VADM James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award Winners Recognized

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, middle, poses with recipients of the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award: Captain William J. Parker and his wife, Chris, left, along with Commander Robert A. Baughman and his wife, Cathy, during a Nov. 3 ceremony held at the Pentagon Hall of Heroes.

VADM James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award Winners - A League of Extraordinary Officers and Gentlemen

Click the link above for my article.

A short article and history of the winners - 29 years running.

Information Dominance Corps Responsibilities

From Captain Will Metts, Senior IWO detailer

N2/N6 is the community sponsor for the combined Information Dominance Corps communities (i.e., Intel, IP, IW and METOC Officer, Enlisted and Civilian (Para 6. b. of OPNAVINST 5300.12)), but each Community Leader retains his or her responsibility for individual communities (Para 6. e. of OPNAVINST 5300.12).

It is a subtle, but very important point to understand as the Corps evolves.

From the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Roughead

(Our plan) is to take our already very proficient and experienced operators and create with them and with others an “Information Dominance Corps.” Right now we have a lot of ratings, a lot of specialties within the Navy that in and of themselves are a bunch of different communities, a bunch of different structures if you will.

We will combine them into an Information Dominance Corps - it will include our Information Professionals, Information Warfare, Intelligence, Cryptology, Aerographer’s mates, IT [Information Systems Technicians] Professionals- they will all be combined into an Information Dominance Corps. And when you add that together, it will constitute about 44,000 Sailors in the United States Navy. They will retain their individual identities, but they will be managed as a corps, they will develop as a corps and they will fight as a corps.

Information Dominance - N2/N6 - COM10FLT

"Beginning today, the Navy no longer has an N2 or director for intelligence and an N6 director for command, control and communications. We now have a director for Information dominance. The reason it started today was the officer who was nominated for that position was just confirmed by the Senate on Thursday and as a former chief of legislative affairs, you never presume confirmation so we waited, but Jack Dorsett is off and running this morning with his fused organization that brings together information, intelligence, command and control, and in doing that we have also moved programs that have traditionally been the purview of what in the Navy we call the platform responders, the ships, the submarines and the airplanes, and we have now moved several of those programs out of the platform directorate, if you will, into the Director for Information Dominance, and unmanned systems fall into this new organization because the vehicle itself is nothing more than a node and it's the architecture and it's the information that is moving through those nodes that will give the war fighter the advantage in the future. So all of that has now been consolidated in there.

This is a significant move for the Navy to do this. We have also stood up a cyber fleet, the 10th Fleet, that will be the global operator of cyber, and how that feeds and fits and supports the unmanned will be evolving in the coming months, but those were the changes that we have made. You probably didn't expect me to quote Machiavelli at an unmanned systems lecture, but I have a little card on my desk that is a quote from Machiavelli and in it he says that, "Nothing is more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain of its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." But this is the right way, this is where we have to go, and it will make us much, much more effective."

Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead at Brookings Institution on 2 November discussing Future Unmanned Naval Technologies

DEPUTY CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS FOR INFORMATION DOMINANCE (N2/N6) STAND-UP

Leadership,

FYSA (for your situational awareness). Formal establishment of N2/N6 represents a major transition in Navy's approach to Information Operations and serves as a bold statement of CNO's commitment to this emerging warfare area. As with any new initiative, there will be much to learn, and you will all have an opportunity to contribute.

Next on the agenda will be the formal establishment of CYBERFLEET/TENTH FLEET; exact date on hold pending confirmation of the Commander. Will keep you informed as the process continues.

We live in exciting times!

VR/WR and keep pressing,
HDS

VADM Denby Starling
Commander, Naval Network Warfare Command
in a 30 October 2009 e-mail to NNWC leadership

Summoned to his nobility

In a novel about ancient Greece, the warrior Alcibiades is asked how to lead free men, and he responds: “By being better and thus commanding their emulation.”

Alcibiades goes on, “A commander’s role is to model … excellence before his men. One need not thrash them to greatness, only hold it out before them. They will be compelled by their own nature to emulate it.”

He concludes: How [to] lead free men?

Only by this means: the summoning of each to his nobility.

Sharing the Vision - Essential to Leadership

The whole point of leadership is figuring out where to go from where you are now. While you may know where you want to go, people won’t see that unless you actively communicate it with them. Remember, these traits aren’t just things you need to have, they are things you need to actively display to those around you.

When people do not consider their leader forward-looking, that leader is usually suffering from one of two possible problems:

1. The leader doesn’t have a forward-looking vision.
2. The leader is unwilling or scared to share the vision with others.

When a leader doesn’t have a vision for the future, it usually because they are spending so much time on today, that they haven’t really thought about tomorrow. On a very simplistic level this can be solved simply by setting aside some time for planning, strategizing and thinking about the future.

Many times when a leader has no time to think and plan for the future, it is because they are doing a poor job of leading in the present. They have created an organization and systems that rely too much on the leader for input at every stage.

Some leaders have a clear vision, but don’t wish to share it with others. Most of the time they are concerned that they will lose credibility if they share a vision of the future that doesn’t come about. This is a legitimate concern. However, people need to know that a leader has a strong vision for the future and a strong plan for going forward.

From Mark Shead's Five Most Important Leadership Traits

On Loyalty - Up, and down the chain of command

While the fabric that has held society together has worn thinner in our modern age, it is still loyalty that lends the cloth its strength. It is loyalty that keeps the world functioning. We could not conduct business transactions or personal relationship without it. Loyalty is the idea that we are who we say we are and we will do what we say we will do. It is the hope that the integrity with which we initially encountered someone will endure indefinitely.

It’s also what keeps us unified. We live out our lives as part of agreed upon norms that allow us to operate from day to day. We need to know who we can count on. We all understand that ideally, friends will have your back, lovers will remain true, and businesses will not cheat you out of your money. When someone is disloyal, they break from these expectations and weaken the trust that holds us together.

From The Philosophy of Loyalty by Josiah Royce

Harvard Lecture Series 1908

Standup of OPNAV N2/N6 - Landmark

EFFECTIVE 02NOV09, N2/N6 ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY FOR INTELLIGENCE, INFORMATION, INFORMATION WARFARE, CYBER, COMMUNICATIONS, NETWORKS, OCEANOGRAPHY, AND SPACE, AS WELL AS MARITIME DOMAIN AWARENESS AND NAVY UNMANNED SYSTEMS. OPNAV RESOURCES ASSOCIATED WITH INFORMATION-CENTRIC PROGRAMS ARE CONSOLIDATED UNDER N2/N6 SPONSORSHIP.

THE STAND UP OF N2/N6 REPRESENTS A LANDMARK TRANSITION IN THE EVOLUTION OF NAVAL WARFARE, DESIGNED TO ELEVATE INFORMATION AS A MAIN BATTERY OF OUR WARFIGHTING CAPABILITIES, AND FIRMLY ESTABLISH THE U.S. NAVY'S PROMINENCE IN INTELLIGENCE, CYBER WARFARE, AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT.

TOWARD THIS END, THE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES OF N2/N6 ARE TO:

A. ELEVATE INFORMATION TO A CORE NAVY WARFIGHTING CAPABILITY.

B. FUNCTIONALLY INTEGRATE INTELLIGENCE, INFORMATION WARFARE, INFORMATION/NETWORK MANAGEMENT, OCEANOGRAPHY, AND GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION FOR INFORMATION AGE OPERATIONS.

C. DELIVER ASSURED COMMAND AND CONTROL AND INFORMATION ACCESS TO OPERATIONAL FORCES.

D. BOLDLY INTRODUCE GAME-CHANGING CONCEPTS, STRATEGIES, AND CAPABILITIES.

E. COORDINATE RESOURCE INVESTMENT TO DELIVER INFORMATION-CENTRIC CAPABILITIES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES.

F. AGGRESSIVELY ACCELERATE EXPERIMENTATION AND INNOVATION WITH INFORMATION CAPABILITIES.

G. DELIVER DEEP MULTI-INTELLIGENCE PENETRATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF POTENTIAL ADVERSARIES, MELDED WITH DEEP MULTI-DOMAIN UNDERSTANDING OF THE OPERATING ENVIRONMENT.

H. DELIVER REMOTELY PILOTED, UNATTENDED, AND AUTONOMOUS CAPABILITIES ADAPTIVELY NETWORKED TO EXTEND REACH, PENETRATION AND PERSISTENCE IN DENIED AREAS.

Honor Our Heroes

"Any Nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure."

Abraham Lincoln

"A Nation reveals itself not only by the the men it produces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers."

John F. Kennedy

The Elements of Personal Virtue

For a real leader, the elements of personal virtue – self-reliance, self-control, honor, truthfulness, morality – are absolute.

President John Adams wrote to one of his sons:

• A young man should weigh well his plans.
• Integrity should be preserved in all events, as essential to his happiness, through every stage of his existence.
• His first maxim should be to place his honor out of reach of all men.

The true measure of leadership is how you react when the wind leaves your sails, when the tide turns against you.

Liberty - not very liberating

Our Navy is somewhat unique in how it treats time-off (off duty hours = liberty) for its service members. We've taken a punish (restrictions on liberty) the 'whole' for the actions of the few (or even one). This process has not worked, is not working and will not work. Realists (Sailors) understand this. Somehow, senior officers do not.

I can recall the liberty rules for Commander, SEVENTH Fleet (C7F) Staff embarked aboard USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19) in the mid 1990s. Due to 'liberty incidents', we (all of us - E1 to O6) were required to have a 'liberty buddy' to leave the ship. And, we were required to return to the ship with the same 'liberty buddy' we left with. We had a USMC Colonel (Bill Wesley) who challenged the C7F Chief of Staff (CoS) and said that it was Colonel Wesley's view that this rule could not possibly apply to anyone on the staff above E3. The CoS assured the Colonel that it applied to All Hands. The Colonel simply said "Bullsh*t" and walked off the ship alone. As a Lieutenant Commander at the time, I either found a 'buddy' or simply remained on the ship. I had much more to worry about with regard to my future career than did the Colonel.

You can read about other Sailors' opinions at NAVY TIMES.

From Days Gone By - Navy Day

The Navy League sponsored the first national observance of Navy Day in 1922 designed to give recognition to the naval service. The Navy League of New York proposed that the official observance be on 27 October in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had been born on that day.

In 1972, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt authorized recognition of 13 October as the Navy's birthday. In contrast to Navy Day, the Navy Birthday is intended as an internal activity for members of the active forces and reserves, as well as retirees, and dependents.

Responsibility, Authority and Accountability (Immutable Triad - RA2)

"On the sea there is a tradition older even than the traditions of the country itself and wiser in its age than this new custom. It is the tradition that with responsibility goes authority and with them accountability.

...for men will not long trust leaders who feel themselves beyond accountability for what they do.
...And when men lose confidence and trust in those who lead, order disintegrates into chaos and purposeful ships into uncontrollable derelicts."

"On The Collision of Wasp and Hobson"
Wall Street Journal, Editorial 14 May 1952

Read: LEADERSHIP SAVES LIVES by Commander Scott Lippold

The commanding officer of the USS Cole when it was attacked by al Qaeda in the port of Aden, Yemen, Lippold and his crew distinguished themselves by saving the ship from sinking. One of the seminal events of the war on terror, the aftermath of the attack established Lippold as one of the premiere leadership experts in America today.

Our Pre-eminence

"We must maintain our pre-eminence in networks, intelligence and information. There is no other service or nation that has the history, capabilities, or is as good at this as we are."

Admiral Gary Roughead
Chief of Naval Operations

COMNAVSECGRU Achievement Number 4

Short Title: Selection of officers for key command assignments.

Date/Place: 1987. Staff Washington DC

Problem or situation:

Too many commanding officers were falling short of standards for command. The selection responsibility rested with the Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP).

Actions:

CNSG convinced USN hierarchy that the process should be its responsibility. CNSG would be better able to assess command candidates by assembling a small number of trusted 1610 seniors who could better factor important considerations based on longer exposure/experience. CNSG would forward its recommendations to CNP for approval.

Results:

CNSG developed the best leadership in the history of its existence.