J E Tighe nominated for second star

Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) Jan E. Tighe has been nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral.  Tighe is currently serving as director, decision superiority, N2/N6F4, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C., and (interim) president, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. 

Command - Yours 24 hours a day

“Command is for the individual who loves responsibility, that is one of the challenges of leadership. It’s yours twenty-four hours a day. Command is an assignment that you were totally responsible for all the activities within that unit. There is an intrinsic reward; it is satisfying a need to be able to project a certain amount of order and discipline to yield results. That’s your reward, that you did it, to want bigger and bigger responsibilities. To seek it, but it was not ambition, but the challenge of taking on the toughest responsibilities.”

Admiral Paul David Miller

THREE BASIC RULES OF THUMB FOR YOUR ACTIONS

• Does this action attempt to deceive anyone or allow anyone to be deceived?
• Does this action gain or allow the gain of a privilege or advantage to which I or someone else would not otherwise be entitled?
• Would I be satisfied by the outcome if I were on the receiving end of this action?

Best to know the answers to all three before acting.

From the United States Military Academy (USMA)

Hard truths

Great leadership does not mean running away from reality. Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the command, but at other times sharing difficulties can inspire your Sailors to take action that will make the situation better.

Sailor power

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned Sailors can change turn this mediocre command around.  We can do it together.  We can return to our past glory.  We must.  All hands - turn to and carry out the Plan of the Day.

The Crew in Command Excellence

It is the crew, led by the officers and Chiefs, who must ultimately accomplish the command's mission. The crew is where "the keel meets the water." Without a top-performing crew, no command can be successful.

Commanding Officers of superior commands are particularly adept at molding their crew into a highly unified, spirited, fighting team with a laser-like focus: accomplishing the command's mission. When asked, these crews can not only clearly describe the command's philosophy and goals, but they also voice wholehearted support of the CO and his approach. Because the CO, XO, officers, and Chiefs frequently explain what they want done and why, the crew knows what is expected of them and feels a part of the team. The result is enthusiasm, motivation, and pride in the command. These crews often praise their CO with the ultimate accolade: "I'd go to war with him." In average commands, the crew may not be sure of the command's philosophy or may withhold their total support of it.

The crew in superior commands also live up to the high standards demanded by their officers and Chiefs. They know that when they succeed, they will be recognized and rewarded; equally well, they know that when they make mistakes, they will be told and corrective action taken. Their commitment to upholding the command's standards generates a strong sense of responsibility for their individual work areas. They act on the principle that if you're going to do something, then do it right, and do it right the first time.

Crew members of superior commands realize that success depends on a team effort. They don't act or do their jobs in disregard of the rest of the command. They communicate frequently, coordinate activities, and help each other out when necessary. In addition, they are careful about following the chain of command. They know that violating it disrupts teamwork, creates confusion, hurts morale, and hinders leadership.

The high cost of compromise

When Navy leaders compromise, or look the other way when compromise of values, standards or principles occurs, it's the equivalent of the Captain drilling holes in the bottom of his ship.  Even the most basic forms of compromise can derail a command from fulfilling its mission.  Navy leaders are ultimately accountable for seemingly minor breaches, as almost all failures in a command can be traced back to those who lead.

Officers and Chiefs - a distinction

Serving as a commissioned officer differs from other forms of Navy leadership by the quality and breadth of expert knowledge required, in the measure of responsibility attached, and in the magnitude of the consequences of inaction or ineffectiveness.

A Navy Chief swears an oath of obedience to lawful orders, while the Naval officer promises to, “well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office.”

This distinction establishes a different expectation for discretionary initiative. Officers should be driven to maintain the momentum of operations, possess courage to deviate from standing orders within the commander’s intent when required, and be willing to accept the responsibility and accountability for doing so.

While Naval officers depend on the counsel, technical skill, maturity, and experience of the Chief to translate their orders into action, the ultimate responsibility for mission success or failure resides with the Naval officer.

Anyway

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered, love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives, do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies, succeed anyway.

The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow, do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable, be honest and frank anyway.

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight, build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you help them, help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the teeth, give the world the best you have anyway.

This has been my philosophy for some time as a Naval officer

"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept."

Letter from the James S. McFarland Archives - A Treasure

I'm trying to imagine how your ISIC will react to your self-reporting of inappropriate materials discovered at your command

The SECNAV message " DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY COMPREHENSIVE VISUAL INSPECTION OF ALL DON WORKPLACES" is HERE.

Public Trust - Public Property

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.

Don't miss Commander Sean Heritage's post on building trust HERE.

It is not the anonymous critic who counts

"It is not the anonymous critic who counts; not the man who points out how the Blogger stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again.

Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat on the INTERNETs."

Theodore Roosevelt, The Man on the Internet

Respect for juniors' time

There is always plenty of room for humor in the Navy.  Jeff Bacon illustrates one of those moments of humor with his latest cartoon to capture a very real problem.

We've all had that boss who didn't respect our time and viewed his/her time as more valuable/important than ours.  There are times when one can't avoid being late.  The CO/XO/DH DIVOFF who is perpetually late for his own meetings needs to change the time of the meeting. 

When nearly all of us can relate to this problem, there really is a problem.  12 officers waiting 15 minutes for the CO have wasted 4 hours of the Navy's time.  Who can afford it?  The Navy, the command and those officers can't.

Time is one of the more valuable things we have.  No respect for our time = no respect for us.

More of Jeff Bacon's humor is HERE.