I use the “the Greek word ‘priority’ wasn’t created to have a plural form” all the time. It’s stuck with me since the first time you explained it to us Baker junior officers. Even though you said you got it from another FG officer, you always get the credit 😂
Love the quote at the beginning: “the thing you do obsessively between age 13 and 18, that’s what you have the best chance of being world class at.” I find that to be incredibly true for myself and I’m curious to investigate other anecdotal reports from friends and colleagues.
Also, I could not detest more intensely the common thinking of “wE mUsT uSe EvErYoNe! Kim, here’s person X & Y, use them on your team”... which is commonly followed up some weeks later by, “hey, these people told me that you didn’t have them doing much -- Why not?” I find myself frequently responding with “sometimes the best way to help is to do nothing at all.” Happy to have this essay to refer back to in the future. Nice one!
There are times when perception matters, and times when it’s all about just getting results. You would think it would be easy to tell the difference, but that hasn’t been my experience. Perception can matter a lot about generalities, but when an actual product results why would the perception of how you did matter instead of the actual thing you produced?
Non-military government job security seems to require a lot of people assigned to small tasks that are rarely successfully executed, but could be if only they had more money. Organizational metanoia across sectors would certainly take the country to new heights of efficiency and strength.
Austin this is good stuff, I liked your ranger school story. What you describe here is absolutely important for company grade guys to understand. I think in principle it's almost as important for organizational leaders at the field grade level, but it should look a little different for them (which I'll bet you're seeing now). I've always thought something like this focused on that transition of echelons would be helpful to many.
I use the “the Greek word ‘priority’ wasn’t created to have a plural form” all the time. It’s stuck with me since the first time you explained it to us Baker junior officers. Even though you said you got it from another FG officer, you always get the credit 😂
Love the quote at the beginning: “the thing you do obsessively between age 13 and 18, that’s what you have the best chance of being world class at.” I find that to be incredibly true for myself and I’m curious to investigate other anecdotal reports from friends and colleagues.
Also, I could not detest more intensely the common thinking of “wE mUsT uSe EvErYoNe! Kim, here’s person X & Y, use them on your team”... which is commonly followed up some weeks later by, “hey, these people told me that you didn’t have them doing much -- Why not?” I find myself frequently responding with “sometimes the best way to help is to do nothing at all.” Happy to have this essay to refer back to in the future. Nice one!
There are times when perception matters, and times when it’s all about just getting results. You would think it would be easy to tell the difference, but that hasn’t been my experience. Perception can matter a lot about generalities, but when an actual product results why would the perception of how you did matter instead of the actual thing you produced?
Non-military government job security seems to require a lot of people assigned to small tasks that are rarely successfully executed, but could be if only they had more money. Organizational metanoia across sectors would certainly take the country to new heights of efficiency and strength.
Austin this is good stuff, I liked your ranger school story. What you describe here is absolutely important for company grade guys to understand. I think in principle it's almost as important for organizational leaders at the field grade level, but it should look a little different for them (which I'll bet you're seeing now). I've always thought something like this focused on that transition of echelons would be helpful to many.