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


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,

Conductors are silent. They stand in front of the orchestra and give direction, but they don’t actually make any music. The drummer is also directing their band: giving cues and

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

Bureaucrats sigh when we walk in the room. My complacent peer rolls his eyes when we talk. We raise the blood pressure of the over-zealous security guy. Even some of

Seth’s Blog almost nails it with this one: its your choice to make your work look effortless. Left unsaid is that you also can, and should, actively reduce your vulnerability to

Teammates, our best and inspired work is all for nothing if we fail to execute the basic tasks that ensure audiences will receive the message. Remember how we said you

Several years ago as a young PAO, I volunteered to help escort and support reporters during one of our higher headquarters’ big annual conferences, which included a multinational military capabilities

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

Listen to your commander talk to their boss. Do they speak in generalities? Make guesses? Struggle to find words, or constantly contradict themself? Of course not. Your commander speaks with