From the Green Notebook

This post originally appeared over at The Military Leader. It is the 4th in a great series on luck in the military. I encourage you to read all the posts sequentially then reflect on the role luck has played in your life. 

1.) The Role of Luck in Becoming a Successful Officer by Drew Steadman

2.) Proactive Luck by Nathan Finney

3.) Luck Be a Lady by DoctrineMan!!!

n 1996, ninety-eight men and women successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, fifteen climbers lost their lives. On May 10 of that year, a series of mishaps mixed with a powerful storm to create one of the deadliest days in the mountain’s history. The story of the two teams, led by Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, has become famous due to the blockbuster movie Everest and several books written by the survivors.

Why did some climbers make it to the top and back to basecamp that day, while others lost their lives? John Krakauer, one of the survivors and author of Into Thin Air wrote the following:

“Truth be told, climbing Everest has always been an extraordinary dangerous undertaking and doubtless always will be…the strongest guides in the world are sometimes powerless to save even their own lives. Four of my teammates died not so much because Rob Hall’s systems were faulty-indeed, nobody’s were better-but because on Everest it is the nature of systems to break down with a vengeance.”

Krakauer’s remarks highlight the point that when it comes to Everest type endeavors, it is not only training and preparation that matter – it is also luck. Therefore, we must take the time to reflect on the sources of our successes and failures to better understand our own strengths and weaknesses. By doing so we avoid two pitfalls that can affect later performance: committing fundamental attribution error and developing an overconfidence bias. Both of these pitfalls can leave us blinded and we won’t focus on areas where we need to improve, or we miss out on chance opportunities, or worse, we hitch our personal value to our professional progression (or lack thereof).

A twenty-year military career can be a lot like climbing Everest. However, the summit is different for everyone. For some, the summit may be battalion or brigade command or command sergeant major position. For others, it might be reaching retirement. Regardless, all leaders graduate basic training or their commissioning source and set out from basecamp to conquer the mountain. Along the way, back-to-back deployments, weak subordinates, bad bosses, bad evaluation reports, family issues, and a series of other storms, avalanches, and ice collapses can keep us from reaching the top.

Many of these pitfalls are beyond our control, and are inherent to a military career. On the other hand, getting paired with great team members, hard-working and competent subordinates, excellent timing of assignments, the luck of former bosses, and the perfect mixture of leader personalities can be instrumental in the positive direction of our careers. Much like Everest, no matter how capable you are or well-planned your climb/career may be, luck plays a role.

When we fail to reflect on the sources of our success and failures, we run the risk of committing fundamental attribution error. When things are going well, we tend to attribute success to our own competence, leadership style, or system. We discount the role other factors play in the outcome, to include chance. This blinds us from our weaknesses, and we then fail to address the areas where we need improvement, which could prove fatal as we move further up the mountain that is our career.

Think of the toxic company commander who receives a superior rating because his company always outperforms other companies. That company commander may think they walk on water, but in fact they lucked out, the organization was carried by a cast of strong platoon sergeants, an excellent first sergeant, and motivated soldiers who would have performed well, regardless of who was holding the guidon. Eventually, as he climbs the ladder of success, his leadership approach backfires, and both he and the organization fails. On numerous occasions, I personally blamed incidents in my organization on “bad luck”, but never once uttered the words “good luck” when we achieved a successful outcome.

Second, when we neglect the presence of luck in our careers, we begin to develop overconfidence bias. Success over time builds confidence, which is a good thing. However, continued success can quickly turn into arrogance. This is usually the crossroads where toxic leaders made a wrong turn in their careers. Overconfidence bias derailed some of our greatest military leaders to include McClellan, MacArthur, and even recent ones who thought they had risen above the system. Morgan McCall Jr., the author of High Flyers: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders, posits that “the net effect of arrogance as it grows over time is that once effective people become increasingly out of touch and less effective.”

Like climbing Everest, the main ingredients for success in a military career are preparation, training, and a good team. Luck plays a non-negligible role and must be recognized, both to leverage those lucky opportunities when available, but also to ensure we don’t get too focused on ourselves or think all success stems from our performance alone.

Finally, not everyone is going to make it to the professional summit and back, and when we don’t make it, we can’t stake our personal value on the success of our careers. Sometimes, no matter how good you are, lady luck just doesn’t have your number.

 

Since General Milley, the Army Chief of Staff, was sworn in he has stated on numerous occasions that his number one priority is readiness. While the message is very clear, I honestly think internalizing it is a bit harder. For those like me who cut their teeth on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where deployment dates were known, and every unit had a timeline to prepare against, the word “readiness” might not stir the passion that it should.

If that is the case for you, I would like to offer up something I read a few years ago that helps me give the word “readiness” the emotion and weight it deserves. It is a passage from an article about the well-known Task Force Smith at the outbreak of the Korean War. While one of the main premises of the article has since been debunked, and we now understand that the failures of that unit extended well beyond the tactical level, I’d like you to focus on a single paragraph. Below is Sergeant Bill Meninger’s account of the night he was notified that he was going to deploy in defense of the 38^th Parallel:

“When the invasion came, of course everyone was interested, but it never occurred to us that we Americans serving in Japan in the Army of Occupation would ever get involved. For me, it was a typical Sunday night in Japan. I was at home with my family. It had rained all day. My wife was giving the kids a bath prior to putting them to bed and I was reading a book and nursing a drink when the call came for me to report to headquarters! The wife wanted to know what the call was about. ‘Something must be wrong with the next week’s schedule.’ I answered. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’ (Which happened to be eleven months later.)”

When there are days that I struggle with keeping my eye on readiness, I place myself in SGT Meninger’s shoes. I think about that night and the experience that awaited him and over five million U.S. Service Members and their families.

I then ask myself “What if?”

What if I was the guy in the chair drinking a beer and reading a book?

What if that was my wife giving our son a bath?

Or

What if he was my NCO?

When I do this one-minute exercise in reflection, it makes readiness very real to me. It brings the “Why” behind what I do into clear focus. It makes physical training, maintenance on Mondays, and field exercises even more critical. As soon as I finish a professional development book, I immediately pick up another because I am not sure if I will have more time. I invest more in the family support structure of the organization now, because I am not sure if I will have the opportunity later. Finally, I do my best to make the most out of the time I have now with my family, because I’m not sure I will get the chance next year.

We live in a dangerous world. As leaders we must ensure that our organizations are ready to fight tonight. If you find internalizing the word “readiness” a bit harder when you don’t have a deployment date to a combat zone on the calendar, I encourage you take a moment and put yourself in the shoes of SGT Meninger. Any one of us could be a phone call away from war.

Recently, I asked followers on Twitter for books recommendations. The response was amazing. Fellow military leaders, journalists, academics, and even a Ukranian offered up suggestions. This guest post by Nathan Wike is a continuation of that conversation on Twitter. I encourage you to read Nathan’s review of Rifleman Dodd and check out the entire conversation here.  

By: Nathan Wike

The Book

The book is short, only 151 pages, and pocket-sized. While this may not matter in the grand scheme of things, when packing space is at a premium it is nice to have a cargo-pocket sized book for long patrols outside the wire and short trips to the latrine. The book is a work of historical fiction, set in the Peninsular War during the Napoleonic Wars, eventually known to the French high command as the Spanish Ulcer. It was first published in 1932 by C.S. Forester, who is also the author of somewhat better known works such as The African Queen and the Horatio Hornblower Series. It is a well-researched  and structured book, with the plot possessing a lively pace. In essence, this book is very entertaining and highly readable for anyone.

The Story

The story follows Matthew Dodd, a Sussex native and rifleman in the 95th (Rifle) Regiment of Foot. It is worth noting that at its inception the 95th regiment was itself unique in the British Army, stemming from its experiences in North America in the late 18th century. It was armed with rifles, wore dark green uniforms, and trained primarily as light infantry, scouts, and skirmishers. As the 95th screens the general withdrawal of the British Army, under the command of The Duke of Wellington, behind the Lines of Torres Vedras (known colloquially as The Lines), Dodd is separated from his unit. On the surface, the rest of the story revolves around Dodd’s single-minded quest to accomplish one thing, rejoin his old unit. But other themes are present throughout the book, occurring in parallel as Dodd pursues his ultimate objective. Dodd’s exploits provide insights for the soldier, the tactician, the operational artist, and even strategist.

The Soldier

At its lowest level, war subsumes and consumes individual men and women. This novella does justice to the life and death struggle of those fighting in Portugal during the Peninsular War. The ever present danger for the Portuguese is that their villages and isolated farmsteads are discovered and subjected to the depredations of the French. Their men are executed as bandits/guerrillas in the most brutal ways, women and children are carried off to be raped and murdered regardless of age, and their very homes and communities are served death sentences as French formations requisition and ravage in search of sustenance.

Far from being a monolithic enemy however, the individual French soldiers are perhaps equally pathetic and unfortunate. Every day they face starvation. Every day their numbers dwindle from disease, malnutrition, and the heinous acts of violence perpetrated upon them by the native population. Overlaying this constant struggle is an almost palpable sense of frustration as the French soldiers question why they are fighting in such a backwards, desolate country, stagger futilely from one post to another and back again with no rhyme or reason, and wonder how anyone, let alone an army, could be expected to survive. Throughout the novella however, one can only be impressed at the determination and ingenuity of the French as they struggle for survival, and how they continue to take the fight to the enemy in spite of the hardships. It goes without saying however, that the extreme circumstances coupled with the constant, brutal style of warfare have profound and lasting effects on the psyche of every character in the book

This contrasts sharply with the British soldiers, who emerge after spending the months covered in the story safely ensconced behind The Lines being well fed, well supplied, and untouched by the struggles going on outside. They make light of the haggard appearance of the wretches they encounter, and openly wonder how anyone could have survived in such a place.

This is the world Dodd is plunged into after being separated from the British Army. Every day is one where he wonders if he will be able to eat. When he does find food it is often the most unpalatable sort imaginable, such as a portion of raw liver taken from a dead cart horse. Every day is another where he risks capture and a brutal death as his continued exploits infuriate the French. It is possible feel the fear and adrenaline as Dodd is pursued, and the intolerable agony and boredom of remaining motionless for hours as he seeks to avoid detection. Compounding his difficulties, he cannot read or write in his native tongue, nor can he speak or understand French, Spanish, or Portuguese and the frustration between him and his companions is obvious. Regardless, he intrinsically understands the value of killing French soldiers, and disrupting their operations whenever possible. Throughout the book he displays outstanding disciplined initiative, determination, and single-mindedness. His actions always serve the British tactical, operational, and strategic objectives on the Iberian Peninsula.

The Tactician

It is an aspect of guerrilla war that a small number of determined fighters can tie down many times their number. That the guerrillas can be everywhere and nowhere. That while their attacks may be insignificant by themselves, when they occur again and again and day after day they begin to take their toll. More by accident than design, Dodd finds himself the leader of Portuguese guerrillas at various points and his experience as a rifleman from the 95th makes him an ideal guerrilla. He carries a rifle which is effective well beyond the range of a smooth bore musket. His uniform is the camouflage of its day, he knows how to use cover and concealment, and he is an expert in utilizing basic movement techniques. Consciously and unconsciously Dodd trains his Portuguese allies in rudimentary guerrilla tactics, also imbuing them with the discipline necessary to continuously operate against a determined French enemy. With these attributes, and the timely exploitation of opportunities both he and his companions strike repeatedly with tremendous effect.

The French responses to these actions offer useful tactical lessons as well. Though under constant pressure, given enough time, they prove to be adaptable and ruthlessly efficient in waging a counter-guerrilla campaign. Their greatest successes, or near successes come when they engage in tactics similar to their adversaries. Dodd is almost killed several times by mutually supporting small patrols or a lone sniper. Also they find success when the French bring their numerical superiority, relative advantages in equipment, and hardiness acquired from years of wartime experience to bear. They are able to seal off and totally clear relatively large areas, though at exorbitant costs. As fantastic as Dodd’s story is, it is made all the more so by his luck in repeatedly avoiding death or capture.

The Operational Artist

The French are plagued by operational difficulties. The terrain is rocky and mountainous, the infrastructure primitive, and mission command is tenuous at best. Lines of communication are non-existent. The difficulties are well summarized by a passage in the book:

Not so much as a letter — far less a convoy — had reached the French since the time, three months back, when they had crossed the frontier…On the only occasion when they had been able to send news of themselves back to France the messenger had been escorted by 600 men who had had to fight every yard of the road and had left half their numbers by the wayside.

Forces smaller than a battalion risk being overwhelmed. It is only when they mass in large numbers that the French are relatively safe. However the Iberian Peninsula is described as a place where “small armies are defeated, and big armies starve.” The French army not only starves, but it suffers for want of medicine and the evacuation of its sick and wounded. Additionally it cannot be provided with building materials, new equipment, fresh mounts and pack animals, or any of the sundry items needed to maintain an army of that era. No better off are the actual inhabitants of the country and their guerrilla fighters. Subjected to the foraging of the French, and the scorched earth tactics of the withdrawing allies, the Portuguese and Dodd experience their own difficulties in sustaining operations.

The British Army with its Portuguese allies, in contrast hold a strong defensive position with interior lines of communication, and possess naval superiority that enables them to be well supplied. When they finally sally out, it is in support of a broader strategic plan, with soldiers who are well prepared and extremely confidant.

The Strategist

Though only briefly alluded to in the story, the larger political/strategic context may be easily inferred from the reading, and a rudimentary knowledge of history. When referenced it is stated that, though Dodd is too simple to understand it, the importance of the British hanging on on the Peninsula during the period covered in the book enabled the British government to weather a political crisis at home, and keep the country in the war. Hanging on also preserved the British Army’s foothold on the European Continent, which was almost entirely dominated by Napoleon. Furthermore Dodd’s ordeal occurs as the French Army is being reduced and exhausted all around him, by the conditions as much as by the enemy. Finally, Dodd’s ordeal takes place immediately prior to Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia, the commencement and ultimate failure of which would enable the European allies to assail the French Empire on all fronts.

Military strategy is where the French fail. Judging by their actions they are clearly not interested in winning any hearts or minds in Spain or Portugal. The do not attempt to administer, or govern the places visited in the book, no do leaders even make a pretense of preventing their men from raping, murdering, and pillaging. Their single-minded drive to bring the British to battle causes them to overextend. They cling to their position on the peninsula until the effects of the campaign, coupled with logistical shortfalls make the position completely untenable. Worst of all the French surrender the initiative, and can only react to what the British and their guerrilla allies do.

The Duke of Wellington’s military strategy however, is straightforward and well conceived. He withdraws his armies to a practically impregnable position, while rendering the countryside inhospitable to the enemy. Using Britain’s superiority at sea, he builds strength on land. Because of these, and their aforementioned difficulties, the French are unable to mount a concerted effort to force the British from the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, Wellington does not strike until the time is right, and his armies are ready.

Rifleman Dodd as a character exhibits many of the qualities one hopes to find in a soldier. In some ways, he exhibits the modern day warrior ethos. He serves as an example that is worthy of emulation, regardless of the time period. His drive and perseverance, and his dedication to duty are inspiring. Rifleman Dodd the novella however provides an excellent overview of the tactical, operational, and strategic issues at hand during the Peninsular War. The successes and failures of the combatants are worthy of examination, and serve as a excellent basis for further study. It contains many lessons for the military professional, and it is an fine addition to any military library.

Nathan Wike is an officer in the U.S. Army, and member of the Military Writer’s Guild. The opinions expressed are his alone, and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

 

 

Whether you are a hard-charging company commander or battalion-level “Iron Major”, we all want to lead productive and effective organizations. We don’t want to work late hours, waste people’s time, or create unnecessary workloads and hardships. Often though, the crush of administrative requirements and last minute taskings, mixed with our own leadership flaws, produces what I call “Sisyphus Syndrome”.

If you recall, Sisyphus is the character from Greek mythology who was sentenced by Zeus to roll a boulder up to the top of a hill.  With back-breaking effort, he pushed the large stone up the incline. Just as he was about to reach the top, the boulder gets away from him and rolls back to the bottom. His hard work was all for not. This tragic scene plays out for eternity.

Most of us know what needs to be done, but that is not the problem. It is how we go about doing it that is all wrong. We invest our energy, time, and intellect in the wrong areas. In the end, we become a modern-day Sisyhpus and our flurry of activity, long hours, and super-awesome power point presentations, end up at the end of a long week as a boulder sitting at the base of a hill.

In his latest book, Smarter Faster Better, Charles Duhigg offers leaders insights into helping us figure out how to improve our organizations’ levels of productivity and avoid turning our staffs and companies into the trials of Sisyphus. He writes, “Productivity isn’t about working more or sweating harder. It’s not simply a product of spending longer hours at your desk or making bigger scarifies…Productivity is about making certain choices in certain ways.” In the book, he offers eight ideas that when connected together can lead to a greater increase in productivity for our organizations.

1. Motivation. If we want to motivate the people who work for us to accomplish more, we have to give them opportunities to make choices that provide them with a sense of autonomy and self-determination. Research has shown that a prerequisite to motivation is feeling we have some level of control over our actions. I believe this is achieved when we put our leadership philosophy of mission command into practice. For example, instead of telling a 2LT exactly how to run a weapons range, give him or her intent and time and let them work through the problem. If you are leading a staff, make a subordinate a project manager and let them develop planning timelines, run working groups, and take ownership of the project or event. The key is to provide them with a certain level of autonomy.

2. Teams. We all would all love to have every member of our team be of the highest caliber, but that usually isn’t the case. As, Colonel Ross Coffman observed a few months, we all want our subordinates to be Captain America, but the reality for most is that we end up with Captain Murica. Duhigg points out that good teams succeed not because of the all stars on the team, but because of the norms of the team. He writes, “The right norms could raise the collective intelligence of mediocre thinkers.” If we want our organizations to be productive, we have to set the right culture and climate. Many leaders become frustrated by the caliber of leaders who work for them and instead of creating a positive organizational culture; they turn it toxic, furthering the problem of productivity.

3. Focus. It’s easy to lose focus when we are trying to balance commanders’ priorities, discipline issues, and training readiness. Many of us spend a majority of our time in leadership positions in “react mode” instead of being in control of the situation. Duhigg suggests that we develop mental models for how future events should play out. He argues, “Models help us by providing a scaffold for the torrent of information that constantly surrounds us. Models help us choose where to direct our attention, so we can make decisions, rather than react.” Think through different scenarios you may face in the near future, and the actions you should take to ensure a successful outcome. When they happen in real life, you will be able to better understand the problem and avoid the white noise.

4. Goal Setting. How many times have your best of intentions fallen flat on their face? Whether it’s proper training management or a quality leader development program, he recommends that we develop SMART goals to aid us in accomplishing what we actually set out to do. The SMART system translates intentions into concrete plans by making us breakdown our goals into steps, developing a timeline to achieve them, and finally to measure the effectiveness of our approach.

5. Managing Others. When we talk about commitment, we usually refer to our collective commitment to the organization. Rarely, do we discuss it in terms of our commitment to our subordinates. If we want to maximize their productivity, we have to show that we are committed to their personal successes. We do this by listening, to their ideas, allowing their mistakes to become the building blocks to experience, and having their backs when they fail.

6. Decision-Making. As a leader, decision-making is probably one of the greatest sources of stress that we encounter. A wrong decision can lead our organizations down the wrong paths, resulting in missed opportunities, extra work, and even quite a bit of back-tracking. To make better decisions, we have to make sure we start with the right assumptions. Duhugg suggests that the strength of our assumptions are based on our experiences. The more experiences we have, the better our assumptions will be. This is why self-development is critical to our overall growth as leaders. Reading and reflection can help us internalize our past experiences along with the experiences of others, which we gain through personal study.

7. Innovation. Many think you have to creative and think of new ideas in order to be innovative. Duhigg says this is a myth. He argues that innovation is simply the combination of existing ideas instead of the development of something new. If you want to try and spur innovation in your organizations, look for ways you can borrow from existing practices to make a system more efficient. He also adds, that adding a little bit of stress and tension can also spur innovation. Over the years, I’ve learned that if you put a cap on the amount of hours subordinates are allowed to work in the day, they began finding innovative ways to become more efficient and make the best use of their time.

8. Absorbing Data. Finally, whether you’re receiving an operations order from a higher headquarters or sitting in a command and staff, there is only so much information your brain can absorb before it shuts down. He calls this information blindness. He writes:

The quality of people’s decisions generally gets better as they receive more relevant information. But then their brain reaches a breaking point when the data becomes too much. They start ignoring options or making bad choices or stop interacting with the information completely.

He recommends a couple of approaches to avoid information blindness. One such approach is to do something with the data. In other words, write it down. Take notes. Make charts in your green notebook. Don’t just keep it on the slide or on the paper.

I highly recommend Smarter, Faster, Better along with his previous book, Power of Habit, to anyone in a leadership position or to those who are just interested in improving their own levels of productivity. Unlike many of the books in this genre, his concepts easily transfer to military organizations. Many of us spend our weeks pushing boulders up hills, only to see them roll back to the bottom. Intentionally focusing on productivity is the only way to avoid Sisyphus Syndrome.

Have a good book or article that helped you improve your productivity? Please leave it in the comments section below!

 

On March 10th the New America Foundation and Arizona State University will host their second annual Future of War Conference. The conference is streamed live, so it’s a great opportunity to take a brief pause in the work week and think about the challenges presented by the future of war and the opportunities we have now to prepare to address them. I’ve included a link to their website and a brief summary of the conference below.

Check out their website for more information!

The Future of War Conference brings together a collection of experts to address key issues and challenges arising from the changing nature of conflict and war. The conference is a part of initiative linking New America, a nonpartisan research public policy institute and civic enterprise, and Arizona State University, one of the nation’s largest public research universities.

The event will explore a variety of topics, including sessions on such topics as:

• What is the Future of Land Warfare? Air? Sea? Space and Cyberwarfare?
• Where will the innovation that shapes the future military come from?
• How will Human Performance Modification shape the future of war?
• What are the key lessons for war from the latest Social Science research?
• What is the future of Hybrid Warfare?
• How is Open Source Intelligence + Citizen Journalism shaping our understanding of war?
• What lessons does Syria have for how the wars of the future will begin and end?
• How will the integration of women in combat role shape the US military of 2025?
• How will war be reported in the future, and by whom?

The attendees will include military officers and government policymakers, as well as experts in fields that range from history and international affairs to human rights and law. The confirmed speakers include General Mark A. Milley, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army; Admiral John M. Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations; Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, Director, Army Capabilities Integration Center and Deputy Commanding General, Futures, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command; Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America and former Director of Policy Planning, U.S. State Department; Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King’s College London; Peter W. Singer, New America Strategist and Senior Fellow and author, Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War; Sharon Burke, New America Fellow and former Assistant Secretary of Defense; Douglas Ollivant, ASU and New America Future of War Senior Fellow, former Director for Iraq at the National Security Council, and Partner, Mantid International; Janine di Giovanni, Middle East Editor, Newsweek; David Kilcullen, Founder and Chairman, Caerus Global Solutions and New America Future of War Senior Fellow; Tom Ricks, New America Senior Advisor for National Security and Contributing Editor, Foreign Policy; Stathis Kalyvas, Professor and Director of the Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence, Yale University; Michael Semple, former Deputy Director to the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan; Nir Rosen, Special Advisor, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and journalist; Peter Bergen, New America Vice President, Professor of Practice, Arizona State University, and author of the new book United States of Jihad; Sharon Weinberger, National Security Reporter, The Intercept; Vivian Salama, U.S. Political Editor and former Baghdad Bureau Chief, Associated Press; Major Joe Byerly, U.S. Army blogger, The Green Notebook and Founding Member, The Military Writers Guild; and T. Gibbons Neff, Staff Writer, Washington Post and former infantryman, U.S. Marine Corps.

By LTC Scott Shaw

In a recent article, US Army Major and Strategist Matt Cavanaugh states there are three reasons that military officers do not write and thus do not contribute to our profession: the failure to wield the pen, the failure to wield the mind, and the failure to wield the heart.[1] He uses the three characters that Dorothy meets on the Yellow Brick Road, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion as the vehicle to illustrate his argument. It’s a very thought provoking piece, however I would like to add a fourth reason using Matt’s vehicle – Dorothy herself.

Dorothy, as you likely recall, is moved by tornado to the Land of Oz where she lands on the Wicked Witch of the East killing her, angering the Wicked Witch of the West, and is directed to the Wizard himself, picking up the three fellows along the way. Further, Dorothy is then captured by (then kills) the Wicked Witch of the East, meets the Wizard, helps solve all the fellows’ problems, readies for a balloon ride back to Kansas, and magically is transported back home. Or was she there in the first place? It was a very busy day for Dorothy, who constantly had to adapt to an ever-changing environment while coaching her new friends along the way.

What was missing from Matt’s argument is the fourth reason that military officers don’t write – a lack of time. I’m a Soldier, a Leader (a Lieutenant Colonel of US Army Infantry currently serving as a battalion commander), a husband with a working spouse, and a father to two kids. With regard to professional military writing, I have published one article, written a book review, and published a document to friends on my lessons learned in command over the past two years. I blog a little, have a Twitter feed, and work the organization’s Facebook page with a couple of our Lieutenants. I will acknowledge that I am not living up to my potential as a military officer writer right now. If I want to write and publish, I either have to take time away from the Soldiers I lead or my family.

Many military officers are like Dorothy. As we rise up the ranks, each assignment brings a new environment with a new cast of characters, and new set of problems to solve. Every new job requires us to “figure it out” all over again. It is during these assignments, where we are absorbing a great deal of valuable experience, that officers could benefit from coaching from others on how to be efficient, some muse to inspire them to write, and some top cover to get it done.

A lack of knowledge of where or how to be published is another time consumer for a beginning military officer writer. There are many venues for ideas to be published. You don’t have to register your own URL and start blogging, but many quality military officers and others have. All one needs to do is check the blogosphere for a like-minded thinker. If immediate feedback on published work is not desired, there are many professional bulletins from the US Army that are willing to publish articles from military officers on relevant topics to their audience. From personal experience, those functional branches are not branch parochial about taking articles from authors outside of their branch. Infantry, Armor, or the Fires Bulletin are three such examples.

I applaud the call for military officers to pick up the pen with courage and intellectual rigor. We need to be pushed to write more but I think that coaching others and providing top cover is the effective manner. Military officers are a group of people who sacrifice much in the defense of our Nation. We need some looking after from those who have better time management skills and the ability to provide a shelter or advice during times of business. We could likely also use a muse with some ideas. Matt’s idea prompted me to write this. It is my hope that this may further the discussion.

[1] For the purpose of this article, I use “military officer” but this article is aimed at those non-commissioned officers and junior enlisted who write as well.

Further evidence that the Army is shrinking is found in a recent Army Times article, which announced that 20% of screened captains would be told it’s time to hang up the uniform. For those left behind, it could produce the devastating side effect of competition between leaders to not get cut or to be the best. An unhealthy culture of competition is the last thing we need right now.

If you walk into any combat unit in the United States Army, you’ll find a competitive thermostat with the setting stuck on high. Those who wear the uniform love to compete-no matter the event or the task. This point became very clear to me a few years ago when two Soldiers burst into my office demanding that I participate in an impromptu taste test. They asked that I sample both of their chicken wings so I could declare the winner of the best hot wing recipe. Like I said, everything is a competition. As leaders, we need to be careful that we do not develop a culture of competition within our units, but one focused on personal and professional growth.

Competition isn’t a bad thing, but we should recognize that it has the ability to blind individuals and organizations, holding them back from taking the necessary steps to improve performance. When we compete, we don’t just worry about our own performance; we spread our focus out among those we compete against. For example, a competitive officer might hold their cards close, instead of sharing best practices. I discovered the negative effects of competition during a recent gunnery qualification exercise. Throughout the gunnery tables, I found myself being pulled towards competition, wanting MY crew to be the best. I watched others succumb to the same mindset; individuals cut corners or made mistakes because they were worried about the score. Competition outweighed training. For me personally, it took a conscious effort to maintain focus on the fundamental tasks at hand, and not worry about how everyone else was doing.

While the Army continues to shrink, leaders need to ensure that the culture of their organizations don’t promote a “Top Gun” mentality- the need to be the best, even at the expense of others. One such way to turn down the thermostat of competition is to bring focus back on the “Why” we serve, “Why” we train, and “Why” our nation needs us.

Instilling the “Why”

A squadron commander once taught me that if we want to take the focus away from competition and align it towards everyone improving their individual or organizational performance, we have to make sure everyone understands the “Why” behind what we do.

In Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why, he tells the story of Ben Comen, a young man with cerebral palsy who competes in a race against healthy runners. After all the runners finish the race, they return to run alongside Ben for the remainder of the course. He is the only competitor who is helped up by the other runners when he falls. He is also the only runner who completes the race with everyone cheering for him. Sinek points out that when we compete against everyone else, no one wants to help us. In that particular race, Ben knew his “why”, he wasn’t competing against anyone else. He was running to challenge and better himself.

Think about the impacts of that idea on our training and our organizational culture.  If gunnery crews weren’t competing against each other for “Top Gun”, and everyone focused on improving their individual skills or the skills of their unit. If platoon leaders weren’t worried about getting the best OER, but worried about making the Company better.

Time and Place for Competition

 While I wrote this to argue about the downside to competition, I also think there is a place for it within our organizations. Physical competitions, squad competitions, etc., help promote unit pride as well as provide an azimuth check for leaders on the training they’ve already conducted.

This Requires Leadership

 The night before we began shooting our final qualification out at gunnery, the commander sat down with all the leaders and brought everyone back to the “Why”. We weren’t out there for scores, we were out there to improve our ability to fight. We weren’t out there to compete against each other, we were out there to get the most out of the training opportunity. With that critical conversation, the “Why” began to permeate throughout the organization. His words adjusted the thermostat.

As the Army continues to shrink, leaders will need to monitor the competitive thermostat of their organizations.  When we see subordinates start losing the “Why”, it is up to us to help remind to them. In doing so, we will help those around us to refocus on improving themselves, the organization,  and be ready when we are called upon to fight and win our Nation’s wars.

By David Hodne and Joe Byerly

Has the Army lost the art of training management?

Recently, I coauthored an article with Colonel David Hodne answering this question.  It was published in the February 2016 issue of Army Magazine.   Thanks to the editors, I am able to provide you with an exclusive .pdf copy of the article.  Click the link below to download a copy.

The Evolving Art of Training Management

If you have any comments, please provide them in the Comments Section below!

For the last two years, I’ve compiled a year-end reading list to share the books I’ve completed over a 12 month period. This is one of my favorite posts, because it forces me to reflect on a year’s worth of books and take a holistic look at what I’m consuming.

As always, I never start out with a lock-step reading plan. Over the course of the year, my reading interests takes off in unexpected directions.  This year I found myself diving into the world of fiction, leader biographies, and even war poetry.  I also began reviewing books for professional journals which brought new books to my bookshelf.

One of the many benefits of not having a reading plan is an openness to recommendations. Many of the works on this list were either recommended to me from friends or titles I came across from you sharing what you’re reading via social media.

While I’ve listed out my five favorite books of 2015, I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed all of them and each proved invaluable to my personal development. After you read this post, please share your recommendations in the comments sections below.

My Top 5 Books of 2015

1. Carnage and Connectivity: Landmarks in the Decline of Modern Military Power by Dr. David Betz

If you read the Army Operating Concept and the Human Dimension White Paper, the authors create the perception that technology and connectivity are vastly changing the face of warfare. Dr. Betz presents some worthy arguments which counter this notion, forcing readers to think deeply about the nature and character of warfare in modern times. This book is a quick read and ripe for highlights and notes.

2.) Stop Talking and Start Communicating by Geoffrey Tumlin

All to often we take the skill of communication for granted and spend of lot of time and wasted energy on Facebook updates, tweets, and talking, but not necessarily communicating. Dr. Tumlin offers readers some counter-intuitive approaches to improving our communication skills. Since finishing the book, I’ve adopted several of his approaches with great results.

3.) War Stories from the Future by the Atlantic Council

First, this book is free through the Atlantic Council’s Art of Future Warfare Project, which automatically makes it awesome! Second, because it is a short story anthology, readers get multiple glimpses at various possible futures of war. This book, along with Ghost Fleet, have made me think differently about the importance of fiction for professional development. War Stories from the Future is the perfect addition to unit professional reading programs, because it encourages the future senior leaders of our Army to think deeply about the context in which they might lead.

4.) Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War by P.W. Singer and August Cole

The novel, by P.W. Singer and August Cole, is an important work of fiction for Army leaders for several reasons. First, it helps us gain an appreciation for the importance of power projection in future wars. Second, we get a glimpse of how nascent technologies might be used to gain dominance on future battlefields. Finally, we see why the study of the Masters of War are still relevant and will be critical to winning tomorrow’s wars. Read my book review here.

5.) My Father’s Son by Andy Symonds

In a recent War on the Rocks article, BJ Armstrong discussed the importance of empathy in leadership and how we can strengthen it through reading fiction.  This is one novel that proves to be a great workout for empathy.  My Father’s Son, follows the life and the struggles of 13-year-old Nathan Butler and his family following the death of his father, a Navy SEAL, in Afghanistan. The book covers a five year period in which Nathan must work through the complications of being a teenager, without the support of his dad. With each page, the reader is pulled deeper into the Butlers’ world. Symonds does an excellent job of bringing to life all of his characters and the lifestyle of a military family — from Steven Butler’s closest teammates, who help raise Nathan, to Gayle Butler, Nathan’s mom, who must deal with the unexpected loss of Steven, her husband, while continuing to raise her children. Read my book review here.

Below are the remainder of the books I’ve read this year broken down by category.

Leadership

Army Officer’s Guide to Mentoring by Ray Kimball

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

Stop Talking and Start Communicating by Geoffrey Tumlin

Tribes We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

21st Century Sims: Innovation, Education, and Leadership for the Modern Era by BJ Armstrong

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Heath Brothers

Ask It: The Question that Will Revolutionize How You Make Decisions by Andy Stanley

Think Like a Freak by Levitt and Dubner

Changing Your Company from the Inside Out: A Guide for Social Intrapreneurs by Davis and White

The Art of Innovation: Lessons Creativity from IDEO by Tom Kelley

Fiction

The Lost Codex by Alan Jacobson

Syren’s Song by Claude Berube

My Father’s Son by Andy Symonds

War Stories from the Future by August Cole

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

A Bell for Adano by John Hershey

Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War by Singer and Cole

Technology, Doctrine, and Combat Development

The Art of Maneuver Warfare: Maneuver Warfare Theory and AirLand Batttle by Robert Leonhard

The Pursuit of Power by William H. McNeil

Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age by Victor Mayer-Schonberger

 Biography

Tough As They Come by Travis Mills

Renegade Revolutionary: The Life of General Charles Lee by Phillip Pappas

Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander and Chief by James McPherson

Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D’Este

The Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes Command at NATO by James Stavridis

 Nature and Character of War and Warfare

Carnage and Connectivity: Landmarks in the Decline of Conventional Military Power by David Betz

Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power and Control by J.C. Wylie

Wiki at War: Conflict in a Socially Connected World by James Jay Carafano

Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat by Schultz and Dew

Psychology:

Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Heidt

Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War by Michael D. Matthews

Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and Gap Between Us and Them by Joshua Greene

 War Poetry

Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Poetry from Inside the Wire by Randy Brown

Foreign Affairs:

Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific by Robert Kaplan

Writing

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Editor’s Note: I recently read LTC Ray Kimball’s book, The Army Officer’s Guide to Mentoring, and while the book in its entirety is a worthy read for self development,  I thought LTC Kimball’s section on cross-gender mentorship was of critical importance to our Profession.  With the SECDEF’s recent announcement, there will probably be a few combat arms officers who struggle with the idea of mentoring females. There will also be young women in the Armor and Infantry communities, who find themselves in male dominated branches without older female mentors to lean on.  I hope this post helps to shed some light on this topic.

By Ray Kimball

SECDEF’s decision to open all military career fields to women is a momentous one that will set in motion all manner of policy actions at multiple levels. In addition to the formal mechanisms for integration, we need to think seriously about the informal ones. Nick Palmisciano has already amply covered the question of standards enforcement; I want to come at this issue from a different direction and talk about the importance of mentoring for women newly entering these career fields.

We know that mentoring is a vital component of socialization for women entering new career fields. We also know that Army officers strongly prefer informal mentoring mechanisms, where mentor and protégé choose one another with a minimum of outside interference, to formal ones. What we don’t know is the best way to pursue that informal cross-gender mentoring, or even if it should differ from how mentoring currently functions in those career fields. What I want to suggest in the following paragraphs is drawn from my research with Army officers and professional mentoring; as such, it should be consider a first step towards meeting this challenge instead of the definitive answer.

First, I think it’s important to note that even senior folks in these career fields will probably have little to no experience with cross-gender mentoring as either a protégé or a mentor. Our choices of mentors are overwhelmingly driven by the people we have regular contact with. As one of my research participants put it:

“JOSH*: Being a combat arms guy, I’ve only very rarely come into [professional] contact with females. As a matter of fact, I was thinking about it: I’ve been in the Army now for 11 years and only 6 months out of that time was I working with someone of the opposite sex. That plays a huge part.”

Cross-gender mentoring in the newly opened career fields will be terra incognita for protégés and mentors alike. There will be hesitation; there will be missteps; there will be outright crashes and burns. But it still has to be done.

The other great barrier to cross-gender mentoring in these fields will be the fear of misperception. Mentoring, by definition, is a close relationship bordering on intimacy and it can be extremely difficult for outsiders to differentiate between the two. This isn’t a problem unique to the Armed Services; plenty of studies have demonstrated how precarious the line between professional and romantic relationships can be. But it is magnified by the close quarters and constant contact that typifies the service environment. Again, I’ll let two of my research participants lay it out:

“JOAN: [When mentoring across genders], you have to be careful: you have to be cognizant, you have to accept facts. ‘Nothing was going on’ is not going to fly. It just isn’t. I enjoy mentoring, I like having protégés, and I enjoy being a protégé. But I am not about to put my career on the line for that.”

“ARLO: Sadly, there’s always a concern of perception…we were taught things like ‘Never be alone with a female for the sake of appearances.’ That’s to avoid being in a situation you can’t explain. It’s always been a concern, because in the Army, we can be stupid at times about things like this.”

So how do we deal with these difficult realities? Below are some starting suggestions for mentors and protégés alike:

Cross-gender mentors should:

• Remember that the foundation of a successful mentoring relationship is trust. As the senior member of the relationship, you are responsible for setting the conditions to keep the relationship professional.
• Take steps to minimize the perception of a potential romantic relationship while being candid with your protégé about why you’re taking those steps. Those steps may include meeting in public; keeping the door open while talking; and avoiding pet names or nicknames.
• Realize that your protégé has almost none of the context of your career field that you take for granted. You may feel like you’re breaking things down Barney-style, but understand that your protégé may not have gotten any of it from their commissioning source.

Cross-gender protégés should:

• Plan to take the first step and initiate outreach to a potential mentor. They may not be cognizant of your need for a mentor; find the person you want to be professionally and engage.
• Understand that this may be the first time your mentor has had a mentoring relationship with someone of the opposite gender. They will make mistakes; they will say stupid things. Work with it.

Make a difference. Mentor.

*All names in caps are pseudonyms, used in accordance with the human subjects protections of my original research.

Ray Kimball is an Army officer and the author of The Army Officer’s Guide to Mentoring, available in print or Kindle. Hit him with questions/comments at @ArmyMentoring on Twitter. His views are his own, not those of the United States Army, the Department of Defense, or the Tal Shiar.