Project White Horse Forum

The “To Lead” series of articles suggests that leadership requirements for response to events characterized as hyper complex, Black Swans, unconventional crisis or worst case have unique and multi-faceted requirements. These needs do overlap with aspects necessary for business, political and particularly combat operations, but they also – we submit –  require some distinctly different considerations. Part 3 provided a short “baseline” of leadership theories and began discussion of distinct areas of interest. As in Part 4, this post provides another discussion from someone with extensive “on scene” experience – Battalion Chief Ranger Dorn, Ventura California Fire Department. He currently serves on a Type 1 National Incident Management Team with direct support for the 2004 and 2005 Hurricanes, and the 2006 massive California Day Fire,  instructs nation wide on the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and serves as an incident command SME for the National Sheriffs’ Association. Continue Reading »

Tough Talk About Crisis Management

A GMJ Q&A with Lieutenant General Russel Honoré (retired), former commander of Joint Task Force – Katrina, who oversaw the military relief efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Crises are inevitable. Every organization will find itself in a maelstrom at some point, and fortunately, most can be contained, managed, or smoothed over. But some crises can’t. Some crises are so awful that they command the attention of law enforcement, the media, and maybe even Congress…

Few people know more about leadership in crisis than Lieutenant General Russel Honoré, who retired from the Army in January 2008 after 37 years, having served as Commanding General of the U.S. First Army at Fort Gillem, Georgia. During his military career, General Honoré served in many roles in the United States and overseas, from Commanding General, 2^nd Infantry Division in South Korea to his final assignment as Commander of the Standing Joint Force Headquarters, Homeland Security, U.S. Northern Command. But he will always be remembered as the “John Wayne dude” — so dubbed by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin — who was called in to command Joint Task Force – Katrina and to coordinate the military relief efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Read the interview:

http://gmj.gallup.com/content/109291/Tough-Talk-About-Crisis-Management.aspx

By Dag von Lubitz and Ed Beakley

RC#13 (Part 1) To Lead  introduced the discussion of leadership in the context of understanding the needs of a resilient community.  Part 2 -as a book review of America’s Army; A Model for Interagency Effectiveness by Generals Zeb Bradford and Frederic Brown – provided an introduction to the Team of Leaders (TOL) concept.  This was followed by a four part discussion of TOL as a potential “disaster operations force multiplier.”  This post of “To Lead” begins a multi-article series exploring further, leadership requirements for response to worst case disasters, sometimes considered low probability high impact events.  While it is not uncommon in today’s media to see discussion of “worst cases” in light of political scare tactics, indeed doom, failure and catastrophe are part of ordinary life – they are normal.  And yet worst cases carry an interesting, somewhat at odds definition in relation to “normal.”

“These three attributes – inconceivability, uncontrollability, and social identification – seem to be common to unfamiliar events that people label worst cases…(but) what really makes something worst is not the event itself but what people think about the event.” Lee Clarke, Worst Cases; Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination

This series of articles suggests that leadership requirements for response to such events have both overlapping AND distinctly different aspects and considerations necessary from business, political and combat operations.  This first offering provides a short “baseline” of leadership theories and begins discussion of distinct areas of interest. Continue Reading »

As part of the PWH Resilient Community initiative for 2008, the following is a listing of Summer focus posts on leadership elements:

RC#11 During a disaster, become part of the solution

RC#12 A Lesson Learned: Tyler Suchman’s Emergencity

RC#13 (Part 1) To Lead An Introduction to the “Teams of Leaders”
(TOL) concept as it relates to disaster response

RC#13 (Part 2) Model for Interagency Effectiveness  Book Review of America’s Army: A Model for Interagency Effectiveness

RC # 14 “Teams of Leaders” – Potential Disaster Operations Force Multiplier Part 1/4

RC#15 “Teams of Leaders” – Potential Disaster Operations Force Multiplier Part 2/4

RC#16 Different Context, Different Narrative, Different Imagination – Summer Reading

RC#17 “Teams of Leaders” – Potential Disaster Operations Force Multiplier Part 3/4

RC#18 TOL Concept Discussion (Part 4 of 4)

Washington’s insiders continue to fondly quote their ancient quip: “It doesn’t matter what you know but who you know.”  ToL changes all that: it does matter who you know, what you know, what they know, and what you all can do with the combined power of that knowledge.

We believe that ToL has an eminent place in the operational structure of DHS.  By engaging all actors, from the local community to the top tier of national administration executives, it transforms the top-down developed and imposed doctrine by transferring the emphasis from bureaucratically vertical echelons to the broad base of “practitioners of the art.”  Through the coordinated use of the current and developing capabilities offered by IT, IM, and KM, the lone “commander on the spot” transfigures into a vast network of Commander Leader Teams (Bradford and Brown, 2008).  >> DvL, JEB

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An intriguing synergy ? A messy, uncertain century emerges despite advances in technology and global economy. The ability to deal with events and survive on our own terms (Boyd) would appear to reflect T.E. Lawrence’s metaphor of needing to learn to “eat soup with a knife.” Accomplishing that task -building learning organizations- and creating resilient communities will require change of context, narrative, and imagination (Thomas Friedman). The following books are recommended as offering great insight on those three elements of change from multiple story lines and perspectives: Continue Reading »

HOMELAND SECURITY TODAY

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (White House, 2002) signed by President George W. Bush in November 2002 created a new agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tasked specifically with the security of the United States and its territories.  The new Department was to consist of FEMA and a number of other principal components.  In the atmosphere of “guards, gates, and guns” prevailing after 9/11 (e.g., Fickes, 2005; Flynn, 2007), FEMA’s role as a premier disaster management agency was relegated to the second rank (Ward and Wamsley, 2007).  Its director lost the cabinet-rank status, and the Agency, not quite an orphan, but definitively a “foster child,” saw decrease of its funds (Harrald, 2007), and the demoralization and loss of its personnel that followed soon thereafter (Cooper and Block, 2006, Tierney, 2007). Continue Reading »

      Rapidly increasing complexity of its operational environment notwithstanding, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to be affected by the difficulties imposed by its own administrative structure, the need to interact with other federal/state/local bureaucracies, vertical chain of commands, and professional isolationism of the principal actors involved in all stages of preparation, response, and post disaster recovery, and mitigation effort.  Despite recent introduction by DHS of its “operational doctrine” (National Response Framework – NRF) that adds and expands upon the principles of the existing National Incident Management System (NIMS) the problems persist.  Similar issues of internal discord, unclear future, and inadequate force preparation for the rapidly expanding mission portfolio led the US Army (USA) to adapt entirely new approach to the solution of these critical issues. 

      Consequent to the introduced changes, the character of the “new” Army has been revolutionized: it is now fully aligned to serve the national needs not only in its traditional role of force projection, but also as an important tool in the development of international stability, nation-building assistance to the emerging democracies, humanitarian relief operations, etc.

      One of the critical concepts that emerged in the process of Army’s transformation into an unprecedentedly versatile instrument of national strategy is that of “Teams of Leaders” (ToL).  The authors propose adaptation of ToL by the DHS and other associated departments and Agencies as the principal “force multiplier” which will permit to enhance inter- and intra-agency collaboration and improve the efficiency of missions executed under the joint umbrella of Homeland Security and Defense. Continue Reading »

This post has two distinct purposes and is in two parts.  The first purpose, following on the announcement in the Spring Edition Editor’s Note, is to serve as the opening post on leadership as it pertains to the discussion of the concept of Resilient Communities - the Summer Edition focus.  The second purpose is to provide context for  part two of the post - a book review by Dr. Dag von  Lubitz (PWH advisor) on the recently published book by retired Army Generals Zeb Bradford and Frederic Brown (also PWH advisor).

If you “Google” leadership, you will find that there  are 158 million sites noted.  Yet the events of this century make me wonder if we really understand what leadership must be in our current environment, and lead me to ask on the opening page of the website what if nothing leaders have ever been taught or experienced is sufficient to the problem? 

The implication is that there is more to survival in worst case disasters than just “who’s in charge,” and  that we as citizens need to be less expectant of the arrival of duex ex machina and the cavalry , and become more able to be an active part in our own survival when worst cases occur. Leasdership required – but maybe of a different kind.

The nature of worst cases is that the complexity and chaos generated, almost by definition mean that no leader by himself is capable of the multi-faceted decisions required.  Bradford and Brown provide a concept worth significant consideration for how to get solid decisions when faced with great uncertainty.  Their team of leaders (TOL) is composed of three parts: Information Management (IM), Knowledge Management (KM), and Commander Leader Teams (CLT).  The “team” concept runs both horizontal and vertical, endeavoring to build actionable knowledge. The TOL thread and its make-up, how you go about constructing one, and why this is a “resilient community” core element will be the subject of follow-on posts.  The review of the book in Part 2 is a necessary initial step.

Please read RC#13 (Part 2) Model for Interagency Effectiveness