but it requires the careful selection
of that number: profit (pre-tax or post-tax, EBIT, EBITDA; one year, sustained,
etc.), market share (national, North America, world wide), etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making a goal two numbers can make a
plan too complicated – and can lead to missing the forest for the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Thus, a number of years ago one
of the larger auto manufacturers set out a goal of maximizing their market
share by a certain year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
almost got there, but in so doing they focused on turning out more cars and
missed the changes in the world-wide market to increased reliability and lower
fuel consumption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About the time
that they nearly reached their target goal they found themselves years behind
their competitors and they have spent the following couple of decades trying to
catch up to the rest of the industry in quality and performance of their fleet
writ large.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This kind of thing happens in
virtually every industry: people who are good at managing the organization, and
often gifted engineers or accountants, etc., fail to develop and sustain a ‘big
picture’ of their industry or a concomitant goal that will be able to deal with
developments in that industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Four decades ago the US military was buying aircraft and systems from a
wide range of companies, most of whom do not exist today except perhaps as a
name tagged onto that of another company, and usually not even there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The company that built the Saturn
V that took man to the moon, and the Apollo capsule that brought them back, as
well as the B-1 bomber and the space shuttle – North American Aviation – no
longer exists, after being bought up by Rockwell, and then Rockwell splitting
up in the 1990s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is said that
the average billion dollar a year corporation lasts just 12 years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
If you are
going to survive and thrive, you not only need to know where you are headed –
you need a goal – but you also need one that makes sense and will leave you in
at least as sound a position when you get there as you are when you start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Figuring out that goal isn’t easy and
it most assuredly won’t be quick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But you need to ‘sit down’ and figure out exactly what is the goal of
your organization, and while you are at it, what are your personal goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Both will take
time, and soul searching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will
require that you be painfully honest with yourself, and it sometimes (almost
always) requires that you bring into your organization someone you can trust
completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But is also is fair to
say that if you do not have a clear goal, everything else you do after that is
going to go astray.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Is there a
procedure, a step-by-step means to get to that clear goal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is, and I will discuss it
tomorrow.</div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-8448719641704827652013-07-10T08:33:00.002-04:002013-07-10T08:33:37.901-04:00Organizational Inertia <style><!--
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There was an article in the local
paper this morning about a vet who had served more than 20 years in the
military, multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, has a disability and is now
meeting general apathy from the people in the Veteran’s Administration as he
tries to move his disability package through the system.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The comment that I found
interesting was that he had been through more than 20 years of service,
multiple deployments, wounded, etc., and ‘it means nothing to them.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means nothing to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there is a lesson to be drawn from
that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Veteran’s Administration is,
like the rest of the government, a large bureaucracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It functions just like every other bureaucracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s the point: bureaucracies
don’t care about ‘you’ or anything outside the walls of the bureaucracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This isn’t said to be derisive, rather
it is an observation that has been shared by thousands throughout history.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
To begin, we need to recognize
the difference between any organization and the people within it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every organization – large or small -
has a ‘personality’ of its own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
the organization ages, that ‘personality’ becomes more pronounced and more
difficult to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the
organization grows in size the ‘personality’ again becomes more entrenched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very large organizations develop very
well complex ‘personas’ that are often substantially more complex than any
human being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who has been
in the military can attest that there is really an entity out there called ‘the
Army,’ ‘the Navy,’ ‘the Air Force,’ and in particular ‘the Marine Corps.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And, while it is possible to
substantially change any organization in its first few years of life, as the
organization ages the persona’s resistance to change will become more and more
pronounced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While there are any
number of reasons for this, two that are critical to this organizational
inertia are Rules and People.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Rules: As any organization
matures and develops it will propagate rules on ‘how things are done.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first, these rules will focus on just
a few key issues, issues that are at the center of the goals of the
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But within a
relatively short period of time the rules will begin to expand, reaching ‘down’
into the organization and driving into ever greater detail: expanding from what
must be done to what specific people are to do to how they are to do it and
finally to how they must act while doing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rules develop to protect ‘the Army Way’ or ‘the Navy
Way’ or ‘the XYZ Corp. Way.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
People: During the first few
days, months, years of any organization the people are believers, focused on
the goals of the organization with a burning desire that these goals be
achieved – ‘come hell or high water.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were there at the start and they share a sense of ‘ownership’ in
the original purpose of the organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But as the original leadership depart and are replaced by managers –
even bright and well-intentioned ones – and as the ‘rank and file’ are replaced
not by believers but by people simply looking for a decent job, the focus of the
people shifts from those great, overarching ‘goals’ to maintenance, to
sustainment, to stasis.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This is particularly true of
government bureaucracies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few if
any people grow up hoping to some day be a clerk at the Department of
Agriculture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vast majority of
the people working in government bureaucracies work there not because they
fervently believe in the goals of the organization as stated in the yearly
“Strategy Statement” that nobody reads, but because they need to work someplace
and there was a job available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is true even in organizations that have a reputation for promoting
commitment to higher goals, organizations such as the Army or Navy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Government organizations in
particular – and in the end the government itself – evolve very rapidly over
time so that within just a few years of being established they begin to focus
on one thing, and one thing only: sustaining themselves, or what can be more
easily termed ‘survival.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing
else really matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nearly
everything else the bureaucracy does can be thought of as theater, something
that is done to make certain that those ‘outside’ see the ‘right things,’ to
convince the majority of them that the organization is doing some close to what
it is supposed to be doing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Thus the Department of Energy
attempts to manage oil leases and the Department of Education passes out
student loan money and the Department of Agriculture inspects food and the
Department of Defense maintains the military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, the simple truth is that governments have no
inner moral compass that keeps them focused on staying within the law as well
as focused on the good of the people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They never have and never will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They focus on two things, the only two ‘tangibles’ in government: power,
and the tool of power – money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
So, what is the
lesson to be drawn from all this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Simply this: anyone who wishes to change the direction of any
organization must begin with an understanding of the organizational inertia
that needs to be overcome to affect any real change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Persona of that organization, particularly as embodied
in its Rules and its People, will need to be changed if you wish to institute
real change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Failure to do so will
result in cosmetic changes only and all your work will be of no permanent
consequence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-31685264746543513502012-11-04T11:36:00.002-05:002012-11-04T11:36:40.809-05:00Generals and Leadership<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Mr. Thomas E. Ricks has just
written a book on leadership among our generals and how it has changed over the
course of the last 70 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have read an except from the book, though not the book itself (just released on
30 October I believe), and from what I have read I find I am ‘violent
agreement.’ </div>
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<br /></div>
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It is often said (at least by me) that the senior
officers of the pre-McNamara era were better than those since. That is by
no means universal, the list of really lousy FOGOs (Flag Officers and General
Officers) from the 40s, 30s, 30s, teens, all the way back to Gen. McClellan
during the Civil War, is long and painful to review. But there are
several points to be made when looking at those lists and that history, and one
item might help illuminate it. (By the way, it is always helpful to look
at Lincoln's list of army commanders - Scott, McClellan, Halleck, Meade, ....
seven guys before he got to Grant in 1864 - and the war only three years old at
that time.)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
On my shelf is a book (found in an antique furniture
store, go figure) "On the Treadmill to Pearl Harbor" by Admiral J.O.
Richardson (he who was fired in early 1941 (for objecting to FDR that the
placing of the fleet in Hawaii was dangerous beyond all acceptable risk and
needed to be pulled back to California) and relieved by Admiral Husband
Kimmel). While the book is interesting reading, the most fascinating
thing in it is an appendix, a list of the ships and squadrons and stations in
the US Navy as of January 1941 (when Richardson was relieved). The CO of
each command is also listed. Shortly after I got the book I was sitting and
reading the appendix when something struck me: how few of the names on the list
rang any bells whatsoever. And some, who were fairly junior who did.
In short, most of the officers who were in command were moved to staff
billets, replaced (and often replaced again) until competent commanders were
found. A few, like Lockwood, were captains who three years later were
wearing 3 stars.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
In short, the system knew how to retain folks who
could keep a seat warm, but when it needed to, it knew how to push them aside
and bring in folks who could lead. Admiral ‘Betty’ Stark is a good
example. As CNO – Chief of Naval Operations - before the war Stark worked
beautifully with the White House and Congress to lay out the shipbuilding and
aircraft and personnel and weapons needs for the war. He was however not
a war leader and was relieved in March of 42 and sent to England to work the
liaison and preps for the invasion. He worked well with the Brits, but
never took part in any combat planning despite his title (he was Commander
Naval Forces Europe); Admiral Ernie King – the officer who replaced him as CNO
(and was also Commander-in-Chief US Fleet) made certain of that.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The Army was no different, and watching how General
Marshall – Chief of Staff of the Army - went through the list of colonels and
generals, like death swinging his scythe, is alien to us today.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The question that needs to be answered is how did the
system know how to find good officers who might or might not be decent in peace
time, but who would be excellent candidates for war time, and keep hold of them
until needed, while at the same time grinding on with the bureaucratic process?
Two points come to mind: 1) the senior officer corps was smaller -
everyone knew each other - well. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
It is fascinating to read accounts of Ernie King -
nearly everyone hated him, and nearly everyone, when asked "who is the
smartest guy in the Navy?" would answer "Ernie King." He
was mean, unpleasant professionally and socially, regularly ‘remembered’ people
who crossed him, and was tactically, operationally and strategically brilliant.
The lack of 'padding' in the ranks of captains and admirals, and colonels
and generals is, I believe, one key to the system being able to recognize
talent - the proliferation today of shore billets for senior officers, joint
billets, where people go and once there can hide their marginal knowledge of
naval warfare (or ground warfare for the Army, etc.) is a major problem.
Simply put, the 'system' was small enough that everyone knew of the real
professional strengths and weaknesses of senior officers, recognized excellence
in warcraft and prized it. Some few of these folks would be promoted, but
many more were left to 'hang on.' (General George Patton made brigadier
general in 1940 - he was class of 09, and spent 10 years as a colonel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thirty-one years to make general today
is unheard of – he would have been asked to retire by 1939.) Marginal
officers were promoted to run things administratively, in effect providing
fodder to be thrown out as soon as it was time to promote the truly competent.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
This system really had developed since the late 1800s
with the rise of the war colleges and the rise of professional forces (special
thanks to Presidents Garfield and Arthur who really got it moving) and
congealed in the few years right after WWI. But, arguably the nature of
the system was always such that it had always kept hold of the truly competent
by giving them meaningful jobs, recognizing their competence, but refusing to
promote them. Again, I think this is possible when you have a small
officer corps that is heavily focused on warfighting.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
There is a political and organization philosophy that
describes this, and it come from Hobbes. There is a very Hobbesian
element to this, in the sense that Hobbes' identifies the prime driver of a
government (or in this case, a major bureaucratic element of a government - a
Navy, an Army, etc.) as survival of the entity itself. Thus, a government
will fight not for the survival of the country, but for the survival of the
government - survival of the country is a necessary pre-condition but it is not
what the government is really fighting for. For a Navy or Army there is
no difference: the organization - particularly as embodied by the OPNAV staff
(the OPNAV staff is the large staff that runs the Navy in Washington) or the
Army staff - fights for the survival of the Navy or Army. How that
manifests itself in Washington is in the form of budgets and billets - and the
more senior billets the better. War fighting skills become necessary
'dress' for the real battles inside the halls of Congress (or in the forum -
Caesar was as familiar with the problem as we). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The key here is that the major mechanism for any
'Leviathan' to succeed is through the reward of those who support it.
Hobbes makes his famous point that 'life is solitary, nasty, brutish and
short' but then goes on to explain how the Leviathan makes it less so for those
who support it. And for those who work harder, the Leviathan rewards them
more. If you take care of the Navy, you get promoted. If you REALLY
take care of the Navy, you make flag. And some will make 4-star - if they
go the extra mile. And then, in the end, used up, the Leviathan discards
them and finds another.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
Thus, it is not Naval or Maritime competency, or
leadership competency or ground combat skills, or courage under fire or even
intellect that make you an attractive candidate for flag; it is your ability to
suit the needs of Leviathan, the beast. Does it help to look the part, to
sound good, to wear your uniform well? Sure. But, remember, you are
here to serve Leviathan. Real leaders lead, they take a thing and move it
in a certain direction - usually THEIR direction. But Leviathan already
has a direction. Changing that direction equals risk, and Leviathan – by
its very nature - is risk averse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(All bureaucracies oppose risk and change, because risk and change can
mean the bureaucracy loses strength and funding.) So, real leaders are
not welcome. And the key is that the selection process needs to weed out the
risks before they get someplace where they can threaten the system. And
that is what the flag and general officer selection process really does.
By continually crafting ever more refined 'requirements' for flag, ones
that include ever more joint and staff requirements, we get the opportunity to
further refine the candidates. And the key candidates are the ones with
real budget authority: 3 and 4 star officers - who aren't selected by a board
but are nominated by the services - a self-fulfilling process that ensures no
one really is a hard charging leader who makes 4 stars. (There are still
exceptions - they are usually mistakes, and they never end up as Chiefs of
services where they might be given an opportunity to do something major.)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
How did we get here then? And have the services
always been risk averse? I think it is fair to say that the system was
always trending in this direction. The services were small enough
throughout the 1800s that up until the Civil War it wasn't that much of an
issue. Again, small organizations where the leadership knows each other from
their youth forward in part helps to prevent this. The Civil War of
course revealed a large number of incompetents but thankfully we had Lincoln
and he saw through it all. After that we stumbled for nearly two decades
until Garfield and Secretary of the Navy Hunt decided to build a modern,
sophisticated navy (and Arthur continued it after Garfield's murder, with the
assistance of Secretary of the Navy Chandler). The Army was slow to
follow, but with the end of the Indian Wars started to focus on a professional
force by the end of the century - which yielded dividends in WWI. The
services were able to handle the rapid growth of WWI because of this, and
manage the drawdown, the interwar years and WWII. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
But WWII left so much overhead and non-warfighting
establishment in place that the services immediately began to unravel.
Anyone who has any doubts of this needs to read some of the accounts of
the officers in the Army and Navy who entered service in the 50s and read in
their words just how ‘adrift’ the services were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colin Powel’s and Norm Schwarzkopf’s biographies are both
good places to start, but there are many more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secretary of Defense McNamara then came in and in effect
decided to kill the one thing that was holding it all together, the
'warfighting' or 'brothers in arms' ethos that acted as professional glue to
the service. McNamara wanted the DOD to think like a business and by the
1990s, with every officer having grown up in a system that was all post
McNamara, it did. The cold war, with large amounts of money being spent,
but the 'warfare' mostly being conducted inside the beltway, made Hobbesian
notions of survival central to staff behavior. And thus, we find that the
officers selected for FOGO now function well in Washington, and whether they
function well outside it, it really doesn't matter.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
But what about Junior Officers (JOs)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The JO – to senior officer transition
represents the great cognitive disconnect. The JOs (and many
non-commissioned officers – the senior enlisted (NCOs)) look around and see
what needs to be done to make things work. I vividly recall a
conversation I had (Feb of 2003) with a friend's wife the night before we
headed off to OIF; she asked me if we would win? The answer was
"Sure. We have the finest companies and battalions in the world, far
better than most people think they are, and everyone thinks they are pretty
awesome." What I left unsaid was that our Brigades and Regiments are
very good, divisions good or fair, and corps - who cares? But that wouldn't
matter in the actual major combat. Of course, what came after it.......</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The platoons and companies and battalions are lead by
officers (and NCOs) who came into the military for reasons mostly separate from
the ones that keep most of the colonels and FOGOs in the service. They
train hard, they are very professional, and at the platoon and company level,
they are unforgiving; if you are no good, you are gone. Unfortunately, you are
‘gone’ to Brigade, where you get a decent meal, a tent and eventually, a
promotion. And the JOs look around and more often then not see the wrong
officers promoted to colonel, the wrong officers receiving a Brigade command,
the wrong officers being promoted to brigadier general. (Not universally,
but fewer and fewer good guys get through the higher you go). Simply put,
the real leaders don't make it because the system can't and won't risk them.
(In a simple but telling reflection of this you will often see ‘Sgt.
Percival’ being interviewed and he says all the right things, things that
resonate with the average US citizen - even if occasionally a bit unpolished.
Then you get ‘Major General Percival’ being interviewed and he says
things that annoy, frustrate, even anger the average US citizen. That's
not an accident.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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How do we fix this?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Size and professionalism are starters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Reduce the size of the flag community – massively;
at least 50%, probably 65% would be better. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Take every billet that is listed as a 1 or 2 star
billet and make it a 1 star, for starters. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- 4 star officers only for Combatant Commanders and
the Chiefs of services. </div>
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- Every flag and general officer staff billet - in
every staff<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- should be reduced
one rank.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Move the promotion period for colonels and captains
2 years ‘to the right’ and make it hard and fast except in combat. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Move flag and general officer promotion periods 3
years to the right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Reduce the number of captain and colonel billets by
50%. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Cut every staff by 25% in size.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
- Pass a law that non-deployable (for Navy),
non-combat elements for Army, etc., forces can constitute no more than 40% of the
force.</div>
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- Insist that all flag nominees must be graduates of
their respective service war college.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
That would be a good place to start.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The second thing is that there needs to be some sort
of plan that the services are working off of about which Congress is aware.
Before WWI the Army and the Navy were building and training to fight
against the European powers, there were real measuring sticks, even if poorly
used some times. Between WWI and WWII there were similar metrics.
In the Cold War that sort of worked and sort of didn't, for a lot of
reasons: the Army mess of the 50s, the rush for nuclear forces, Vietnam, the
mess that was the 70s, small elements of professionalism (nuclear submarines,
fighter aviation in the Air Force and Navy, the building of the National
Training Center by the Army, etc.) But this current lack of a real,
cohesive strategy is a major element of the 'freedom' the staffs (Leviathan)
enjoy in leadership selection, personnel management, procurement decisions,
etc., etc. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The fact that two CNOs in a row could publicly lament
that the Navy needed a maritime strategy, without anyone saying something to
the effect: "You're the CNO, aren't you supposed to produce one?" and
then firing them is incredible. That is why discussions about the
difficulty of a strategy in Afghanistan falls on my deaf ears: strategies must
start first with a clear goal: what do we want? If one hasn't been
enunciated, the President is the leader, so give us a goal - any goal.
Then insist on a plan to achieve it, whatever it is. If the
President fails to do so, then it rumbles down the chain of command. But,
from what I have read this is still an open debate. I have read - as I
know all of you have - scores of papers from and about Afghanistan and I can list
probably a half dozen grand strategic goals of the US vis-à-vis Afghanistan.
The only problem is I don't know which is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. And
not knowing means all are and none are. Which makes meaningful planning
impossible. As President Reagan said, an organization with 6 goals is an
organization with no goal.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
In short, the only way to fix the mess is to
recognize that the cognitive disconnect that the average JO and NCO sees (and
it is driving them from the service) can only be fixed from the outside,
through some hard-nosed leadership that wants to fix the services before we
find ourselves in a real hurt-locker. (And the Intelligence Community
isn't really separate from all this). That means a President and a SecDef
who recognize the problem and want to do something about it. It will
require firing a bunch of officers (and senior civilians), setting new
personnel policies, focusing on war fighting, establishing some really painful
metrics, and doing some hard thinking about what we want our military to be
capable of. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
What does this
mean to everyone else?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
First, for
everyone who cares about our nation and our military, learn to take the
comments of our senior officers with a large grain of salt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While there are some good admirals and
generals, there are also many who are incompetent or simply self-serving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t the act of some evil god that
results in ships not being ready, of programs costing too much, of troops being
poorly treated, or bad decisions on battlefields; these are from failures of
leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the ability of
admirals and generals to get what they want, even when Congressmen and Senators
think otherwise is remarkable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are few people on Capital Hill who will not ‘give in’ to the
Pentagon when the ‘Brass’ really wants something.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Second, there
is a key lesson here for any organization: large bureaucracies are destructive
or real performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bureaucracies
are necessary, but their size must be carefully managed and constantly watched,
and the organization must have clear goals – not the goals of the bureaucracy
but the goals of the real leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the US, that’s ‘We the People,’ in a company, that’s the owners – not
the executive board.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 67.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-65621339226718619712012-10-18T09:29:00.001-04:002012-10-18T09:29:35.423-04:00Teaching Leadership<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> I saw an article in the newspaper
today (actually, I saw it in (on?) my laptop) in which the author asserted as a
truth – something that certainly we all know – that leadership can’t be taught,
it can only be modeled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I
suppose that, in the sense that we can’t teach anyone to be Yitzhak Perhlman,
Michael Jordan, Albert Einstein or Ronald Reagan then we can’t teach someone
how to play the violin, or basketball, understand physics or lead a nation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But, just as we can teach
someone, nearly anyone (I exclude myself), to play the violin, or basketball,
or understand physics, we can also teach the basics of leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, it has been my experience that
the overwhelming majority of good leaders started as mediocre leaders but they
applied themselves, they learned from other leaders, from reading, from
experience and from introspection and they taught themselves leadership.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Does that mean that most
leadership classes produce better leaders?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From what I have seen most leadership classes focus on the secondary
characteristics of leadership, focusing either on ‘motivation’ – without
explaining what is needed to motivate someone to follow you, or management (as
opposed to leadership).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the
better leadership courses spend an inordinate amount of time discussing
successful leaders and hoping that students learn through osmosis, having
failed to successfully delineate <u>why</u> various figures were in fact
successful leaders.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So, is it possible to teach
people how to lead, and to be capable, successful leaders?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it must begin with two simple points: The leader must
know ‘where’ he is going, and he must know the ‘simple’ secret of building followers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Where are we going?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All great leaders know ‘where’ they are
going, they have a goal, or perhaps two (rarely if ever do they have three – a
‘great’ leader with three overarching goals will not be great), and those goals
are crystal clear in their minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This goal, also known as the ‘vision’ in some discussions on leadership,
is the sine qua non of leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact, a clear goal is present – at any level of leadership – whenever
we find superior leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whether we are discussing successfully leading a nation, a corporation,
an army or great fleet, or a platoon or a work party cleaning the bilges or the
workshift at a McDonalds, exceptional leadership begins with a clear goal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The converse is also true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Find an organization in which the boss
can’t clearly articulate ‘where we are headed’ and ‘why we are headed there’
and the organization, no matter how well staffed and funded, is adrift and
probably headed for the rocks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So, anyone who wants to lead, and
be effective at it, needs to begin with this simple question: what is the goal?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The next step is for the
prospective leader to put himself in the shoes of those he wishes to lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He needs to ask, and then answer, the
question asked by all prospective followers: Why do I want ‘to go there?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(‘There’ being, of course, the goal the
leader has just identified.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
By connecting the needs and wants
of prospective followers with the achieving of the goals, the leader builds
followers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more personal goals
he is able to satisfy – from simple economics (‘work for me and I will pay you’)
to the satisfaction of emotional goals (notoriety, honors, glory) to
self-actualization – the more that the leader can demonstrate the ties between
these personal goals and the goal of the organization – the more committed the
followers become and the more successful is the organization.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How does a leader connect
individual needs and wants to those of the organization?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must communicate, and he must
communicate his passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Certainly, there must be a concrete plan, a real step-by-step process to
achieve the goal, but the leader must communicate that plan, in words, and in
deeds – through conviction and character, what is known as moral courage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must practice and he must constantly
learn and review his own efforts, work on his shortcomings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the essence of leadership, once the
goal is clear, is found in 5 skills and traits: planning, communication, moral
courage, decision-making, and charisma (which is nothing more than
communicating your passion).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Each one of us comes with many
skills and many weaknesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few of
us communicate clearly at first, no one knows how to make decisions at first –
it is a completely ‘learned’ skill, planning is equally a ‘learned’ skill, and
despite what it seems, both moral courage and charisma are traits that can be
exercised and improved upon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Is there more?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As good leaders will tell you, the process of learning to
lead is a life-long study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great
leaders learn more about leading every day, with every action and every
decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it all begins with a
goal, and for the followers, a reason to follow that goal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-86721446441376604522012-10-06T11:05:00.002-04:002012-10-06T11:05:17.968-04:00Cold Shower<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Gerry Cheevers, Hall of Fame
Goalie and Coach, once famously remarked, when asked why the other team won: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
“Roses are Red, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Violets are Blue, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
They scored Six, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We scored Two.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It isn’t exactly Shakespeare, but
it is a good example of leadership in a tough situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the root, good leadership requires
that the leader – coach, CEO, admiral, president, etc., recognize reality and
admit it to those around him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
things are really going poorly, to stand up and say ‘everything is swell’ is
the wrong answer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There is, of course, the need for
positive thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that is
exactly what you get from, for example, the good but tough coaches who, during
half-time, remind the team that ‘the other guys scored 4 touchdowns in the
first half.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They then go on to
explain - specifically - what needs to be done to turn the game around and win
in the second half.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
That is why what happened in the
first Presidential debate several nights ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether you are an Obama supporter or Romney supporter,
there was little disagreement among viewers that Romney won decisively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fine; there are always going to be
winners in these situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
the other guy can always bounce back and win the next one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the response from the Obama
campaign, rather than brushing it off and saying: “Well, good show by Romney,
but we’ll win the next two rounds,” responded, 24 hours later, with the bizarre
comment that “Romney lied.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Besides sounding childish – which hardly motivates your followers, it
fails at the most fundamental levels of leadership.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
No coach never goes into the
locker room at half time and says “they cheated, you guys are really
winning.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Perhaps some coach has,
but he wasn’t coach for long.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leading
requires many things, but one of the most important qualities is ability to see
clearly the world around you, and the honesty, the integrity, to admit it when
you have failed at something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Problem solving, whether at Alcoholics Anonymous or in the Boardroom, or
anywhere in between, begins with recognizing that you have a real problem and
then understanding the nature and extent of that problem.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It doesn’t matter what you are
doing: political debate, football game, introduction of a new product line,
opening a new factory, running a new ad campaign, or a thousand other events –
if you get it wrong you need to recognize that fact, acknowledge that fact and
then assess what went wrong and why and then work to fix it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nearly any problem can be turned
around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But failing to accept that
you have even made a mistake is often ‘fatal’ to virtually any enterprise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every leader – new or grizzled, young
or old – must be willing to accept the ‘cold shower’ of reality, recognize
where they have made a mistake, and using that knowledge, adjust their efforts
and move on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one of the key
foundation stones of any success.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1810916883063809470.post-3211220930171058042012-09-21T16:23:00.002-04:002012-09-21T16:23:51.966-04:00Try Planning<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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--></style> Recently the Virginia Department
of Transportation (VDOT) decided to do some work on the bridge tunnels in the
Hampton Roads area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(For those not
familiar with the road network, Norfolk – Chesapeake – Virginia Beach –
Portsmouth and Suffolk are connected to Hampton, Newport and the main corridor
to Richmond and the rest of the state via three bridges: the Hampton Roads
Bridge Tunnel, the Monitor Merrimac Bridge Tunnel, and the James River Bridge.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As everyone knows who has visited this
area even once, traffic backs up on these bridges fairly quickly and anything
that causes any sort of delay on one bridge not only means a monumental back-up
on that specific bridge, there is also quickly a build-up of traffic on the
other two bridges.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So, it was no surprise that when
VDOT decided several weeks ago to use a weekend to work on two bridges
simultaneously the result was some truly prodigious weekend backups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was a surprise was that apparently
some of the folks at VDOT were surprised.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In a completely different, and
much more serious incident, the US Ambassador to Libya was killed in a
terrorist attack on September 11<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three other members of the Embassy staff were also
killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elsewhere across the Mid
East US Embassies and Consulates were attacked, several were briefly overrun,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In response there were
several remarks made by the State department’s various spokesmen that left a
good deal to be desired.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
While different in many respects,
both of these incidents can also serve to point out that basics of good
leadership would have helped avoid many of these problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In each case simple planning would have
revealed that there were shortfalls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the more mundane case of VDOT
and the tunnels, how hard would it have been to simply look at basic traffic
volumes on weekends and recognize that closing more than one bridge at a time
creates a very large traffic problem?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact, any number of people would have been able to provide that kind
of input, but the planners at VDOT failed to seek out or heed such input.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, the leadership of VDOT failed
to ask fundamental questions about the plan, and about expected consequences of
closing two bridge-tunnels at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is worth considering what would have happened if there had been some
other crisis while the two bridges were closed and the huge traffic backlog
already existed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was VDOT’s
crisis control plan in such a circumstance?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously, there was none.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were no dire consequences, but VDOT leadership
nevertheless failed in their responsibilities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Similarly, there was a failure of
leadership at the State Department; a failure to have contingency plans in
place that everyone understood and could execute; a failure to have approved,
reasonable and appropriate messages that supported the US Mission ready for
release; a failure to take reasonable security measures for an unreasonable
situation (the anniversary of September 11<sup>th</sup>) – the senior
leadership at the State Department should have been aware of the status of
contingency plans, pre-planned responses, security status, etc., at each
embassy and should have been checking to make sure each was adjusted as the
date approached as well as in accordance with any intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The leadership failed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The point in all this is not to
try to compare a traffic jam to an attack on an embassy or the assassination of
an Ambassador and his staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rather, the intent is to point out that in issues mundane or critical,
basic leadership and basic planning skills are the same; a good leader, who
asks simple questions and insists on reasonable planning for routine
contingencies and for crises, can avoid a wide range of dire consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time, a failure of
leadership to understand the basics of what the various elements of their
organization is doing, a failure to ensure that routine contingency plans are
sound, thorough AND are understood, and a failure to take reasonable actions
during ‘unreasonable times’ (such as the anniversary of September 11<sup>th</sup>)
results in the death of four, and serious damage to US image and interests.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Leadership is not always
easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But failing to plan, and
failing to ensure that reasonable precautions are taken can make a difficult
situation much, much worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
people consider basic planning as unnecessary, believing that they can wing
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the simple truth is that
few can, even for short periods of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Good leaders are always working through possible scenarios in their
heads, and constantly challenging their subordinates with ‘what ifs.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Bad leaders let bridges back up
and let embassies get overrun.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Pete O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05104571435352565930noreply@blogger.com0