How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It’s

I have not read the book but a lot of the below resonates with my experiences.



......."In 2005, Mr. Kane made a mark with empirical studies demonstrating that the “myth of the stupid soldier” is indeed a myth. His data showed that the enlisted ranks were brighter and better educated than their civilian counterparts.

He looks at today’s military and sees suppressed entrepreneurs among officers and enlisted ranks alike. “America’s armed forces are a leadership factory,” he writes, saying that former military officers are three times as likely to become corporate C.E.O.’s as their raw numbers would suggest.

In surveying recent West Point graduates, he found that only 7 percent believed that most of the best officers remained in the military. It is not the combat, the low pay or the pull of family life that is the top reason they quit in surprising numbers, Mr. Kane writes, but rather the “frustration with military bureaucracy.” One study found that young officers left because they wanted a sense of control over their careers. In short, they wanted what the rest of us want.

The exodus of young officers means that promotion to lieutenant colonel is taken for granted in a career trajectory. Yet the step beyond colonel, to general, is subject to a rigid and stultifying screen. A thousand colonels a year are considered; only 35 or 40 make the cut, he says. The mavericks, the innovators who rock the boat, usually do not.

ACCORDING to Mr. Kane, “the root of all evil in this ecosystem” is the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act, enacted by Congress in 1980 to standardize military personnel policies. But the system has defied efforts by successive defense secretaries to bring about change.

That act binds the military into a system that honors seniority over individual merit. It judges officers, hundreds at a time, in an up-or-out promotion process that relies on evaluations that have been almost laughably eroded by grade inflation. A zero-defect mentality punishes errors severely. The system discourages specialization — you can’t expect to stay a fighter jock or a cybersecurity expert — and pushes the career-minded up a tried-and-true ladder that, not surprisingly, produces lookalikes. ".............


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Nothing more horrible than the peacetime military for paperwork and suppression of natural talent and innovation.

That's a scary thought about those who stay.

Have family member who did ROTC in high school and joined the army really wanting to make a difference. Being there has taught him otherwise. Stupid decisions made by higher ups and must be followed. He can't wait to get out and start his own business.

I was stationed time and time again with officers who bucked the system and made it to Major or above and those that bucked the system and didn't make it past Captain.

One of my favorites, I believe at this point is a Colonel. He told people, his superiors, subordinates, and peers alike how it was, respectfully and most of the time offered to help fix the problems...and a lot of the time he was given the opportunity to fix the problems...and he did.

Another one of my favorites decided to take early retirement 'cuz he wasn't one of "the good old boys" and thought he was being made a scapegoat when things went wrong...he also didn't get along with his immediate supervisor, our squadron commander or her immediate supervisor and since there was no way soon that any of them would be reassigned, he decided to bail.

I've seen that if a member of the military, whether officer or enlisted, is respectful, has integrity, and is selfless in their job and time, even if they don't fit the mould, will be accepted and retire when their time is up.