Colonel Zinni giving PME @ TBS (1989)

 

 

The above vid was SHAMELESSLY stolen from USMC/Reddit. 

There is a big discussion on PME over at Compass Points and the education of Marines of all ranks. THIS IS HOW ITS FREAKIN DONE!

My big thing with this?

This was done for the bros over at TBS.

Who gives a fuck?

This MAN could give the same talk in front of his SNCOs, NCOs and enlisted and still gotten the message thru.

Real talk from a real MARINE OFFICER without all the flourishes of a Harvard academic that is more concerned with impressing his peers than he is with getting understanding from those that he is leading.

If your concept is only understood by those at the highest reaches of the Marine Corps, if your concept invents new buzzwords to impress and if your concept isn't aligned with the ETHOS of the Marine Corps then your concept has failed.

Force Design 2030 has failed.

Why has Berger and his acolytes failed?  Easy.  They did not follow the edicts of being a "change agent".

Change agents can fail for many reasons, including resistance to change, lack of support, and not considering organizational culture:

Resistance

Groups can be hostile to criticism from newcomers and may resist, ignore, or dismiss new ideas. It's important to recognize that change initiatives will always encounter resistance, and to manage change at a rate that people can tolerate.

Lack of support

Change initiatives may fail without top management or bottom-up support, or without inspiring leadership.

Culture

If the organization's culture doesn't change in necessary ways, efforts to change strategy, structure, and systems may be unsuccessful.

Other reasons 

Change agents may also fail if they:

• Try to achieve too much too quickly
• Don't use a clear rationale for change
• Don't set measurable objectives
• Don't adjust their plans to developments
• Don't consider organizational politics
• Don't recognize signs of organizational exhaustion
• Don't have reinforcement mechanisms in place