Ask the Right Questions, and You'll Get a Better Answer: How Training in the Philosophy of Mission Command Will Enable Our Commanders to Get Staffs to Get It Right the First Time

摘要

In his 2012 book, Bleeding Talent, economist Tim Kane uses the example of retired GEN David Petraeus to illustrate how the global war on terrorism has exposed a failing in the Army's leader-development systems. Kane states that Petraeus' relative demotion from U.S. Central Command commander to commander of the United States' effort in Afghanistan in 2010 "is something to interpret very positively for the man and very negatively for the institution." Former Marine officer Renny McPherson similarly asks why no other generals were available to take the top job in Afghanistan. McPherson concludes that the U.S. military "had failed to produce enough leaders like Petraeus." Both these men use the Petraeus example to argue that the Army needs to improve its capacity to grow top leaders to win the nation's wars.