Statement from StratFor regarding state of the Army

[marct]

Hi Van,

Just thinking out loud, but could some media talking head misquoted/misunderstood a straight-shooting and loyal soldier talking about the "bureacratic resistence to change"?

Every time I hear or talk to a Beltway type, I get more and more concerned about the disconnect between the top and where the metal meets the road myself. I could see some of my comments being quoted out of context to support this sort of allegation.

That wouldn't surprise me at all. After al, one definition of "revolt" is not doing what you are told to do, even if that is blatantly impossible . Personally, I would be a touch more cynical and ask who StratFor's clients are. After all, quoth he with a jaundiced air, how many politicians (or bureaucrats) will buy "analyses" that disagree with their theological convictions?

Marc

[selil]

After all, quoth he with a jaundiced air, how many politicians (or bureaucrats) will buy "analyses" that disagree with their theological convictions?

OOH PICK ME!! <hand waving in the air>

The answer to the question is NONE, unless the focus group disagrees.

[Old Eagle]

Selil, you have hit upon a major difference between those in the gov't bureaucracy and those in business. When businessfolk hold on to the party line too long, they risk failure which means loss of profit, etc. In the government, we don't have the same negative incentives. Good business guys try to stay ahead of the changing environment to ensure continued profitability.

[Steve Blair]

Selil, you have hit upon a major difference between those in the gov't bureaucracy and those in business. When businessfolk hold on to the party line too long, they risk failure which means loss of profit, etc. In the government, we don't have the same negative incentives. Good business guys try to stay ahead of the changing environment to ensure continued profitability.

Naw...business just waits for the next reorg, backdates their stock options, and then heads for the door while the next guy comes in and tries to figure out how to clean up the mess....

[wm]

Selil, you have hit upon a major difference between those in the gov't bureaucracy and those in business. When businessfolk hold on to the party line too long, they risk failure which means loss of profit, etc. In the government, we don't have the same negative incentives. Good business guys try to stay ahead of the changing environment to ensure continued profitability.

He reponded , slightly tongue-in-cheek:
"About the only party line that business folk hold on to is doing whatever it is that will maintain shareholder confidence. 'Good' business CEOs try to ensure they do nothing that will devalue their stock until they can sell them off. They merely milk cash cows rather than try to find ways to improve their yield of 'dairy' products.

"Ask the leadership at such business successes as Digital, Wang, and the last round of leadership at Dell and HP about what made their companies so successful. Do I dare mention wonderfully successful companies as Enron, US Airways, Delta, Northwest, and United?"

[JHR]

And the bigger a business gets, the more acts like the government previously describe.

JHR

[120mm]

Every organization that gets beyond a certain size, becomes unmanageable, and the consequences of incompetence become sheltered by mass, alone. At a certain point, it quits being a "business" and starts being a large, dead elephant and the point quits being to build the company, and starts being "how to strip the carcass".

CEOs are kind of like NFL football coaches. There are a limited number of them, and they just shuffle around, from failure to failure, until they retire. Sooner or later, one of these "blind pigs" finds an acorn and posts good results in a quarter, or wins the Super Bowl, and they make the cover of a magazine and sell a book/consultant concept. Until it is discovered that they really DON'T have all the answers.

Meanwhile, at the small-medium sized business level, there are a bunch of really sharp guys who are creating concepts, making and selling products and "making things happen", though no-one really cares how "Po-Dunk Donuts" is run.

[Van]

Sooo... The consensus seems to be that the Army has be Dilberted?

Perhaps the misquote is; not that the Army is in revolt, but that the Army's situation is revolting. The most distressing thought is that historically, for an organization this size to head down such an ugly and bureaucratic path, the best chance for recovery is a massive failure then complete reconstruction. Still, there are lots of good people in the Army to fall back on.

This only re-emphasizes the need for good PME, to prepare the next generation of leaders to sweep up after the mess that we're headed for.