Category Archives: Self-Development

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Major Hog Molly

Meet Your New S3

The author lined up as an offensive lineman for the Army Black Knights.

For as long as I can remember, I have been absolutely infatuated with playing football.  I tended towards the larger end of the weight spectrum as a youth, thus I was one of the chosen few whom the coach put on the offensive line.  My life as a “Hog Molly” had begun, and I never looked back.  Like most young kids, I dreamt of playing professional sports.  Well, I got recruited during high school and chose to play football at Army.  As luck would have it, I had a solid career at Army and signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers.  My pro career was short-lived.  So short-lived in fact, that the previous sentence is longer than my time with the Packers.  But, I’m a born and bred Wisconsinite.  I played on the same field as Brett Favre and got to snap the ball to Aaron Rodgers.  Being a Packer was a literal dream come true.  I achieved a lifelong goal, learned a lot about football, and even more about life.

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Field Grade Love Languages

Utilizing the Long Range Calendar

During the 2018 graduation week series, I offered that “elite field grade officers know how to plot and manage a Long-Range Calendar (LRC) with high fidelity, even when the entire enterprise above them conspires against them.” This article describes in detail the seven rules of thumb for successful LRC management that I outlined in 2018.

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Beneath the Surface: How Jewish Wisdom Can Inspire Army Leaders & Culture

jewish

The future of Army leadership and the soul of our culture will not be rooted in technology. As General Omar Bradley said, “Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” 

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The Bottom 10%:  Why the Military Can No Longer Afford Underperformers  

Bottom 10

We have all heard the ubiquitous saying that causes most of us to slap our foreheads in a mixture of shame, dread, and loathed acceptance: “I spend 90% of my time on the bottom 10% of my people.” Our admitted dilemma centers on the sense that there is a population that requires so much direction and maintenance that their presence is detrimental to the whole.  With this acceptance is the underlying assumption that that top 90% can make up for the performance of the bottom 10%.  In the current military paradigm, this assumption is not only not pragmatic, but it is also dangerous. 

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Thinking in Time: Lessons for Military Planners by Richard Neustadt and Ernest May

planners

Published towards the end of the Cold War, Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers by Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest R. May is a classic book worth revisiting by the current generation of military planners. Neustadt and May use historical case studies, ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Swine Flu Scare of 1976, to illustrate how a more reflective and systematic approach can help decision-makers and their staffs use history more effectively.[1] Most military planners are familiar with the cautionary suggestion to first understand what the problem is; the techniques offered in Thinking in Time echo this sentiment as they focus on “sharpening the picture of the present situation and for clarifying what is of concern about it.”[2] Some of the techniques or “mini-methods” as Neustadt and May refer to their recommended best practices, can help refine planning methods or processes, and improve the situational understanding for a planning team or decision-maker. Rather than serve as a book review, this piece intends to introduce some of Neustadt and May’s methods most relevant to military planners to pique the interest of those who may seek out this seminal work for professional development.

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Five Lessons from A Leadership Failure

Grant2

As a young military prosecutor at Camp Lejeune in 2007, I was responsible for prosecuting some of the worst felony crimes from commands across one of the busiest military bases in the DOD. The cases included a steady stream of violent crimes, property crimes (like theft or vandalism), and various military offenses. My boss entrusted me with a big caseload, but I was confident in my ability to handle it.

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Genuine Leadership

genuine leader

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., seen in Ste. Mere-Eglise on July 12, hours before he died of a coronary thrombosis. Arthritis caused him to walk with a stick. The 4th Infantry Division commander described him as “the most gallant soldier and finest gentleman I have ever known.” 

I am expanding on the recent topic of building trust by being approachable.  In his article, the author stated, “Be open and readable … What you see is what you get. No false pretenses or pretending to be something you’re not.”  I submit that two key components of approachability are self-awareness and sincerity. Being self-aware and sincere helps leaders humanize themselves and become more relatable to the rest of their team. While some professional distance between leaders and subordinates is required for good order and discipline, most approachable leaders will see more buy-in and initiative from their team members. A close team, full of mutual trust, will be more successful in garrison or combat than a team that is distant and micromanaged.

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Field Grade Survival Kit: Succeeding in a Large Headquarters

Southwick

Headquarters Room, Southwick Park, Portsmouth, June 1944: A view of the interior of the busy Headquarters Room in Southwick Park, Portsmouth during preparations for the D-Day landings. There is a huge map of southern England, the English Channel and northern France mounted on the far wall, with various annotations being added by a man in naval uniform standing on a step ladder. Another man is busy doing the same thing on a map on the wall to the … Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/10043

While much has been written about the challenges of serving as a Field Grade (FG) officer at the Battalion and Brigade level, much less is available about the echelons at which you will spend most of the second half of your career. Put simply, there are more ways to fall short than there are to succeed, yet no one tells you the rules when you arrive. Consider a large Headquarters (HQ) to be at the Division level or above and a “boss” to be any of the large numbers of senior leaders, principal staff officers, advisors, and influencers in the HQ, whether in your chain of command or not. While not comprehensive, here are six big ideas.

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The Eight Essential Characteristics of Army Officership: SERVE THOSE YOU LEAD

Hal Moore

Leaders who take a genuine interest in their subordinates will see their teams achieve amazing feats. This goes hand in hand with counseling. You must get to know your Soldiers and help them personally and professionally. Find out their goals and help develop a plan to achieve them. If you take care of your Soldiers, they will always take care of the mission.