Command and Control is Dead - Long Live Value Proposition

I’ve heard a lot lately about declining interest in the RMC Club. People ask “Why is this so?” My answer? “Command and Control is dead”. And being a former CELE officer, I recognize the heresy in this, but for Ex-Cadet purposes, I think it works. I’ll leave the doctrinal debate over C2 vs network centric warfare to those better versed the current state of the art of electronic warfare.

There was a time when the RMC Club would announce an event, and Ex-Cadets would fill the seats. But you may have noticed a trend in society lately. Parents are more involved with their kids. Business is more competitive. Traffic is worse. Costs are higher. With divorces, children, work travel, mergers, and postings, we can't expect people to have the Club in the same status that it held 30 years ago. If we, as Ex-Cadets, don't reach out to our members, to share the value, we can't expect them to just 'show up' the way we used to. It has to be worth their valuable time. And what was valuable 5 years ago, is a commodity today.

One fundamental truth I’ve learned about business success is that you must have a clear value proposition. In addition, one needs reasonable prices, convenient access and sensible time expectations. Let's face it, when we, as a Club, organize a function, we need to think like retailers. *Everything* matters, from price to parking. And you'd better be aware that you're competing for your target's time. Finally, *nothing* will come of it unless there is a coordinated sales campaign. I've seen corporate golf tournaments struggle, with free food, free green fees, carts, prizes and drinks. It's not that people aren't interested in free golf. It's that they're time pressed and the sales teams need to work the phones to solidify the value proposition in the customer's heads. Fewer and fewer jobs allow for half days away from the office. And clearly, if we're doing the same things and getting worse results, shouldn't we be changing our methods? Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results?

If you're going to get *anyone* to attend a function [be they Ex-Cadets or anyone else] you need to treat them like customers and I believe strongly, that we need to start treating the Ex-Cadet community this way. The folks behind the Veritas and the e-Veritas have been doing a superb job over the years, and you may have noticed that the quality of the product has been improving. But in my mind, we’re missing something key that is preventing more Ex-Cadets from joining the Club and being more active in it. Sure, we have a common background, but if we just assume that the Ex-Cadets are going to 'read the memo' and just show up like so many privates, we've missed the changes that have gone on in society in the last 10 years.

Part of my strategy to promote dialog among our community is to get Ex-Cadets communicating on Facebook. I don't believe that Facebook is going to be some kind of panacea to make the Club successful. It's just another communications means, and should only be considered one part of the overall marketing campaign [we do have a *plan* don't we?] and it needs to be followed up by individual accountability to drive people to join. But it all starts with the definition of the Value Proposition.

What is the Value Proposition for the RMC Club today [in *your* opinion]? What does it need to be for our community to thrive?

The New Psychology of Leadership

While going through an airport last month, the cover of Scientific American Mind had a cover highlighting recent work in the study of leadership. Having an armchair interest in the subject [nurtured by 4 years at RMC], I picked up a copy. You can read the article here. While the essentials of leadership remain unchanged [integrity, domain knowledge, etc.] what I found most interesting is the approach that leaders are more effective if the followers believe that they can somehow relate to them. If you can stomach the first paragraph, [the part about Bush being a great leader] you’ll see that they make a pretty good case.

2007 Sandhurst Competition



You think things were tougher when you were at RMC? Check out these guys and gals training for the Sandhurst Competition... oh, and by the way, they won, beating West Point and Sandhurst....

If you're not squeamish about language you can't use in church, you can check out the 'official' video

2007 Toronto Leadership Dinner - “Celebrating Canada’s Global Military Contribution”

Gord Clarke, President of the Toronto Branch of the RMC Club sent the note below highlighting the 2007 Leadership Dinner.

I hope you join us in Toronto on Grey Cup Weekend!

**********************************************************************

Dear friends and colleagues:

The Toronto Branch of the Royal Military Colleges Club of Canada and the reserve units of the Canadian Forces in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) invite you to a celebration of Canada’s global military contribution to peace and security. The fundraising dinner proceeds will benefit the Wounded Warriors Fund and establish a bursary for attendance at the Royal Military College (RMC) of Canada by members of the Reserve Forces.

At the dinner, we will present the Birchall Leadership Award to Major Danny McLeod, a man who has provided inspired leadership in war and peace as an officer and as a great sportsman and coach with links throughout the hockey community and Canadian university sports organizations. The award is named for Air Commodore Leonard Birchall, a Canadian hero of World War II.

The guest speaker for the occasion is General Rick Hillier, C.M.M., M.S.C., C.D., Chief of the Defence Staff. Serving members of the Reserve Forces and local regiments will be in attendance, as will Officer Cadets from RMC. Entertainment will be provided by military bands from the GTA and RMC.

RMC is a national academic and military institution whose sole purpose is to train Canada’s future officers for leadership roles. The dinner will raise awareness of RMC and its role within the business, government and academic communities in the GTA.

We expect to have more than 500 guests and media in attendance; and there is a very high probability that this event will be quickly sold out. To avoid disappointment you should reserve your seat as soon as possible. [Note that I have also created an 'event' on Facebook for those using that service - PK]

For Corporate Sponsorships, please contact Peter Fosbery at (416) 769-8842.

Event details: www.toronto.rmcclub.ca/leadershipdinner.htm

Ex-Cadet Oversight and Dialog

As I post this the Wing is on the Parade Square and the newly badged First Years have joined their Squadrons. Ex-Cadets are in town for their annual visit and reminiscence. The venerable cycle at RMC continues

Since my days at RMC, I’ve spoken to countless Ex-Cadets who express a genuine concern over the dilution of what I’m electing to call the “RMC brand”. I’ll be posting more on that brand later, but for now, let’s focus on dialog and oversight by the Ex-Cadet community and how we can all participate.

The point of the blog is not 'follow me'. I don’t claim to have any great insight into how to run a world-class military college. The truth is I wasn’t a great student. I never got my crossed-bats and Supps weren’t alien to me. I don’t want Ex-Cadets to micromanage Mackenzie since we all understand how paramount principles like OpSec and Chain of Command are. Rather, I'm interested in dialog. We live in an era where the cost of communication has essentially been reduced to zero, and that cost reduction has also opened up two-way transparency. And speed. What I’m experimenting with here is a means to provide the collective experience and wisdom of those who attended a Canadian Military College [we used to have three, and not everyone graduated] to anyone interested in the legacy of Canadian military leadership.

I don’t want things returned to “When I was a rook…” I want it to be better, because today’s officers have to be much more qualified than officers of my era. We were training to fight in a totally different geopolitical sphere. Our battlespace had a big red line on one side of the map and a blue one opposing it. Today, there’s a spectrum of lines that vary from geography to geography. So the training paradigm may need tweaking. Or it may need wholesale renovation. I’ll leave the details of the specifics to the CF to address. I’m interested in the culture of the College.

Many times as a Cadet, whenever some new policy was instituted, I remember thinking, "oh... wait 'till the Ex-Cadets hear about this!", particularly when my peers and I disagreed with it. Now clearly, as OCdts, we didn’t have the most global views. Nor did we necessarily have the experience or exposure to different styles and methods. But as a leadership laboratory [that’s one of the ways I describe RMC to outsiders] we also had the flexibility to try different things and see what worked. So, in hindsight, a little non-sequitur from time to time might make for a good exercise. If you think Mackenzie is squirrelly, wait until you’re a Senior Officer and have to deal with Parliament. Or a civilian boss.

But in my opinion, there has been little oversight by Ex-Cadets on the overall activities at the College. Maybe we, as a community, haven’t asked. But there have been times where we wonder what’s going on. Take last year’s misguided mandate [I’m not bound by QR&Os here] that 4th years live off campus aka “The Cadet Socialization Project.” There was a collective, visceral response from Ex-Cadets. Not since Bob Rae was elected Premier have I heard so many people wonder “What the…?” Mind you, I suppose one could argue that oversight *does* exist, since it has since been rectified. But what’s going to happen if someone decides to get rid of #5s because of budget stress…ooops…too late...the Class of ’59 was astute enough to post the assassination order.

Accountants 1 Esprit de Corps 0

I would encourage the collective College leadership to welcome our oversight. If you really want to see what a lack of external oversight can do to an institution, just Google for ‘scandal’ and ‘West Point USMA”, “Annapolis USNA” or “Colorado Springs USFA” and see what you get. Careful your jaw doesn’t hit the keyboard.

How can Ex-Cadets get involved? You’re reading this blog, so I’m assuming you have some level of interest in the subject. One idea is to connect with your classmates [phone, email, Facebook via the Ex-Cadets group] and talk about your experiences, both what worked and what didn’t. Mentor a Cadet. Subscribe to e-Veritas. Get a lifetime membership to the RMC Club, if you haven’t already. If you're genuinely interested, get involved in the ongoing experiment that is RMC.

Tradition - the ongoing debate

16409 Dave Caplan [RMC '88 and one of the most articulate guys to ever wear scarlets] sent me a great note that was so compelling, that I got his OK to post it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

With greatest respect to you, I have to disagree with Henry Bullen's exaltation of tradition. What I've found is that all too often, "Tradition is the act of making the same mistake twice, on purpose." Sometimes an act of manifest incompetence or dereliction is protected and perpetuated by the mantra of Tradition. Worse yet, Tradition is occasionally invoked to manipulate masses of sheople toward destinations secretly intended to benefit their shepherds at the flock's expense (viz. many examples of organized religion).

I respectfully submit that anything done in the past is not *by that reason alone* a more appropriate present course of action than any other. Given the constancy of human nature, any given tradition most likely originated as an adequate but sub-optimal solution to some problem in its own day; it was likely institutionalized by vested interests who benefited more from its continuation than others realized; and its inherent deficiencies may today be exacerbated by the peculiarities of its now altered context.

In a world of exponentially accelerating change (now with the added bonus of global secondary and subsequent effects), the unquestioning embrace of a tradition can as easily harm as help. Consider as elementary examples: performing close order drill in scarlet uniforms in the face of rifled breech-loading firearms; persistently bombing civilian residences in the face of an indigenous insurgency; considering periodic election of successive autocratic governments to be the full measure of Democracy; becoming a Catholic altar-boy; etc, etc, etc, etc.

Far better, in my view, to subject any proposed course of action to critical scrutiny and thoughtful creative evolution, regardless of a proffered tradition's purported pedigree.

Maybe I just have a problem with "authority" :) Or perhaps I'm intrinsically bound to my own suppressed albatross of a tradition, namely endless evolution - or worse yet, devotion to the ascendancy of reason over emotion. Sigh.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Anyone out there have an opinion?

FIRST YEARS HAVE TIME TO BLOG?!?!

WTF? When *I* was a rook.....
http://canadianflyboy.blogspot.com/
Follow Brad Ashcroft's progress through RMC