Be Know Do: Leadership the Army Way

I have just finished reading "Be, Know, Do: Leadership the Army Way" from the Leader to Leader Institute. As I am translating "The Art of War by Sun Tzu" into a modern and healthcare context at my another blog "Sun Tzu for Health Strategy" I was interested in how the military of the 21st century is coping the changing reality of today's fast-paced entangled world.

It was amusing to find that an 'archetypal command-and-control organisation' is no longer there, instead the US Army now exists as a learning organisation where 'leaders at all levels work to establish an organizational climate that rewards collective learning' treating every soldier not 'a cog in the machine but a person with mental, emotional, and physical dimensions' being a leader his or herself.

This does not mean the Army became soft or lax. Rather, it is the result of stern recognition and deliberate efforts to meet the challenges from the predominant conditions of VUCA - volatility, uncertainty complexity, and ambiguity of the current world. Without mobilising every single person's recognition and analysing skills, a fighting organisation cannot acquire enough information, formulate action plans, or communicate/coordinate the execution for the next moves required to make instantly and simultaneously at multiple places at multiple levels.

Naturally the lessons learned here can be applied not only to military but also business and social organisations. As Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.