Arguing the OE, Episode 3: Design, Part 2, The Design Ethos

The problems that military professionals and our Unified Action partners face are challenging. Our nonlethal and lethal actions affect and are affected by various dimensions of the populations where we serve. These dimensions include political, governmental, economic, and cultural factors. Moreover, with Mission Command in mind, leaders at lower and lower levels are expected to appreciate how these various dimensions are intermixed to better think through possible hidden, tertiary, and blowback effects. Given this predicament, it is safe to say that no person--even the commander--knows everything there is to know about the problems his or her unit faces. Good commanders know this, and they posture their staffs and units to be learning organizations. The best leaders exploit the values of collaboration and dialog and the Army's "competition of ideas." They are confident but humble leaders who recognize their fallibility. The more perspectives, including scholarly, practitioner, and indigenous viewpoints, that commanders seek out to usefully complicate their thinking, the greater the likelihood that they will make better decisions and adjust to new information over time. In this video, I use then-LTC John Richardson's experience in Iraq as an example of a leader who exploits the potential of his troopers by realizing (what I call) the Design Ethos.

[@DrZweivel]

Very helpful and thanks for posting this series!

[@toniscott1495]

Helpful