Adapthing Battlefield Insights to the Supply Chain Industry
On one of my recent business trips I was doing the obligatory late-night channel surfing. I came across an interview with General David Petraeus and a well known news man, although I can’t remember his name at present. The interview was being shown on PBS and I was immediately intrigued by General Petraeus’ overall demeanor and his humble, succinct and direct responses to a series of rapid-fire questions.
One question centered on the role of a leader. Specifically, what did General Petraeus believe was the key role of a leader. Excellent question for the General given his role as head of the U.S. Central Command. General Petraeus’ response to the question was what I would have expected from a battle-hardened veteran and patriot, profound wisdom in a strikingly succinct and simple veneer.
As I listened to his key points I fumbled around for a hotel notepad to capture them. The points that the General identified were not just battlefield applicable but instead applicable to any industry that values leadership and execution. In my particular case I wondered how many supply chain entities have leaders that embrace and practice the types of items denoted by General Petraeus.
Without further delay here is the list from General Petraeus. I’ve added some additional commentary that is not representative of General Petraeus thoughts but rather my own analysis.
1. Focus on the Big Ideas
General Petraeus discussed the fact that leaders focus on the big ideas of the organization. Certainly in any organization there are thousands of ideas, initiatives, and daily discussions occurring. The job of a leader is to distill this “chatter” into those top items, those big ideas, that will really help propel the organization forward.
In a supply chain context big ideas could be mobile technology adoption, predictive analytics, advanced transportation audit, labor management, warehouse picking technologies, green chain and others. I know in my own career I have worked at organizations that did an excellent job when it came to focusing on the big ideas and I’ve also worked at others where everyone, including leadership, became accustomed to managing the minutiae.
2. Communicate the Ideas through the Breadth and Depth of the Organization
After the idea(s) have been identified and the focus is set the next area is communication. Any organization can have great ideas, critical paths, and clear direction but if the CEO is the only one who knows this info then there are bound to be problems. The easiest analogy is this. An organization more closely resembles a truck convoy then it does a train. A truck convoy is composed of numerous individual entities that are all coordinating movements to arrive at the same end destination. A train on the other hand has no choice but to arrive at the same location because each car is physically linked to the next. A truck convoy can be disrupted by weather, mechanicals, and any number of other variables. The same is true in life. An organization can easily leave behind its other “trucks”, especially if upon the start of the voyage there was not a clear agreement on the interstates & roads that would be followed and what the end destination would be.
Petraeus intelligently asserts that any leader must be an expert at ensuring the big ideas are appropriately communicated throughout the organization. I think about my own experience in the companies I’ve been involved in and often times the difference between success and failure was how well the company leaders helped to socialize the ideas throughout the company.
3. Oversee & Facilitate Implementation
After the big ideas / goals are known and the communication has occurred the next step of a leader is helping to ensure that the implementation is overseen. Petraeus discussed the idea that leaders must help not only oversee the implementation but also must help facilitate.
Regardless of the industry, the leader must always keep perspective on the big ideas and help the organization overcome obstacles to adoption.
Summary
With the many new challenges and opportunities present in the supply chain I believe General Petraeus’ insights on leadership are both timely and at the same time “timeless”. The first point is clear. If you are to obtain progress on any initiative you can’t have 1000 initiatives that are all designated high priority and ‘critical’ to the success of the organization. Think about a laser, its power isn’t in pushing light in 10,000 different directions, its power is in accumulating all of that collective energy in one highly focused stream. Like a laser, a leader’s value is in their ability to cut through the “BS” and help the organization focus its resources on what is critical.
The second point concerning communications is important because a leader also recognizes that important initiatives and big ideas are useless unless the organization can willingly and enthusiastically adopt them. Certainly in a military situation an order is an order, but morale is still important. Just like the truck convoy example, if the lead truck gets separated from the rest, it shouldn’t mean they all get lost. Instead, in an organizational context, the lead truck communicates before they leave as to the end destination.
Not only does a leader cut through the “stuff” and communicate but they also make sure they knock out all obstacles that stand in the way of effective implementation. Clearly the battlefield insights that General Petraeus has garnered can be applied to any industry and adopted by any leader wishing to push his/her organization to new heights. Put in three words: DISTILL, COMMUNICATE, & FACILITATE.
