Remember the light bulb? If you don’t, you should read it because it’s important to this story. There are even bigger lightbulbs to worry about. Your boss should listen to
Remember the light bulb? If you don’t, you should read it because it’s important to this story. There are even bigger lightbulbs to worry about. Your boss should listen to
Commanders have mission statements. Staff professionals apply skills and tools to their commander’s mission statement. Several years ago, the nine-person Public Affairs team to which I was the deputy sat
There’s a bungee cord sitting between your organization and your commander’s end state. Keep following it, and eventually you’ll get there. Along the way, things will pull the bungee cord
GoodmorningSir. I’manempoweredbadge-wearingmemberofyourorganization. I’mnowgoingtoreadyousomewordsfromapieceofpaper. ThisisabriefIwastoldtogivethismorning. ThisscriptwasreviewedseveraltimesbyvariousstaffleaderssoIamnotgoingtodeviatefromit. Blahblahblahblahblahblahblah. IonlywrotelikethirtyperentofthecontentI’mbriefingrightnow. Theyremovedsomeofthemostimportantinformationfrommyscriptbecauseweweren’tsureiftheG2hadseenthatinformationyet, oriftheyagreedwithmyassessment. Wedon’twantyoutoknowtwoprofessionalstaffelementscouldpotentiallyhavedifferentperspectivesonacomplicatedtopic. Blahblahblahblahblahblah. Thisscriptwasapproved24hoursagosomostoftheinformationisoutofdate. Blahblahblahblah. Areyoulistening? It’shardtotellbecauseIdon’twanttotakemyeyesofmyscript. Blahblah. MaybeI’llsneakonepeek. Itlookslikeyou’rejusttalkingtotheCommandSergeantMajoratthefronttablewhileI’mbriefing. Maybethat’sforthebest. NowIcanjustgetthroughthisfasterandhopefullyyouwon’thaveanyquestions. Mysupervisorsdidn’ttellmewhattodoifyouaskanyquestionsorwanttohaveadiscussion. Thatisn’tinmyscript. Thiscould’vebeenane-mail. Blahblahblah. Pendingyourquestions. (Photo by Pfc. Andrew Valenza,
Teams and units become elite, and develop absolute trust, when they execute the basics to perfection. Combat soldiers must be able to hit a target with their weapon and communicate
Who is the organization’s PAO? a. A PAQC graduate. b. The person given the assignment by Branch. c. The dude sitting in the PAO office. d. He or she who
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” -Tesla 1990 “I saw the sign and it
I used to roll my eyes when I heard yet another U.S. Army senior commander or general go on about the importance of taking out the trash. “Oh boy,” I’d
Several years ago as a young PAO, I had some very specific and wild thoughts on how our higher headquarters should respond to a reporter’s query. I spouted off my
One of the great things about public affairs is you get to define what you do and how. The only truly limited resource we have is time. Where are you