Return to Article: Parting Wisdom
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Brian Friel's article on Vice Adm. Cebrowski's "marching orders" for transformation leadership was most interesting. Be bold. Be fast. Be specific. Create a new language. These are all alluring ways to make the changes we would all like to make. They may also be dangerous.
Look at Iraq. We went in bold and fast, based on faulty information (or worse) and way ahead of most of our allies. Now look at the situation, 2,300 American lives and $200 billion later.
Look at Katrina. I see in another of today's articles that the president now blames "government bureaucracy" for our inadequate response. Well, who built that massive federal government bureaucracy -- as I remember, bold, fast, and specific.
As B. B. King once sang, "I think you made your move too soon."
As for a new language, "Network-centric warfare" and "self-synchronization" are jargon for common sense concepts -- organize and inform your team when you act, and pull yourself together first. If people think the best way to measure your performance in transforming an organization is how much jargon you create, we're in serious trouble.
There's something to be said for gathering your information, listening, and thinking things through before you act. Clear, shared, innovative thinking that leads to coordinated action is a better measure of transformation than jargon.
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The quote attributed to Vice Adm. Cebrowski -- "In order to change the culture, you must change language. You cannot expect old language to carry new ideas" -- is a good thought, but one readily abused and trivialized. It brought to mind Dr. Deming's 10th Point, which among other things cautioned against the use of slogans.
Instead of the consequences implied in the above quote, what we more often see is not new language carrying new ideas, but rather new language attempting to obscure the fact that old ideas are being sustained. For example, there are definitive differences between the term "manager" and the more PC "leader." But, to the extent that leaders continue to be evaluated, rewarded and recognized based on criteria relevant to managers, our so-called leaders will continue to perform like managers.
"Deeds not words" is the prism through which most of us have come to judge things, because language alone is cheap, plentiful and of little substance.
EJC in ATL
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