8 Star post from ADM Stavridis and Harvey

A Four Star Blog Post x 2: Lessons Learned from Our Carrier Tours by ADM Harvey and ADM Stavridis

This is a post worth reading.  Without sounding like too much of a suckup, I read everything I can find by ADM Stavridis.  The fact that you can be a 4-star Admiral and still have time to write personal and intellectually engaging material is impressive.  This would be something akin to Angelina Jolie and President Obama writing her/his own tweets...

If you don't have the time to read their full posts, I have provided their most important points below:

Key point from ADM Harvey:

-First, the essential relationship between the division chief and the new division officer is what makes all the difference for overly enthusiastic, but perhaps dangerously naïve JO’s like myself. Senior Chief Neil taught me what it truly meant to be an officer. 

-Second, the ship, no matter how large, takes on the personality of the Commanding Officer, and a good leader must possess professional competence, intelligent good sense, and respect for those he leads. CAPT C. C. Smith exemplified those essential leadership qualities.

- Finally, and most importantly, it’s your choices, not your circumstances, that determine your future. You have to play the hand you’re dealt.

A good leader has respect for those he leads...very well put and a subtle point that is easy to overlook.

Key points from ADM Stavridis:

-He graduated from the second (or third if you ask my grandfather, '51) best class ever at the Naval Academy, with 2001 being the best of course.  '76 was my dad's class so I am happy to give them the nod for second.

-Ask for help: After my three years on the new destroyer, I thought I knew everything I needed to know. But the carrier was a different universe. I had to swallow my pride and learn to tap into the rich base of experience and knowledge that existed in the ship, from my Chiefs up to the Captain. And above all, I saw that the peer network that sustains us in friendship is also a deep source of technical experience and ideas.

-Creativity matters: The things I had learned on the new destroyer just didn’t seem to apply. I was in a new and tougher world on the carrier, and I had to adapt. That means getting rid of old habits, even ones that have worked in the past, and coming up with new approaches. Like in sports, you have to change a tactic or technique that isn’t working and try new approaches.

-Keep your sense of humor. Lots of things are going to go wrong. The measure of any officer is not perfection, because we will all fail at times. I certainly have; and for example we flunked the first big engineering inspection badly that I was involved in onboard FORRESTAL. But you keep things in perspective, learn to laugh at yourself, correct your mistakes, and keep coming back.

I think that ADM Stavridis' point concerning creativity is probably the most overlooked one in our military today.  With the military's inherent bureaucracy, the pivotal role that creativity and innovation have played in its development is often overlooked.