New Face of Business Leadership
Now do not allow terms like “military-industrial complex” to enter your mind.
The March 22, 2010 edition Fortune magazine spotlights a group of business professionals whose elite military background makes them ideal business leaders. Bill George sings their praises:
When you talk to them outside the classroom, as I do frequently, the answer becomes apparent. Typically, from age 22-26 they are leading 100-150 people through the most severe crises one can imagine in Iraq and Afghanistan where your life and the lives of your people is on the line every day. Meanwhile, most pre-MBA students qualify for business school admission by working in staff roles in financial services or consulting rather than plunging into line management.
The conclusion I reach from working directly with hundreds of MBAs, includes dozens of former military officers is that actual leadership experience, especially in crisis situations, is better preparation for business than business experience in staff, consultative, or analytical roles.
With a self-serving bypass of the obvious question of, “why are we wasting billions of dollars purportedly educating young people in business management,” George concludes:
Corporations could put [high potential young people] in line roles in manufacturing, retail store management, sales, or logistics, all of which would provide the experience of managing significant numbers of people with clear measurements. In my judgment, this would be far preferable to the growing tradition of putting high potential young people through training programs or analytical roles where power point charts rather than business results become their outputs.
Bottom line: business has a lot it can learn from the military’s approach to developing leaders.
Bottom line: those who become hopelessly indebted by the pursuit of an MBA would learn just as much by watching The Apprentice.
Oh, and do not think of a police state when politicians say they’re tight with the business community.
Posted on March 23, 2010, in Current Events. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
There is a deep-seeded racist and sexist undertone here.
If the GOP want to win elections, it must triangulate between military and industrial interests by advancing policies (advocated by writers like Robert Heinlein) where citizenship is contingent on military service. This way, we would produce young people with real experience while continuing the fight against the terrorists who hate us because we have opportunities like this.
Also, business should make military service a mandatory prerequisite for high-level executive positions.
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It is nice to see some of my fellow Vets get some recognition.
The sad truth is that, in spite of all of those magnetic ribbons proclaiming, “Support our Troops” our Veterans are among the very last people being hired. The Secretary of the Veterans Administration recently reported that our Veterans are experiencing unemployment at the rate of 33-38% (many times the national average).
It is very nice to see positive gestures like the Fortune cover article, but most hiring officials still know little or nothing about the high quality of the citizens who serve in our military, other than the silly stereotypes often portrayed by movies.
The truth is, that most of our military officers are well educated and have great experience in managing a very diverse crew, under the toughest circumstances. One glaring error in most of the Hollywood portrayals of our officers is how they consult with subordinates and build consensus among senior enlisted personnel, before reaching most major decisions. These same highly interactive officers are also very capable of making quick and sound decisions on their own, when under fire, so that enemies are routed and the lives of our forces are saved.
Our enlisted personnel are far more technically savvy than soldiers from previous generations. They have demonstrated a high level of individual motivation and the ability to quickly form effective teams from a wide cross-section of their fellow citizens.
Americans can be proud of our citizen-soldiers. While it is gratifying to be thanked for prior service to our country, the very best thing one can say to our Veterans is: “You’re hired!”
For a moment I believed this (how do you say?) cover of “Soldier of Fortune.”