Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
Anecdote. Peace story, staff type: I once talked to a pretty good General Officer who was upset that he didn't know what was happening and that he thus had to operate in the reactive mode. I suggested the answer to his problem was MBWA -- Management By Walking Around, he sholud just wander about the Hindquarters and talk to the Action Officers to get a feel for things. He called four days later and said he'd tried that, didn't work. Mine was the only shop where the resident Colonel or his Deputy didn't appear and hover as soon as the General wandered in from the hallway...

Unless that syndrome disappears from the Army and subordinate are ENCOURAGED to speak their minds without fear, this and future Vice Chiefs will not get many takers in open forums on any topic likely to be even slightly controversial...
We've had some who did that; with differing degrees of tact, dismissed the hovering elements and just wondered on their own or with a single notetaker, or perhaps their Comd WO - always interesting to see the chasm between the workface what was being reported up the line...although those applying a MBWA philosophy do need to be big enough to hear things that may not be palatable without launching off into low Earth orbit...

I had a boss in the mid-90s of the infantry persuasion (he was OK otherwise!!) who started every morning by 'walking the trenches' around his part of the HQ to ensure that he had his finger on the pulse of not just the 'business' but his people....