When I started this blog, I decided to call it “On Strategy,” stealing the title of an excellent book by Colonel Harry Summers Jr., analyzing America’s failings in Vietnam. I’m doing some studies right now on the Operational level of warfare and I thought I’d talk a bit about the different terms.
Another reason I felt [...]
Introduction
Sometimes you’re exposed to information before you are ready to effectively use it. This was the way I was when I first read Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits For Highly Effective People. I was in my twenties and while the material was OK, it didn’t really resonate for me. When I found myself rereading the [...]
INTRODUCTION:
The Marine Corp Planning Process (MCPP) is in some ways a capstone on my earlier articles*. In some ways it is extraneous to them. If you are doing planning at a level lower than a battalion (an organization of more than 500 people), you develop your plan using all the previous tools more or [...]
Hi. If you’ve been coming here for awhile, I hope you enjoy the new look. It’s called “Good Theme” and is, unsurprisingly, put out by the folks at GoodTheme.org.
This article may seem like it covers old ground, but I feel it is an important enough concept to revisit and look at in a slightly different [...]
Introduction
Any organization in the Marine Corps has (or is supposed to have) a “Mission-Essential Task List” (METL) that outlines the abilities they need to be able to do to accomplish their mission. This article will introduce the concept of METL, talk about how you can create a METL for your business, and discuss some [...]
Since at least the time of Sun Tzu, military authors have been trying to distill and codify general principles of war. …
The acronym stands for: Mass, Objective, Offensive, Security, Economy, Manuever, Unity of Command, Simplicity, & Surprise and is as useful for the business world as for the military. Now let’s take a closer look at each one…
Fights are won by attacking. Just like fortunes are made when the economy is strong. But the reality is that you can only attack for so long—supplies run short, equipment breaks, people need to sleep, communications are stretched thin; you run into a heavily defended position or even a counterattack. When this [...]
A friend and advisor of mine tipped me off to this tidbit from Harvard Business School:
SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
3 Things You Didn’t Know About Marine Corps Leadership
Most people assume the U.S. Marine Corps is a rank-and-file organization where officers have power and soldiers obey orders. In fact, the Marine Corps is a highly effective organization that [...]
On Wednesday I led a breakout session on leadership for the Portland Managing Projects and Programs conference. The discussion was built around the 11 Principles of Leadership used by the Marine Corps. There was a great deal of interesting discussion during the session. The intent of this article is to augment rather [...]
Greetings. Wow! Things are hectic. Between some marketing work, Toastmaster duties, and an upcoming conference, we’re into a new week!
I’ll be at a PMI conference this Wednesday (link), where I’ll be leading a breakout group on Principles of Leadership. The Leadership Principles are closely linked to the Leadership Traits, [...]
Don’t Forget About Competitive Advantage
