21 April 2010

Preparing for Your Future

Team,

I want to highlight an excellent thought-piece that I recently read.
In the article “Preparing for Your Future and That of the U.S. Army”, LTG James M. Dubik (U.S. Army retired) provides five actions a Soldier should take to prepare for an uncertain future.
  1. Keep learning
  2. Retain your best subordinates
  3. Create a positive climate
  4. Value adaptability
  5. Attend to your personal life
LTG Dubik does an excellent job of distilling his 37 years of experience as an Army Officer into straightforward, actionable advice that I believe is relevant to our Navy Officers and Chief Petty Officers.

I encourage each of you to follow the link below to read the full article and think about how it applies to your particular situation, and what you might add to his list.

All the best, JCHjr

Click here to access the article.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sir, I would add to the list:

6. Know and understand what is happening in the personal lives of your subordinates and be prepared to advise and counsel, when necessary, those whose personal/family situations may result in legal/administration action.

7. Delegate responsibilities to the lowest common dominator possible in your unit/command, give those persons the authority to carry out those responsibilities; ensure that they keep you informed of their actions and those of their subordinates. Hold persons in positions of authority accountable for their actions, always.

8. Value forthrightness and truth; give/take criticism constructively; let all who know you that you absolutely despise deceitfulness and liars as sources that cannot be trusted.

9. Eliminate thieves from your unit: whether in words or deeds. They can demoralize your command faster, in most cases, than any other negative influence.

10. Remember always, sometimes a simple "Thank you" can make subordinates efforts, no matter how arduous, worth all the hard work, when given spontaneously, yet sparingly. Give credit, where credit is due.