The Rapid Response Institute

Tag: George Patton

  • Leadership: Pattonesque Style

    Leadership: Pattonesque Style

    “The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” ~ Faye Wattleton

    As an owner and crew for offshore pleasure sailing vessels, I have experienced several gale force storm that lasted more than 24-36 hours.  Several were across the Gulf of America (aka Mexico) regattas and quite a few offshore Gulf races of 150 nm or longer.  Relatively minor damage to the boat and no injuries to our crew.  More than one storm resulted in yachts retiring and in a rare case abandonment. Minor injuries to regatta crews are fairly consistent.  What separated our winning boat from the others?  A competent well trained crew and effective leadership!

    Old blood and guts, General George S. Patton Jr. gets a bad rap in my opinion.  He probably was a pain in everyone’s you know what, but he was paid for being something else.  A leader who made consistently effective decisions of consequent, rapidly with decisiveness. 

    Much is being written, complementary and not so much about Donald Trump’s management style and especially the speed with which things are getting done.  Additionally, from one perspective Elon Musk’s frustrations can be probably be attributed to his belief, especially regarding the budget, that things are not moving fast enough.

    Wait and See

    While it is appropriate to make a good assessment of a situation before action, some organizations can suffer from “paralysis by analysis” where decision makers effectively do not respond within the appropriate time window.  In a high intensity, fast moving environment, launching endless committees in some vain hope that a third party consulting firm whose members often have no real executive leadership experience will ride in to to save the day is misguided.  The logic usually is that this decision is too important and costly not to take one’s time to properly assess the associated risks.

    One writer framed the issue well, “Therefore, in a world were the game is changing rapidly, failing to take action—deciding to ‘wait and see’—can quickly put you on a path of increasing irrelevancy or a rapid demise.”  How is this nonaction adding shareholder value?

    No Competence-No Confidence

    Leaders are not born, they are made.  It is unreasonable to assume that just because so-and-so went to a specific school, was a great jock, or celebrity that individual is qualified to drive an organization.  Elected officials are a great example of this perturbation.  Poorly performing public companies are another example where board in their infinite non-wisdom think that the ship will stop sinking if only we hire the right well-known person or even ‘strange’ spokesperson to hawk an alcoholic beverage.  The corporate sea floor is littered with the wrecks caused by incompetent captains with no confidence in their judgements.

    Will AI Make Things Worse?

    Unfortunately, the answer is yes for many, even (once) prestigious organizations.  Coming like a freight train, most organization executives appear to be totally clueless about the value of artificial intelligence to the firm they are entrusted to manage.  With no understanding or competence in this field, we can expect these individuals to have any confidence in how they spend shareholder value?

    Expect the same waste that large IT projects have enjoyed for decades.  Five years from now, expect the 500 to have new winners and long standing firms no longer visible.

    We do not posit for quick poorly assessed capital expenditures.  Only that decision cycle times have always been shorter than many like.  Decision-makers must get better at their job.

    Defeat is the realm of incompetent generals.  Great generals who know their business with more limited loss of life and limb are the winners.

    Winners in the AI era have not yet emerged.  We will know shortly those who made good timely Patton like decisions and those who waited to see the door closed in their face.

    How will your organization assure that it is competently led through the AI door?

    Our new book is Now Available

     

    Navigating the Data Minefields:

    Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making

    We are living in an era of data and software exponential growth.  A substantive flood hitting us every day.  Geek heaven!  But what if information technology is not your cup of tea and you may even have your kids help with your smart devices?  This may not be a problem at home; however, what if your job depends on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

    To Order

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is the coauthor of the 2023 book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce the released by CRC Press of our new book, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross-Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • Agility, Resiliency and Sustainability: Needed Now More than Ever

    Agility, Resiliency and Sustainability: Needed Now More than Ever

    This pundit and his firm have long been proponents of building organizational cultures that provide firm the capability of adjusting to ‘events on the ground’ quickly with strong Situational Awareness.  Moreover, when adversity raises its ugly head, the response of a High Reliability Organization enables the resilience to adjust and go forward.  Finally, stakeholder value is destroyed if the organization does not have a viable economic future.

    In the last few editions of this series, we addressed a number of high impact and potentially negative situations and the forces at work.  We continue to make the point, that organizations ignore these signals at their peril.

    First Contact

    “The German field marshal, known as Moltke the Elder, believed in developing a series of options for battle instead of a single plan, saying “No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main strength.”  Today, “no plan survives contact with the enemy” is the popular reconfiguration of this concept.”

    In such an environment, P:lan B.,C, D et al. may not be fluid enough.  Having the ability to jump to Plan Z or no previous option, is what wins military and organizational battles.  In 1944, George Patton famously turned an entire army, in the middle of winter 90 degrees to relive defenders known as the Battle of the Bulge.  It was tis type of audacious decision making and effective action that won World War II.  This is a model for contemporary organizational behavior, and the basis of our Relationships, Behaviors, Conditions (RBC) approach to agility, resiliency and sustainability in today’s world.

    Elite Athletics

    In addition to military models, athletics is another allegory for business executives to follow.  In 2009 we released our White Paper, Rapid Response Management: Thriving in the New World Order.  In that document, we developed the Rapid Response Management Matrix.

    In this model we compared organizational Fitness Maturity as a function of its ability to Recover (catch your breath and move on to the next play).  Value of course is highest for those that are in the best ‘shape.’

    Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

    We have discussed this issue before.  In our June 22, 2018 blog, we quoted race car driver Bobby Unser, “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.”  Additionally, Louis Pasteur taught us.  “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

    Sports teams, the military and dance troupes as well as others practice incessantly.  It is the only way to keep at the top of ‘your game.’  Businesses, not so much.

    Choreography

    Much like a Broadway musical, organizations need to understand and assure all the moving pieces (and people) work together.  For example, a decade or so ago an energy services company sought to understand how NASCAR choreographed ‘pit stops.’  There goal was to see if best practices could be used by the field operations teams.

    Into 2023

    Years ago in the middle of yet another oil bust, a colleague paraphrased the old Chinese curse by saying, “May we live in less interesting times.”  Be that as it may we live in interesting times and must respond accordingly.

    How are you and your organization preparing for the uncertainty of the near future?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more insight regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our recent blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author is a member of Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give us a shout.