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 […]
Tag: Uncertainty
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 […]
leadership in complex adaptive systems
Image via Wikipedia This is a reflection on Heifetz’ model of Adaptive Leadership, a practical prescription from HBS on becoming an adaptive leader in uncertain times The Heifetz model of leadership adaptation requires an ability to develop a theory of action, rules of cause and effect that allow us to diagnose a situation and then […]
Reflecting on Erich Fromm’s “To Have or To Be”
Erich Fromm is an influential social philosopher and prolific writer, whose life work offers a provocative synthesis of Western capitalism, Marxist humanism and socialist rational planning. He defines two modes of being: “to have” and ” to be”, and examines the characteristics and values of lives led in each mode with respect to materialism, politics, […]
Ask a Pakistani why Afghanistan matters
If you want to know, ask somebody: (ht: smallwarsjournal) Afghanistan: Seven Fundamental Questions by Major Mehar Omar Khan I know we live in a world that is real and is moved by minds – thinking, manipulating, conniving, conspiring, calculating and masquerading minds. Our world therefore seldom has a place for ‘sentiments’ – pure, sincere, honest […]
A reflection on mixed methods research in adult education
Introduction The Research Problem The purpose of this paper is to offer one vision of developing a methodological theory of mixed methods research co-equal with that of quantitative and qualitative research. I use a case study of the US Army Command & General Staff College engaged in a redesign of its curriculum, its teaching practices […]
Design versus planning: what to do when you don’t know what to do
The scientific method has been responsible for the most extraordinary improvement in mankind’s standard of living. Since the Enlightenment and the Renaissance, it has been responsible for every major advance in human understanding and technology. The scientific method relies on a positivists worldview, which can be said to value certainty, control, objective reality, and planning. […]
Traders Roundtable: Maximum Compounded Return Versus Fear of Drawdown
In a recent traders roundtable discussion on the subject of balancing maximum gain with risk management the question was posed how to reconcile these two issues. A few definitions for the purposes of this essay are in order. First let’s consider maximum compounded return to be defined as a system that is traded at every […]
Testing the Word 2007 Blog publishing template
This is to see how things come through when written in Word 2007 and pushed to the blog site. Here is a sample picture: Am wondering how tags and categories are handled?