Solid points that are applicable for any role: don’t show the ideas that never went anywhere (or started and then withered on the vine upon departure), demonstrate that the ability to drive towards results, especially under less-than-ideal conditions.
Leaders won’t always show rank/experience blindness to favor talent, but one needn’t ask for permission to perform at the level demanded (or possible).
I would like to perhaps push your argument in two slightly different, and some might say harsh, directions. The first deals with organizational culture and the US Army not only rewards/preferences quantity of time in most cases, it also preferences tactical mastery. Those with large quantities of time often became successful because of their hard earned tactical mastery leading formations conducting tactical tasks. Those skills do not always translate and the individuals have learned what gets rewards - tactical success. The second direction is related - cognitive flexibility. Again, being reductive, but most humans as they get older tend to become less flexible in their approaches to problem solving. They create heuristics in the areas in which they often deal or where problems arise and begin to rely on those more and more rather than continually seeking to challenge and adjust the principles and concepts they frequently use. As individuals spend ever longer times in the Army advancing in rank, building up that time quantity that is rewarded, many often lose that flexibility of thought. That does not bode well for strategic output.
Leaders prevent younger, and perhaps more talented, team members from succeeding if they do not set conditions removing bureaucratic hurdles. Some are also unaware such hurdles exist within their teams which may impede progress of the Captain described below.
A trend I enjoy in your writing is “strategy is life, and life is strategy.” Meaning, you relate what seem disparate topics deducting on how to draw lessons from the tooth fairy for a successful strategy.
Fully concur. First day on the job at the Pentagon my new two-star boss said rank didnt matter, and that I needed to master process and that a Captain who had ideas and had mastered the arcane Action Processing system could be more valuable than a Colonel.
Solid points that are applicable for any role: don’t show the ideas that never went anywhere (or started and then withered on the vine upon departure), demonstrate that the ability to drive towards results, especially under less-than-ideal conditions.
Leaders won’t always show rank/experience blindness to favor talent, but one needn’t ask for permission to perform at the level demanded (or possible).
I would like to perhaps push your argument in two slightly different, and some might say harsh, directions. The first deals with organizational culture and the US Army not only rewards/preferences quantity of time in most cases, it also preferences tactical mastery. Those with large quantities of time often became successful because of their hard earned tactical mastery leading formations conducting tactical tasks. Those skills do not always translate and the individuals have learned what gets rewards - tactical success. The second direction is related - cognitive flexibility. Again, being reductive, but most humans as they get older tend to become less flexible in their approaches to problem solving. They create heuristics in the areas in which they often deal or where problems arise and begin to rely on those more and more rather than continually seeking to challenge and adjust the principles and concepts they frequently use. As individuals spend ever longer times in the Army advancing in rank, building up that time quantity that is rewarded, many often lose that flexibility of thought. That does not bode well for strategic output.
Leaders prevent younger, and perhaps more talented, team members from succeeding if they do not set conditions removing bureaucratic hurdles. Some are also unaware such hurdles exist within their teams which may impede progress of the Captain described below.
A trend I enjoy in your writing is “strategy is life, and life is strategy.” Meaning, you relate what seem disparate topics deducting on how to draw lessons from the tooth fairy for a successful strategy.
Fully concur. First day on the job at the Pentagon my new two-star boss said rank didnt matter, and that I needed to master process and that a Captain who had ideas and had mastered the arcane Action Processing system could be more valuable than a Colonel.