The Transition of Strategic Leader Positions

Abstract

During the summer of 2011, the United States will potentially have a new Secretary of Defense, a new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a new U.S. Army Chief of Staff, and possibly a new U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff. These key positions are responsible for providing the strategic vision, direction, and objectives that are needed to protect our nation's interests through military means of power. Do the nation and the Department of Defense (DoD) really benefit when four of the top six key strategic positions in DoD are transitioned nearly simultaneously? This paper will first examine DoD processes, programs, and policies for senior leader transitions. This is followed by an examination of leader transitions in the following positions: President of the United States, corporate chief executive officer, and university president. A comparison of these leader transitions results in a list of best-of-industry practices for conducting leader transitions. A case study of a 4-Star Army Command strategic leader transition at the U.S. Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is used to develop a transition framework. The case study of General William Wallace when he took command and when he turned over command provides important insights on how to conduct strategic leader transitions. To meet the challenges of leadership transitions, it is necessary for the U.S. Army to stop conducting strategic leader transitions in an ad-hoc manner. It is time to develop processes, programs, and policies to adequately transition strategic leadership positions (e.g., Chief of Staff Army, 4-Star Army Command, Secretariat-level Army). Since the nation does not have schools to produce the CSA or the Army 4-Star Command commander, the senior service colleges need to integrate strategic leader transitions into their curricula to educate a body of strategic leaders who may in the future participate in, provide support to, or lead a strategic leader transition.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 24, 2011
Accession Number
ADA560447

Entities

People

  • Allen G. Wynder

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Best Practices
  • Department Of Defense
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Executives
  • Governments
  • National Governments
  • New York
  • Psychology
  • Public Administration
  • Schools
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation
  • Strategic Security Studies