2010 VADM James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award Winners

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SUBJ/2010 VADM JAMES STOCKDALE LEADERSHIP AWARD WINNERS//

RMKS/1. I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE CDR MICHAEL A. MCCARTNEY (left), FROM THE PACIFIC FLEET, AND CDR JEFFREY M. GRIMES (right), FROM FLEET FORCES COMMAND, ARE THE 2010 RECIPIENTS OF THE VADM JAMES BOND STOCKDALE AWARD FOR INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP. CDR MCCARTNEY WAS SELECTED FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS COMMANDING OFFICER, USS CHUNG-HOON (DDG 93) AND CDR GRIMES FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS COMMANDING OFFICER, USS MARYLAND (SSBN 738) (GOLD).

2. THIS FLEET AWARD WAS ESTABLISHED IN HONOR OF VADM JAMES BOND STOCKDALE WHOSE DISTINGUISHED NAVAL CAREER SYMBOLIZED THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE IN BOTH PERSONAL EXAMPLE AND LEADERSHIP. THE AWARD IS PRESENTED ANNUALLY TO TWO COMMISSIONED OFFICERS ON ACTIVE DUTY BELOW THE GRADE OF CAPTAIN WHO ARE IN COMMAND OF A SINGLE SHIP, SUBMARINE, OR AVIATION SQUADRON, SEAL TEAM (OR NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE SQUADRON) OR SEAL DELIVERY VEHICLE TEAM, SPECIAL BOAT TEAM, EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL MOBILE UNIT, MOBILE DIVING AND SALVAGE UNIT, OR NAVY SPECIAL CLEARANCE TEAM DURING THE NOMINATION CYCLE. CANDIDATES ARE NOMINATED BY PEERS WHO THEMSELVES MUST BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE AWARD.

3. THE 2010 WINNERS WERE CHOSEN FROM AMONG NINE OUTSTANDING FINALISTS IN A REVIEW PROCESS THAT INCLUDED SCREENING AT THE FLEET COMMANDER LEVEL AND FINAL SELECTION BY A BOARD OF SENIOR OFFICERS.

4. THE FOLLOWING FINALISTS DESERVE WELL-EARNED CONGRATULATIONS:

A. PACIFIC FLEET FINALISTS:

- CDR DAVID J. BRYSON, FORMER COMMANDING OFFICER, ELECTRONIC ATTACK SQUADRON ONE FOUR ONE (VAQ-141)
- CDR GERARD A. SOMLAI, COMMANDING OFFICER, USS NEBRASKA (SSBN 739) (BLUE)
- CDR MARVIN E. THOMPSON, FORMER COMMANDING OFFICER, USS HARPERS FERRY (LSD 49)

B. FLEET FORCES COMMAND FINALISTS:

- CDR TIMOTHY F. MURPHY, FORMER COMMANDING OFFICER, ELECTRONIC ATTACK SQUADRON ONE FOUR ZERO (VAQ 140)
- CDR ERIC H. VER HAGE, COMMANDING OFFICER, USS CARR (FFG 52)
- CDR ROBERT E. POLING III, FORMER COMMANDING OFFICER, MARITIME EXPEDITIONARY SECURITY SQUADRON TWO (MSRON TWO)
- CDR JOHN RUDELLA, COMMANDING OFFICER, NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE TACTICAL DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION SQUADRON THREE (NSWTACDEVRON THREE)

5. CDR MCCARTNEY AND CDR GRIMES, AS WELL AS ALL NOMINEES, SHOULD BE JUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS.

6. AWARDS WILL BE PRESENTED IN NOVEMBER 2010.
7. RELEASED BY ADMIRAL G. ROUGHEAD, CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS.//

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My story about the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award Winners is HERE. I was very pleased to be able to add the names of these two fine leaders to my list of winners.

Important to understand

"My personal attitude is important to understand. I am very strong on the "well-rounded" officer and Sailor. I fully recognize that our world of cryptology requires a great deal of technical skill but the Navy requires men and women who can lead. When they cannot, we must clearly identify them so their talents are properly channeled and they are not placed in position of command or supervision."

J. S. McFarland
Rear Admiral
Commander, Naval Security Group Command

No better example of leadership...

It would be difficult to imagine a better example of leadership, courage, and moral excellence than the example set by Vice Admiral James Stockdale. In contemporary jargon, Admiral Stockdale, not only talked the talk, but, more importantly, he walked the walk of a leader during his entire professional and personal life. The more one studies his life, and the more one reads his writings, the more one comes away with the conviction that Admiral Stockdale was the sort of man that comes along very seldom in life. He not only had a profound impact on his contemporaries, but he left behind a legacy that will influence generations to come.

Secretary of the Navy, Donald Winter

Information Warfare Officers

Guiding Principles:

(1) Warfare Competency: IW officers lead Navy IW missions by employing a thorough knowledge of the tenets of IO, sensor/weapons, national systems' capabilities and limitations, and how to optimally use them for “effects-based” warfare. IW officers develop tactics, techniques and procedures to realize tactical, strategic and advantages at sea and ashore.

(2) Leadership: Leadership is a core competency for all Navy Officers. IW officers are engaged, seize the initiative, motivate people, effectively apply resources and execute IW missions.

(3) Professional Expertise: IW officers require knowledge of engineering and technology (i.e., knowing how the signal or protocol was designed to function) and the human elements of adversaries through language and cultural awareness. They build expertise through a combination of formal education and experience gained through successive career milestone tours.

From the NPC IW Officer Webpage

Worth reading INFORMATION OPERATIONS - Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power

Leadership in the "DIGITAL AGE" - Business Icon Jack Welch

“The Internet…ushers in a whole new level and scope of employee engagement. Leaders should welcome this development, and most do, but it’s a mistake to treat it lightly. Once employees engage you by speaking out, albeit electronically, they expect to hear back. We would suggest that it can be just as damaging for a leader not to respond to feedback as it is not to ask for it at all.”

Most leader-bosses are trying to embrace this—even when it scares them silly—because if they don’t they can’t hire. That’s right, engagement is high on the list of employee demands and not just by Millennials and if it isn’t there, well, it’s available somewhere else.

“…one aspect of leadership we believe the Internet won’t change because it can’t. Real leaders touch people… They get in their skin, filling their hearts with inspiration, courage, and hope. They share the pain in times of loss and are there to celebrate the wins.”

It’s called face-to-face and it’s where many leader-bosses are not cutting it. I see too many of them who embrace the orderly world of digital communications as a way to avoid messy, in person interactions—but it doesn’t work.

Click here for Jack Welch's - Business Week Article

A willingness to be alone - Former SECNAV John Dalton

"Character is the ability to place the needs of our Nation, our Navy, and our subordinates above our own personal desires. In this, character is good leadership, both by direction and by example.

What causes our Sailors and Marine to follow us into the danger of potential combat? What motivates them to stand a tough watch and work long hours? What inspires them to give their very best?

It's the trust and respect that our Sailors and Marines hold for those who lead them. It's the knowledge that naval leaders are looking after the best interests of their Sailors and Marines.

A leader stands for something…and that something is character. People choose to follow because they believe that that individual, that leader has the personal principles to make the right choice, the ethical choice when it comes to making a tough decision.

It requires courage to have character. It requires courage to admit mistakes and then take action to correct them. It takes courage to say "no" when it seems like everyone else in the crowd pretends not to notice, or worse yet, appears tolerant of immoral behavior--or a bad decision.

That's what it really takes to be a leader--a willingness to be alone while standing for something."

- Former Secretary of the Navy John Dalton

Captain Edward H. Deets III, (then) Commanding Officer, Center for Naval Cryptology, Corry Station, reminded us of former Secretary of the Navy John Dalton's important words about 'character and leadership' in his address to the Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association Spring Breakout - February 2003

A Leadership Approach That Worked

Some years ago, this leadership approach worked for Rear Admiral James S. McFarland who was Commander, Naval Security Group Command.

Taken verbatim from his personal notes:

"Problem:
My goal was to increase the sensitivity of our leaders to the needs and concerns of our Sailors. We had very uneven application of our 'people programs.'

Actions:
- Task the Inspector general to randomly select commands to visit. Do not 'inspect' but listen - not to the leadership but to the Sailors.
- Conduct personal interviews with at least 1/2 of the command. Visit the families ashore.
- Get the pulse and document concerns - what works and what doesn't.
- Use imagination and creativity to bring our organization together as a family that shares , cares and gets the mission done right.

Results:
We addressed the problems immediately. Those endemic to the whole organization, we corrected with policy changes. Others uniques to commands, we assisted and advised. In two cases, I relieved the Commanding Officers for total insensitivity. The good people programs were adopted throughout the organization."

Intelligence—The Profession of Specialists

"If Naval Intelligence is to realize its vision of achieving information dominance over potential adversaries and create decision superiority for our commanders, our operational forces and our allied partners, we must fundamentally alter course with regard to how we look at ourselves. We must be highly skilled and possess extensive experiences in the profession of intelligence. We must invest in educating our people to a dramatically higher level than we ever have in our history. I commit to you my energies and leadership, but I will need your help and your innovative thinking as we implement new methods for training and educating our professionals. This is our highest priority. Standby your stations, we’re about to crank it up to flank speed."

Vice Admiral Jack Dorsett, Director of Naval Intelligence

Nothing more important

“There’s nothing more important … to what we do than leadership. It covers the full spectrum of our people. It covers the full spectrum of our missions. It covers what we’re doing now and how we look to the future."

Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

NAVY LEADERSHIP: Is Something Missing?

The Navy of today and tomorrow must consider:
1. Crisply, clearly, and completely detailing exactly what the Navy embraces as "NAVY" leadership values, principles, and skills. This cannot, in whole or part, be a system of principles or practices that Navy personnel perceive to be a prepackaged system offered by the leadership guru currently in vogue. It will not work. Core principles and skills require only infrequent modification. When change is indicated, it should be undertaken.

2. Imposing acceptance of values, principles and skills as a condition of service. Like other services, they should be institutionalized. There are many facets of Naval Service that are compulsory. The practice of basic leadership values and principles should be one of these. Today it is not. Imposing acceptance of a "Navy" leadership program may be the most difficult task facing Navy's strategic leaders, because it runs counter to the cultural norm of the independence of command.

3. Training and educating all service personnel throughout their careers. Leadership is not inherited. Today's schedule of training courses and ones being planned for the forthcoming changes to Navy leadership training (The Leadership Continuum) simply are not acceptable. People will not internalize the Navy leadership program unless they feel the Navy leaders' commitment to it throughout their service.

4. Measuring and rewarding superior leadership performance. What isn't measured and rewarded, isn't done! The strongest signal the Navy can send to its leaders regarding their leadership performance is that it determines the outcomes of their careers. Measuring and rewarding leadership performance will prove difficult. It may be time for the Navy to consider alternative forms of performance evaluation--possibly peer and subordinate evaluations or maybe the application of leadership trait testing instruments.

Captain Allan A. Banghart
United States Navy
Executive Research Project while a student in 1995 at The Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.

First Printing Sold Out !!

If you haven't already purchased Admiral James Stavridis' book, DESTROYER CAPTAIN, you missed your opportunity to own a First Edition copy. Not to worry, they are already printing the second edition. This is a great book. Required reading for those with any interest at all in leadership, the Navy, destroyers, command at sea, Sailors, Chief Petty Officers or serving one's country. I am biased, but this is a great companion tome for Michael Abrashoff's IT'S YOUR SHIP. Two completely different approaches to telling the story about the considerable challenges and rewards of 'destroyer command'.

Good training and leadership

"... all the wonderful platforms aren't worth the metal or the composite material that they are made from if we don't have motivated and dedicated Sailors to bring them to life. Motivated and dedicated Sailors are produced by two main things - good training and good leadership."

Admiral Jay Johnson, Chief of Naval Operations

Chief Petty Officer Responsibility

“The chief petty officer can, and should, take the responsibility of keeping every Sailor under his leadership informed. If one of his Sailors has a problem, he has a problem. There should be no excuses. There is a solution to every problem, and it should be pursued until his Sailor is satisfied that every means has been exhausted in the effort to find a solution. I feel very strongly that we need to improve our leadership abilities to keep pace with the high level of technical skill. The rapidity of advancement has caused a need for establishment of more leadership classes at the command level. My feelings are that we must have a chain of command from top to bottom, but even more important, we must have a channel of communication and understanding.”

MCPON Del Black, United States Navy's 1st Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy

PROCEEDINGS

Another article in the works. A look back at 27 years of the VADM James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award winners. The article is tentatively titled "The League of Extraordinary Officers and Gentlemen". 35 years ago today, 12 Feb 1973 VADM J.B. Stockdale was released from captivity in Vietnam. His stoic approach to his imprisonment earned him the undying respect of his fellow captives and the Medal of Honor. I interviewed VADM Phil M. Quast (the first Stockdale Award winner) today. I also sent e-mail questions to all winners who are still on active duty. Some of the winners include: VADM Charles Moore, ADM Michael G. Mullen, ADM Thomas Fargo, ADM Jonathan Greenert, RADM Bruce Grooms.

A list

• Always bring something to the table that will make you more welcome.
• Critics are good. They are the ones who show they care about what you are doing. Their criticism is affirmation that you are doing SOMETHING.
• Make sure the artifacts of your life show purpose and meaning.
• Benjamin Zander's rule #6 - "Don't take yourself so damn seriously".
• Command is the zenith of military achievement.
• Be worthy to lead. Then, lead a life of consequence.
• Think as a man of action; act as a man of thought.
• Honor never grows old.
• The truth provides a fixed point of reference.
• Audacity matters. Be audacious !