What Do You Expect From a General Officer?

Sir having worked for (with) several GO's in 1CD..and a few more assigned to RC-E in Afghanistan I can say for sure you're on the right track... It will always be your decision, your priorities, but the ideas and "how" will come from your subordinates, .....if you allow it.

What do (did) I want from the GO's I worked for? simple really. Tell me what you want as an endstate, give me the commanders intent, clearly articulate the left and right limits and your timeline, be open and honest in what you need as feedback during and after completion. And then walk away.

Be open and ready to provide clarification along the way.. DO NOT wait until task completion to check in or provide guidence, only to say.. thats not what I want AFTER the task and work is complete.

Be ready for "Sir, that won't work.. here is why, here is what we can do" Accept it , guide it, or change the conditions your subordinates have to work in so your endstate can be met.

Coming from the bottom of the totem pole Sir, I would say provide an opportunity for the lowest level to contribute ideas. The best thing I've seen was a in person survey (albeit conducted by a contractor) from G3 that would go straight back up to them. We were asked about equipment requirements, what we liked and didn't like about a new vehicle, and any general comments or suggestions on how to change things at the unit level.

The big thing I took away from it was skipping the chain of command so to speak. When something like that gets passed down from 20th to Group to Battalion to Company then back up, a lot of stuff gets removed, changed, misunderstood etc. Sometimes the things that don't make it back up to the top are the things that the guys on the ground were hitting on as being the most important. It goes back to the old joke about the general putting information out about Haley's comet passing by which eventually turns into General Haley is going to be driving by in his comet.

Also, as you mentioned Sir, we for the most part are terrified to speak up when someone of your rank is in the room. Especially the lower enlisted. Either one is afraid of retribution from superiors (regardless of how likely that is, most times it isn't), or just of looking dumb in front of both their peers and their boss's boss's boss's boss's boss. No idea on my end of how to fix that other than asking specific questions rather than an open ended one. Asking if there are any problems will result in no one speaking up. Asking how many people like this one aspect of one part of equipment is much more likely to get a avalanche of opinions and thoughts started so to speak.

Sir, one high ranking GO once said as he was delivering bad news to the troops,"There's nothing I can do!" I strongly recommend not uttering that phrase in context that it's beyond you.
Stars make things happen. If your going to tell them anything tell them what you've doing and are willing to fight for! In my eyes on that day, the GO seemed almost defeated!

Brigadier, Congratulations and thank you for your service.
I would not presume to offer any advice to someone of your stature.
I would say that the officers I admired the most were the ones in the front (leading by example).
Having a set of bone handled revolvers also helps.

General, be a leader, but, never forget your listening skills. Folks will most likely not come to you you need to go to them.

Sir, first and foremost, thank you for offering this up!

I would start with this, and it applies to every rank across the board, be the General you wanted/needed as a Junior Officer. Understandably, what we want and what we need are often at odds with each other, but as we mature, we can look back and see what would have made us a stronger individual.

As a leader, I think all members simply want to have a Sr Leader that is as transparent as reasonably possible and able to articulate to their subordinates the reasons behind the hard choices. These of course do not always have to be "real time" as that might hinder the mission. The ability to take the most junior member of your command and be able to directly link their AFSC/MOS/NEC to the unit's overall mission cannot be stated enough. Using my own area as an example, being able to tell the plumber in Civil Engineering how their job enables Nuclear Deterrence Operations without it sounding like lip service but in a real and genuine way.

These both tie directly in to actually caring for your subordinates vs simply managing their processes. Processes are important and crucial to the long term sustainability of any organization. Caring at the GO level is different than at the NCO/Junior Officer level. Articulating what you are doing at the Command level to improve their processes, their QoL, their training, etc. goes miles in engendering subordinates that WANT to follow you. Even if those pushes fall flat at Higher Headquarters, the fact that you CARED enough to try is what matters.

Sir, in my humble opinion, you've already started on the correct foot. Namely, you've put yourself out there for open comments from the rank and file.

I think all to often senior leaders (officer and enlisted alike) automatically discount an idea simply because it came from the lowest Pvt/Airman/Seaman/Lt. These young troops may be green and untested in every sense of the word but that doesn't mean they are clueless.

Never be afraid to hear the word, "No". I've seen too many cases of commanders and units as a whole go down in flames simply because the Boss didn't want to hear someone say, "No sir/ma'am. That just won't work." Would you rather hear the truth or have your house burn down around you because everyone was afraid to tell you there was smoke in the area?

Just a suggestion, but make sure your staff (ie: the Colonels, LtCol's, SGM, etc in your support group) understand you want frank and open dialog with the troops (assuming proper military decorum and protocol is followed!). I was told many times, "YOU CAN'T GIVE THE GENERAL BAD NEWS!! S/HE DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR THAT!!" In the end, that's exactly the type information a good commander needs to make the best informed decisions.

Best wishes sir. From what I have seen so far, I think you are exactly the type of commander I most respected and enjoyed working for.

Utmost congratulations on the promotion, sir.

Three things: Leadership, leadership, and leadership

1). Leadership (Mission) - End-state, operating parameters and boundary conditions. I'll plan the flight--I'll worry about getting us there. Outside of the box thinking is a gift not a curse. Give me good vectors when I get off course.

2). Leadership (People) - Leave the managing to me and your O6s. We got it covered. You need space to make the big decisions. Culture is a great place to start. If the culture is great, there's so much we can do building a team. Develop your Os and let me know what you need in the Es.

and finally...
3) Leadership (Bond) - From my seat, I need your trust and top cover. If I have that, I'll give you the enlisted that I work for. Be honest and trust me, and you'll have more than that in return. If there are leadership issues that I can't bring to you, I'll just keep bringing them...the choice is up to you to address it now, or in six months. If I close the door, be ready to hear some truth--but, understand after we go toe to toe, I'll let you buy me an adult beverage at the club. After all, we are a team, and you are stuck with me...hard Ukrainian cranium and all.

BG (Join to see), you happen to be in my CoC, so this to me is a bit closer to home.
I expect clear guidance on priorities of training and resource A single "Command Guidance" memo is not sufficient; personal time spent with subordinate commanders to impart and reinforce your vision of where their formations should be going is critical.

I thank you for your recent visit to my unit. That was a good start and speaking for myself, I appreciate the face time.

I have a specific suggestion:
Working in a resource-restrained environment, it seems to dominate the conversation that "we can't do as much". There are many ways to be creative when generating quality training. Since we are in the business of people, our best training environment is in our own backyard and costs next to nothing.
The advice: seek out these ideas from the field and socialize the best ones as you travel around the CACOM.

Thank you for having the humility to reach out like this, It portends well for your tenure.

I once asked why we never saw any GOs on the old AKO discussion forums. Most of the answers centered around the idea that their opinions could be too easily mistaken as policy.

I am glad to see you shopping this here on RP sir.

In my opinion, it is important that high level leaders take the time to get the pulse of their command and ferret out real issues. SMA Daley has been an exceptional example of this.

Sie, set high standards, live by them, and expect those under your command to do so as well. That is what I expect from a GO
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