(from an e-mail conversation with a new friend, the inventor of Brainmode power), Stephen asked me to reflect upon the phrase: Battle ready, brain ready. This was my stream of consciousness: it seems to me that brain state is an integral part of every behavior or cognitive process. for instance, we use a number of […]
Tag: decision-making
Reflection on Mintzberg’s The Rise and fall of Strategic Planning (1994)
Image via Wikipedia Highlights from Mintzberg ‘s The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning Ch 1: planning and strategy. Mintzberg offers definitions in this chapter. He asks “Is strategy making simply a process of planning or is it simply an oxymoron? Should strategy always be planned, never be planned or sometimes be planned? What’s the […]
Reflecting on wicked force management problems (Army)
My take on the problem with force management is that it has been treated as a complicated problem, suitable for central planning (PPBES) and not as a complex problem, rife with social & political context, in a dynamic state where the variables change parameters far faster than the planned decision cycles. Consequently, we never get […]
Systems dynamics meets the Afghan war via Powerpoint
It is becoming a common practice to laugh at that slide, but try on this thought experiment: what if someone made a slide of a zoom in on the surface of a semi-conductor chip? Wouldn’t that seem as incomprehensible and “foolish”? and yet by the slow process of developing knowledge we have become capable of extraordinary […]
Learning from the process consultant
Image via Wikipedia Think about the last time you worked with a consultant in your organization: looking back at what the consultant did and said, were there any specific behaviors that surprised you? Did she do something that you and the faculty were not already capable of doing? If they did something new, is the […]
A reflection on charismatic leadership
Image via Wikipedia I am naturally skeptical about charismatic leaders, but I have seen its power in action. Just before GEN Petraeus left our college to take command in Iraq he gathered faculty and students in our large auditorium, which seats 2500. He spoke in a very relaxed manner, hardly the tone you might expect […]
Reflecting on self-directed leadership in a military college environment (an action research approach)
Image via Wikipedia The purpose of this assignment is reflect upon my learning through this course and to describe what I am doing to provide for the development of leadership capabilities in those who look to me for direction and guidance. My professional work centers on preparing Army organizational leaders for a world of complexity […]
A reflection on Hunt’s “Leadership: A new synthesis” (1996)
Image via Wikipedia remember that Hunt is writing his synthesis in 1996, and he comes from the leadership discipline, not education or cognitive neuroscience. He is good when it comes to synthesizing existing literature, but his excursions into the future of “what-if” are not very convincing. There has been a lot of important work done […]
education, leadership, biodiversity and the limits of reason
Image via Wikipedia at the other end of the time scale from the doctoral programs, i think the right model to use is that of bio-diversity. It’s not “survival of the fittest” in the wild, it is extinction of the unfit & toleration of the “good enough” which promotes a broad gene pool. A broad […]
A reflection on leading and managing a complex Participatory Action Research curriculum project
Image via Wikipedia 1. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to examine my current leadership skills. I will describe and reflect upon a recent curriculum project that I was in charge of at the US Army command and Gen. staff College. I will use a lens of the Bolman and Deal four Frameworks to evaluate […]