Monday, July 25, 2011

On Leadership and Crisis Management.... This mouse could be the elephant in the room.....


It has been said that an elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.... On Leadership and Crisis Management....

This mouse could be the elephant in the room.....

If you intend to read something today or over the weekend, I highly encourage you to read this transcript from Freakonomics Radio from their story "A Mouse in the Salad." Fair warning, it is a little long, but well worth it all the way to the end. You can also find the podcast download here. It is a very interesting and well told story regarding leadership and crisis management.

On Tuesday July 26th the
House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on Military Readiness intends to hold a hearing to explore the future of the aircraft carrier fleet, the depletion of pre-positioned stocks, the grounding of the F-22 fleet, training deficiencies, and unfunded requirements. Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, General Peter W. Chiarelli, General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., and General Philip M. Breedlove will be giving testimony.

I believe reading "A Mouse in the Salad" before Tuesday will assist folks in setting expectations for the hearing. You'll see what I mean on Tuesday.

A very clever friend of mine described the way the Navy would handle "A Mouse in the Salad."

Navy's answer to a mouse in the salad would have been to initiate a command investigation, then issue a statement that it couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation. The investigation would have been inconclusive, but the waitress would have been fired, the chef censured, the manager promoted, and the customer ignored.
I think that you left out how they are right now designing a new mouse trap that not only will be better than anything else out there but much cheaper. Followed not long after by them trying to explain why it is over budget and behind schedule.