Congrats! You’re getting promoted, moving up the chain, maybe taking on a Public Affairs assignment at the Division or Corps staff (or higher). Sure, you’re further away from the action


Congrats! You’re getting promoted, moving up the chain, maybe taking on a Public Affairs assignment at the Division or Corps staff (or higher). Sure, you’re further away from the action

Remember this post? There’s more to the formula. Review – Everyone in my shop knows everything, all the time – this is called shared understanding. Understanding enables action. Action gets

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

Drinking a beer with my father-in-law, he mentioned one of his North Carolina-based human resources employees stopped in “to see” one of the company’s distribution centers in Texas while on vacation

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

The under-funded and forgotten parts of your organization know the Public Affairs Office is an internal, free-of-charge way to highlight their potential, and publicly lobby your commander and higher headquarters

Sometimes, people passing me during a run will call out a polite, “On your left,” before they go by. Smart word choice, right? Just enough words to help me understand

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,

Everyone loves to scoop the Public Affairs Officer and find things in the media before we’ve seen or shared it ourselves … just like we all take pride in fixing

What if somebody dies? What is a helicopter crashes? What if somebody dies in a helicopter crash? What if it’s a car accident? What if somebody gets lost in the