A FEW MANAGEMENT ADAGES

 

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Built from the ground up.    These are practical insights forged through experience—not theory.  Each one earned, tested, and open to debate.  I’ll expand on different ones over time.

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Management Precepts

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1. We are far more conceptually blind to each other than we realize.

2. If there’s no “ink on paper with a signature” (literally--digital signatures have zero management value and impact), it’s not a decision, deliverable, effective management instrument, or policy…or even a meeting that actually happened.

3. The DoD (or Government) Bureaucracy: Complexity with Purpose.  

4. The Value of Even Minor Human Interaction in Management.

5. The Myth of Analysis & Decision-Making in DoD.

6. If digital signatures are being used by VPs or higher, you’re not effectively managing your organization.

7. Governance does not equal Management.

8. In most cases, organizations, corporations, and firms don’t exist after 5:30 PM.    

Organizational and Management Modeling and Planning

 

1. There are three and only three levels of organizational activity in an organization and you only need to take two of them into account.

2. Using systems theory for management modeling is one of the worst things you can do.

3. Complexity upfront in planning or design kills implementation. Simple is the first step to effectiveness in complex conditions.

4. Precision in purpose and goals at the outset is key.

5. You cannot predict with certainty what you will be doing in your personal life 12 months from now. Why assume program plans should?

6. If hiring a consulting firm, don’t settle for only one on-site team.

7. If you see a chart with one Fiscal Year (FY)/Calendar Year (CY) placed above another FY/CY representing a multi-year timeline, shoot the slide owner.

8. If a subordinate presents a 70% solution, let them run with it….no, insist they do. 

9. Decision-making meetings have nothing to do with leaders making decisions.

10. Implementation is the hardest thing to do; the best strategies begin with clarity regarding practical implementation. 

 

Leadership

 

1. There are only three types of leaders in any large organization; each fills one of three permanent roles to optimize their individual performance.  Each type requires different kinds of leadership:  a) Traditional Management; b) Resource Prioritization; and c) Resource Management.

2. Exacting standards and values are important, but often a leader needs to navigate the grey.

3. An effective leader has three distinct personas needed at different times—only one is for management.

4. The best strategic thinkers don’t have the broadest vision--they know what to ignore.

5. A CEO of an organization cannot effectively manage or steer more than 50% of the organization. It is not about time limitations and span of control limitations.  A CEO does not have the cognitive capability to cover management requirements effectively.  No human or AI does

6. Corporate Chiefs of Staff should not be involved in strategy.

7. If you have a Deputy Chief of Staff, you don’t have a Chief of Staff.

8. If the CEO (or Secretary of the Department) isn’t bothered by staff after hours or on weekends, it indicates strong leadership.

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Leadership & Decision-Making Structures

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1. If you think your parents “did the best they could,” you are likely wrong in some important ways.  This also goes for managers.

2. Your brain is a selfish, self-centered bastard that instinctively undermines leadership and management...without your awareness. 

 

Organizational Assessment

 

1. If an executive is being briefed with live data, there are multiple problems in your performance management and accountability regimen.

2. If process, policy, or tool is being used in an organization, it is being used for a reason.  In efficiency reviews, everything should not be on the table.

 

Organizational Effectiveness

 

1. Conducting a bottom-up review to inform management models or efficiency studies is… misguided. 

2. Cross-functional teams (CFTs) often have limited effectiveness in corporate or large management frameworks and can be costly unless used for short-term initiatives (e.g., under six months).  Agility, adaptability, and similar terms refer to control, and are not constructive elements in a stable, nurturing management relationship needed for employees to develop.

3. Avoid any consulting firm that claims upfront they can reduce organizational bloat and increase efficiency by more than 5%. 

4. You do not achieve transformative change strategically; you achieve it incrementally at the strategic level (executive level — top down).

5. Seeking efficiency improvements at the top of an organization is counterproductive.

 

Communications

 

1. If your organization has more than 50 people and is using Microsoft Teams as an organization-wide tool, you have deeper structural issues than collaboration.

2. If an employee voluntarily shares important information with you, do not immediately assign them a task. 

3. Knowledge management (not communication) should be limited to Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDFs.  Nothing else. 

 

Miscellaneous

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1. If it sounds like b.s., it is b.s.