Flattening Your Organization: The 4-Star Experience

I recently heard a story about General James Cartwright, the current 4 star general in command of U.S. Strategic Command. He is a blogger. He uses blogging to flatten his organization and gain direct access to the information he needs. I found this statement on the web attributed to him.

"The metric is what the person has to contribute, not the person's rank, age, or level of experience. If they have the answer, I want the answer. When I post a question on my blog, I expect the person with the answer to post back. I do not expect the person with the answer to run it through you, your OIC, the branch chief, the exec, the Division Chief and then get the garbled answer back before he or she posts it for me. The Napoleonic Code and Netcentric Collaboration cannot exist in the same space and time. It's YOUR job to make sure I get my answers and then if they get it wrong or they could have got it righter, then you guide them toward a better way... but do not get in their way."

JAMES E. CARTWRIGHT
General, USMC
Commander, USSTRATCOM

Leave it to a Marine to lead the way toward positive organizational change in the military. Thank goodness we have them.