Alessandra Nisch
Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of ...

President Putin made three foundational assumptions in launching his war against Ukraine that should have been correct but were not. First, Putin assumed the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick and easy fight. Second, he assumed the world would denounce the invasion but tacitly allow it. Third, Putin assumed the war would deter NATO expansion.

Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of Applied Friction

#Leadership: What did you see?

#Leadership: What did you see?

When describing the fundamental rules of leadership, the phrase "see-think-do" is an especially useful framework; these words summarize the basic technique for assessing student performance among student pilots. The best way to determine where a student’s problem began is by asking a series of questions—What did you see? What did you think? What did you do?  Once you know these answers, you are able to offer specific techniques to fix the exact mistake that created the student’s problem.  As a result, your instruction is more effective because you quickly get to the point and fix the root cause of the problem.

#Leadership in an Ambiguous World

#Leadership in an Ambiguous World

The nature of serving as a military leader lends itself to an innate desire to be in control of one’s circumstances whenever possible. That said, the future is not, and likely will not be so clear, and future leaders must be prepared to succeed in this environment. By embracing a new standard in training, and more importantly education and development, we can capitalize on the ability of innovative leaders to link new explanations to old problems.

The Strategic Development of Tactical #Leadership

The Strategic Development of Tactical #Leadership

Continued service brings with it the obligation to prepare for increased responsibility. The program of professional military education accounts for some of this development, but leaders cannot hope for future success without mentorship and dedicated self-development. Leaders must take charge of this process, but not at the cost of their unit’s readiness. Instead, they would be wise to heed the advice of a senior officer who said, "Lead at your level, think at your boss’s level, and accept that you’ll just have to adapt to everything beyond that."

Accruing Tacit Knowledge: A Case for Self-Study on behalf of Professional #Leadership

Accruing Tacit Knowledge: A Case for Self-Study on behalf of Professional #Leadership

Developing leaders is one the most important endeavors within the military profession. More specifically, establishing the core of “expert knowledge” essential to winning wars defines the profession. In spite of senior leader emphasis to commit to self-development, one of the paths critical to accruing tacit knowledge, many leaders fail to adequately commit themselves to goal-oriented self-study. Considering this important context, while today’s leaders arguably constitute the most “combat-experienced force” fielded in recent memory, much of this experience reflects over a decade principally focused on counterinsurgency that may be only partially relevant for other strategic challenges. 

#Leadership: A Bedrock of Trust

#Leadership: A Bedrock of Trust

Leadership must be built upon a bedrock of trust. This need is obvious in combat, when soldiers must trust their officers to make sound judgment and not to risk the lives and safety of their men needlessly or carelessly.  In turn, officers must trust their soldiers to do their duty, and to strive to fulfill not only the specific order given, but the spirit of what the mission is trying to accomplish.

Tactics: Mandatory Imagination in #Leadership

Tactics: Mandatory Imagination in #Leadership

War is both a science and an art. Therefore, it requires certain qualities that, prima facie, are not those of the military leader. Among them is imagination, a creative capacity that offers the opportunity to represent objects that are not perceived or to make new combinations of images.

Set in complex environments and subject to severe budgetary constraints, military operations – today more than ever – require us to shape innovative solutions. Accordingly, using imagination in military tactics should no longer be restricted to a few genius leaders, but institutionalized among the army.

This requires every leader to intellectually work on oneself but overall to be able to promote an organizational culture that allows this skill to develop.

#Leadership Through Example

#Leadership Through Example

Battalion and squadron commanders have a profound influence across our military.  In the late 1990s, before assuming command of a squadron, I sought advice from then-Colonel Don Holder.  The “free, non-binding advice” he sent me proved invaluable.  Since that time I learned more about command at the battalion level by observing effective commanders in combat and in training.   What follows, printed with his permission, is a revised version of what now Lieutenant General, retired Holder sent me.

#Leadership: The Death of Command and Control

#Leadership: The Death of Command and Control

The phrase “command and control” must be dropped from the leader’s lexicon. Words have history and power. The former command and control structures focused information and decision making onto one supposed superman in a rigid hierarchy and expected him to make infallible decisions with omniscient knowledge. These structures are being defeated, bankrupted, and destroyed as we speak. Even when we remove the history of the words, there is power in them and in their implicit directive to centralize information and control. But the defeat of these systems in modern wars does not support the command and control structure. We should replace the phrase with something that reflects a greater understanding of the relationship between leaders and their organization; let’s call this idea of building effective, resilient, winning organizations…leadership.

The Keys to Effective #Leadership

The Keys to Effective #Leadership

Good leadership is learned through experience, observation, study, reflection, and embracing variety in all of its forms. And throughout this journey, leaders also learn that cooperation and collaboration are integral parts of good leadership. Constantly honing the capacity to lead is an ongoing journey and if done right, it is a journey of immense personal satisfaction.

The Heart of #Leadership

The Heart of #Leadership

The heart of leadership, especially within the profession of arms, is summarized with a single word: influence. Influence is the ability to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. As leaders, we must begin by first and foremost understanding this fundamental principle. People can be influenced one of two ways: through mandate leadership or through organic leadership. Understanding these two very different approaches to influence will in large measure determine not only what type of leader we are, but also the effectiveness of our leadership in shaping the behavior of others.

Military #Leadership in the 21st Century

Military #Leadership in the 21st Century

Leadership is simultaneously the least expensive and the most expensive resource our military possesses. Its fiscal cost is minuscule in comparison to the acquisition budgets for high-end equipment, but its cost in terms of time is measured in decades and must be codified in consistent prioritization by our institutions.  In the end, the price of failing to effectively resource the development of leaders can be enormous at both the personal and institutional level.  No matter the domain in which a military service fights, leadership is the key to all successful military efforts. It is a factor that shapes organizational culture in ways that directly affect outcomes and the performance of both military units and their people.

China’s Dredging Strategy in the South China Sea

China’s Dredging Strategy in the South China Sea

Chinese dredging operations add an interesting complication to the debate over sovereignty, control, and conflict in the South China Sea. The Spratly Islands are presently claimed by both China and the Philippines. Each party to the dispute makes claims that are intended to define the interpretation events. However, it is not always the case that these interpretations fit the facts. As part of their efforts to assert their claim to ongoing sovereignty in the area, China is engaging in significant dredging operations there. The Chinese are involved in dredging operations on five different reefs and has created some 2900 acres of land in the Spratlys. This behaviour sits within murky and sometimes undefined legal frameworks but often clashes with Beijing’s official reasoning for their behaviour.

Advocatus Diaboli: #Reviewing Red Team

Advocatus Diaboli: #Reviewing Red Team

Allocating resources to red teaming can be costly, access to necessary information can be frustrating, and the importance of the boss’s support is critical to the success of any alternative analysis team. If the boss does not support the red team, and is not open to the criticism uncovered by its analysis, it can be a fruitless endeavor. Zenko provides a handy roadmap to the mistakes of others as a guide to future organizations.  In an arena where failure results in loss of life or treasure, Red Team will be a critical resource for leaders that want to give their organization the best chance at success.

The Game of #Risk

The Game of #Risk

Through the following short essays, we intend to...[open] a dialog on risk that is long overdue. From doctrine to education, from tactics to strategy, the influence of risk has never been greater, yet receives far less attention that is rightfully necessary. If we are to regain the elusive “winning edge,” it begins with a deeper understanding and dialog on risk. It is time to bring risk out of the shadows and into the light where we can all see it, discuss it, and understand it.

Spain’s Siren Song

Spain’s Siren Song

This tunnel vision, and the misinterpretation of past grand strategic success...has the potential to shape the spectrum of analysis that informs American grand strategic thought today. To face the siren songs of historical mythology and American exceptionalism, the U.S. must first find the mast before it tethers itself to it. Some general agreement about where we are and where we want to go is the first step in the right direction towards a grand strategy firmly connected to reality.

Uniqueness As Flexibility: Refining Strategic Narrative

Uniqueness As Flexibility: Refining Strategic Narrative

"Wars are fought twice: once on the ground and once in the mind. As spin-doctors of the past, the winners over the mind write history by establishing a narrative of past events, solidifying their version of events as much as their victory. Today, the priority of victory on the ground recedes, as victory over the mind proves (almost) sufficient to win. But strategy is still the coordination of ends, ways, and means to achieve victory, whereas strategic narrative—a subset of strategy—is the specific process used to achieve victory over the mind..."

#Reviewing Success and Failure in Limited War

#Reviewing Success and Failure in Limited War

Strategic performance is strongly affected by the state’s information management capabilities. Top policymakers must have the ability to understand the environment in which they are acting (outside information) and how their national security organizations are behaving in that strategic environment (inside information). Strategic risk assessment is based on an understanding of the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, the challenges and opportunities present in the international environment, and the capability of the state to act in a purposeful way along multiple lines. Without sound outside and inside information, risk assessments will suffer, as will the quality of strategy.

Japan’s Resurgent Foreign Policy Architect: Shinzo Abe

Japan’s Resurgent Foreign Policy Architect: Shinzo Abe

Shinzo Abe’s foreign policy is different from many of his predecessors. He is an out-and-out reformer, both on the international stage and domestically, and his domestic economic success fuels his diplomacy. And in this diplomacy, he has shaken Japan out of a self-imposed security apathy and plotted a more pragmatic national course. Under Abe, Japan is working to make itself ready to take its role in global power politics more seriously and create a meaningful impact promoting world peace and prosperity.