I had the notion of agile tech both from my physics background and my role as supplier to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are all out to get us we have to counter them all. Today’s strategic scene features fierce competition from many directions-China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorists. In my “weapon czar,” COO, and then CEO (Secretary of Defense) roles I could still see the remnants of the Cold War procurement style, where the Soviet Union lumbered along slowly and steadily and we could too. DuttonĬarter: First, the Pentagon still needs to move faster in deploying technology. Leading at the Pentagon is a talent management challenge of enormous proportions. When beginning the war against ISIS, I used the “two red arrows” pointing toward Mosul and Raqqa image over and over and over again to show the path to victory, until every private knew the essence of the war.ĭuncan: What are some common practices in the private enterprise world that have not yet been-but should be-adopted at the Pentagon? That’s not because they have some “command and control” mindset, but because it shows them that you know what you are doing and mean it, and they know their part in execution. The military responds best to a leader who shows clarity and consistency. A lot of my friends in the tech world would have avoided much trouble if they had mixed a little reflection on history with their admirable drive to disrupt it.ģ. Disciplined use of history worked well for us at the Pentagon. They operate from historical analogy and personal experience. They don’t really use fancy political science, economics, or psychology theories. If you think about it, historical thinking is the dominant methodology of real leaders. military has a habit of making good use of history to suggest analogies and recycle valuable tactics, as well as to get to know friends and find the weaknesses of enemies. After every raid, hostage rescue, or battle, we did after-action reviews to learn from and take responsibility for our mistakes.Ģ. After some initial stumbles, we climbed on top of new challenges: counterinsurgency, rapid fielding of protections against buried bombs, treatment of amputees and post-traumatic stress, integration of women into close combat roles, and rebuilding the bridges to high-tech industry that had once spawned GPS and the Internet. People are surprised when I tell them that the “hidebound” Pentagon is actually a capable and deliberate learning organization. Moving good people around among silos keeps them learning, gives them the broad view of the enterprise you want them to have, and might prevent them from hopping to another job just to get out of their rut.ĭuncan: What are three operational practices at the Pentagon that should be considered by business people who want to succeed, and what are three Pentagon practices that should be avoided?Ĭarter: 1. Today, joint duty is a requirement to get to the top in any service, so working for the Chairman is a plum job. silos but only second-raters were assigned to joint duty like the Chairman’s staff outside of their service silo. Good officers were assigned plum roles in their Army, Navy, etc. Ash Carter: When I had my first job in the Pentagon in the Reagan Administration, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was said to have the worst staff in the building.
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