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Here we go guys. A PDF book on Warden's complete system. It is a mixture of how to use it in the military and business. Special parts definitions of COG's, system concepts, and especially Parallel warfare. It does have a short section on the 5 rings applied to a terrorist organization. This is not the full deal but it is free and no copyright problems. Enjoy:)
http://www.venturist.com/Prometheus%...s%20wCover.pdf
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"It's the customer. . ."
The more I think about this whole tread on finding centers of gravity, critical competencies, critical vulnerabilities, and the associated verbiage, the more I come to the conclusion that we are fumbling around with a bunch of terminology to try get a grip on a process that has been in place for a long time. That process happens to be providing customer service.
The hard part for we folks currently or previously in uniforms is that this happens to a business that is usually foreign to us. We do not think of what we do as a customer service business. I mean how many ordinary people out there tend to ask for someone to come over and drop large explosive devices on their heads or take pot shots at them with 5.56, 7.62, and 9 mm rounds from covered and concealed positions. We tend to view our “customers” as the citizens back home whose way of life we are defending.
In a counterinsurgency fight, we have a different set of customers. Now we need to look to the folks who are threatened by the insurgents as our customers. And, we need to find out from them what it is they want us to do in the way of serving them. A really important piece of this that we cannot sit back and wait for them to come to us with their “druthers.” We need to go out there and ask them directly what they want and need. Then we need to push it to them a fast as we can.
The good thing about the Petraeus approach seems to be that we have taken that mindset to heart by getting out in the population instead of holing up in the “legionary fortresses” of Balad, Camp Victory, etc. However, we need to continue to keep the customer focus of what we do squarely on the population.
We need to conduct a market analysis, segment the population, and then serve up the products that cater to the needs and wishes of those various segments. I suspect that the tripartite division made by others in this thread (pro-Coalition, anti-Coalition and fence-sitting Mugwumps”) may be a good start, but the market segmenting is much more complex than that. Just identifying the segments is not enough. We also need to figure out what they want from us. Moreover, you can bet that this will not be the same in each segment. However, we can probably identify some common desires that cross over multiple segments. Not every MacDonalds customer wants a cheeseburger and fries. That’s why their menu includes chicken nuggets, fish sandwiches, and salads too. But, all MacDonalds customers do want their food fast, fresh, and at low cost.
The real trick will be to figure out how to satisfy the common desires without also creating dissatisfaction in the disparate segment’s by failing to satisfy their unique sets of desires.
For example:
All the population probably wants security. However, the Shi’a may not want to have their security provided by some Sunni police officer.
We need to get some folks out in the field who know how to identify customer values and how to deliver products that cater to those values with the least amount of waste (in this context AKA collateral damage, among other things). And remember, waste is largely in the eye of the customer.
