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« Do Your Own Work | Main | But Where's Peter Lorre? » January 12, 2005A Message to GarciaI try to aroid posts that are little more than a link, but in this case I'll make an exception. Neptunus Lex has posted an old story I haven't heard in years, but one that captures an important slice of the military ethos:A Message to Garcia. The story highlights the valve and scarcity of initiative. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to understand what we expect of our military personnel.Posted at January 12, 2005 03:22 PM
Comment policyI apologize for only allowing authenticated commenters, but comment spam overwhelms the site if I don't use those measures to prevent it. I reserve the right to delete any comment, although generally comments will only be deleted due to use of profanity or personal attacks on people. I have no objection to vigorous argument, but when name-calling begins, I'm putting a stop to it. In the immortal words of Eugene Levy, "People, people, let's stop this before somebody says something untrue!" If you want to call people names, I recommend you get your own blog. Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsThanks for the link, Andrew! Posted by: lex at January 12, 2005 10:06 PM My only gripe with this is that I've seen far too many "leaders" try to cover up their own shortcomings by bemoaning the "lack of initiative" of their subordinates. They expect their subordinates to read their minds, to be in four places at once, to work nonstop for days on end, to magically acquire expertise in any subject you'd care to name at the drop of a hat, and to do it all for only slightly more money and respect that you'd give a 16-year-old working at McDonald's. I was taught to "never give an order that can't (or won't) be obeyed", and to remember that the troops will, from time to time, eat, sleep, and relieve themselves, and ordering them not to is like farting into a whirlwind. I'm sure we've all seen officers at one time or another that lost track of some of those principles, and who were just generally clueless overall. We should certainly expect great things from those we lead, and we should lead them in such a way that they do things they may not have realized they were capable of. We need to be worthy of those subordinates, though, and exercise great care to keep our standards of leadership equally as high as the standards we expect from those we lead. Posted by: Michael at January 19, 2005 11:49 AM Michael, That's a good point. I don't believe the point of the story is to give subordinates lousy guidance and berate them if they fail, however. What I take from the story is the need for the spirit to take a mission and run with it when you must. Further, I always saw this story as speaking particularly to leaders. Posted by: Andrew at January 19, 2005 12:11 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |
