Command Excellence - Relationships

Command Builds Networks with Outsiders 

Superior commands establish and cultivate a web of relationships with significant people or groups in the external environment and then use those relationships to accomplish their goals. This involves getting information from people, treating them professionally, doing things for them, explaining things, and, in general, being able to influence and work with them successfully. It requires a mindset that sees the larger environment as full of resources rather than obstacles to be avoided or overcome. 

This is not to say that "outsiders" do not at times make life miserable, but the general orientation in superior commands is how to respond positively in these situations and, preferably, prevent such aggravations from occurring. Having wide and frequently utilized communication links to these "centers of power" makes it possible.

Naval Education and Training Command has a link to the "Navigating A New Course to Command Excellence" book that my XO and I produced HERE.  It cleans up the work originally done with Command Excellence - What it Takes to be The Best in the 1980s.