I'll believe it when I see it.
And the Withers Report, like all others, has magically disappearedPost-Somalia culture change for the CAF was the introduction of the Degreed Officer Corps (recommendation #10 of the report to the PM on the Management and Leadership of the CAF from Feb 1997); there was no explicit direction that it should be delivered via ROTP-MilCol.
That said, Ramsey Withers and others saw that recommendation coming, and did their best to situate RMC as a preferred delivery method for the degreed officer corps.
And the Withers Report, like all others, has magically disappeared
I take it back, it used to be available on the main page.Report of the RMC Board of Governors By the Withers' Study Group
Balanced Excellence Leading Canada's Armed Forces In The New Millenium 4500-240 (ADM (HR-Mil)) 24 September 1998 Distribution List Officer Education and Training - Planning for the Future - Lieutenant-General Dallaire References: A. Report to the Prime Minister on the Leadership and Management...www.rmc-cmr.ca
They have less than 20% of the force, but claim 1/3 of the top billets. Talent dilution is a real thing here. Plus.....RCN is way better at command than at leadership......Well the stink of being CDS (or not being CDS) hasn't been exclusively draped on the RCN has it? There is enough has-beens, near do wells, and boot lickers from all parts of the CAF to stink up all of Canada. In the end, what CDS has really moved the ball towards anything? We are hostages to the whims of the PMO and always will be.
It's because leadership, as it's taught in the Army and what is expected of an Officer in, let's say a Regiment, isn't really a thing in the RCN.They have less than 20% of the force, but claim 1/3 of the top billets. Talent dilution is a real thing here. Plus.....RCN is way better at command than at leadership......
As I have been prone to say - often to senior RCN "leaders" - it is not hard to "lead" when every one is locked in a tin can and you have sole and uncontested authority to force all the souls in that tin can to go wherever you want. No Navy guy or gal (less boarding) has ever said those immortal words that personify in-person leadership: "you three go that way - the rest of you follow me"!
I agree with you, there's no colour in leadership. The basic skill set are the same, the environment differ. No, the navy wont have to take certain call as the army leader do however, no arny unit would have to fight a fire onboard a ship while still having to fight.I've served in both worlds. Neither holds preeminence on leadership or the creation of leaders. And both could learn from each other.
An army officer has to convince their team to take that hill, the naval officer (if they are the ship's Captain) says to their sailors "you're coming with me no matter what", while the air force support team waves good-bye to the officer as the plane takes off. Different environments, different leadership styles.As I have been prone to say - often to senior RCN "leaders" - it is not hard to "lead" when every one is locked in a tin can and you have sole and uncontested authority to force all the souls in that tin can to go wherever you want. No Navy guy or gal (less boarding) has ever said those immortal words that personify in-person leadership: "you three go that way - the rest of you follow me"!
Uh...Snide remarks aside. We as a force suffer so much because of egos and agendas. Like the unwritten rule that you have to a ring knocker to be CDS.
The exception to the rule, and an example perhaps of why the rule kind of sucks
Except the context of the original discussion was institutional leadership - vis CDS et al. I think that not all "styles" best prepare someone for the strategic roles that we ask people to assume....or that some chase to their detriment...and the institution's.An army officer has to convince their team to take that hill, the naval officer (if they are the ship's Captain) says to their sailors "you're coming with me no matter what", while the air force support team waves good-bye to the officer as the plane takes off. Different environments, different leadership styles.
Yea, I knew I’d be called out. Figures.
Except the context of the original discussion was institutional leadership - vis CDS et al. I think that not all "styles" best prepare someone for the strategic roles that we ask people to assume....or that some chase to their detriment...and the institution's.
I think the problem stems from trying to use education and credentials as a substitute for character and ethical behaviour. You can require students read as much Nietzsche or Hippocrates as one needs to get a check in the box; has no bearing on if that person is a prick to work for or not. Education is not a panacea for the disease of ignorance; it helps, but its not the be all end all solution.It seems to me that the CF's recent experiences suggest that none of our command "styles" produce a consistent stream of competent, ethical leaders.
Maybe the fault is, at least in some (large?) part, in the nature of the "charm school" (RMC/CMR); I doubt that university degrees, themselves, make people morally weak. But one might wonder if people with science/applied science degrees "fail," ethically, at the same rate as their brethren with degrees in e.g. strategic studies (Vance) and political science (Williams); do all those well publicized crude, but rarely criminal, undergraduate shenanigans for which the "gears" are justifiably infamous make them better adults? Does too much Machiavelli and Clausewitz (and not enough Terman) make one ethically suspect?
I was a high-school student in the early 2000s. RMC was always sold separately, and to separate groups of people, by the CFRC Staff as an Educational opportunity more than a military career. The unwashed masses of us who weren't stellar at the field of academia received the "cool Army" version of the brief, geared towards NCM professions, as we were expected not to be interested in educational opportunities.One of the recommendations of the Withers Report was to put more stress on the M in RMC. Maybe we have, since the 1970s, when the pressure to have a degreed officer corps began in earnest, put too much emphasis on formal education and not enough on the military ethos.
Once again, we create an environment where credentialism, and in some cases nepotism, trumps character and ability. It doesn't surprise me one bit.I served under a few admirals, at least two of whom were qualitatively better "leaders" than the overwhelming majority of Army and Air Force officers who surrouned them. I lived through the Boyle/Labbé era when selected officers were "anointed" by a shadowy civil-military elite, while others were pushed aside, regardless of their superior talent and skill. That was, in my opinion, the command "style" that allowed e.g. Vance, Edmunson et al to thrive.