On Leadership

The Human Advantage

By RDML Wayne “Mouse” Baze, USN

Close your eyes. Imagine your best experience in the military, a time when everything just clicked. Things were getting done–not easily, but not harder than you could handle. Performance was high, and the team was winning. If someone asked what your purpose was, you knew. You felt like you were part of something special. Now open your eyes and answer this question. If you had to identify the one element that brought it all together, what would it be? Was it the cool machines? Maybe it was your missions/roles? Or was it the people you worked with? I know my answer (rhymes with steeple). What if we could sustain such experiences, making them the norm rather than the exception? What would that take? What would it mean for our performance, quality of service, and ability to win in combat?

I am encouraged by this year’s theme for the NHA Symposium, “The Human Advantage.” We always talk about the “stuff” we need to win the fight, but often gloss over our true superpower. We say the right words, “people first,” but do we prioritize the growth, training, wellness of our Sailors/ Marines enough? My sense is that we often fall short of the mark. I recognize that it is not simple, as choices we make are seldom either-or propositions. But this is more than an academic discussion. It is fundamental to how we thrive (or not) in service, and will be key to winning or losing in combat. The days in which our military enjoyed large technological and numerical advantages are over. In a world of near-peers, what makes the difference will be us–our people, resilience, training, ways of thinking and fighting–not machines. In short, our human advantage will carry the day.

You don’t have to look far for examples of “people power” making the difference. We are all tracking the horrors of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Talking heads are debating lessons of geopolitics, impacts to supply chains, the readiness of Russian forces, the strength of NATO, etc. But I think the most important takeaways are in the areas that the smartest people in the room—strategists, planners, leaders—often miss: namely, the idea that the human dimension matters most in conflict.

For any who have worked with Ukrainians, you are not surprised by their resistance. They are tough, resilient, innovative, and possess a strong sense of national identity. Since 2014 their military has worked hard to improve. Anyone who saw “Molotov Grandma” on the television knows these people will not just roll over. Logistics challenges aside, the primary reason that the offensive is struggling is because Russian leaders underestimated the tenacity, shared purpose, spirit, training, and courage of the Ukrainian people. And yes, personal leadership at the right time and place really is making a difference. Thank you, President Zelenskyy.

The Brits in days of sail won stunning victories against foes with more ships, weapons, and people. But what they lacked in mass, they made up for in boldness, training, mission command, and esprit-de-corps. Lord Nelson’s tactics at the Battle of Trafalgar were rooted in his trust in the training and culture of his team. He knew his ships would act correctly, independently, agilely, and with little direction from him in the heat of the moment. He so empowered his fleet that he could accept the large risks of driving his ships in close to the adversary, where his human advantage made the difference. Might we also be in fights against larger forces in the future, where how we fight matters more than what we fight with?

You can’t “magic” the sort of culture suggested in these vignettes into being overnight. And just buying more stuff won’t get you there either. It takes patience, commitment, deliberate effort, and leadership to strengthen the team over time. It is a thing not easily defined, but you know it when you see it. Think of how you recognize a strong, positive culture moment after walking aboard a command.

We have the best trained, most capable Sailors/Marines in the world. They can do anything given the right tools and guidance. But we must get better to face the greater challenges ahead. How do we do that? This may surprise you, but I don’t think the answer is simply about modern concepts in learning and training. Such enablers are important but insufficient. Instead, it starts with the basics of how we build top performing teams; empower our people to experiment, take risks, innovate; build resilience; and nurture our military families. You simply can’t expect a strong house when the foundation is weak. The Navy has solid initiatives to help.

Some of these initiatives you should know about include:

- Get Real, Get Better (GRGB). GRGB is a practical, structured way to strengthen everything we do. To paraphrase the CNO and others, it is a call to action to honestly assess ourselves, remove barriers, find and fix problems, and innovate. It is about becoming a true learning organization that rewards radical transparency and team warfighting outcomes. It is about reducing the deltas between high and low performing elements to bring us all to consistent, peak performance. Visit the link below for more on GRGB and the new Charge of Command.

https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Blogs/Detail/ Article/2894808/get-real-get-better/ and https://www. navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/ Article/2895315/cno-gilday-issues-new-charge-of-commandto-commanders/

- Culture of Excellence (COE). COE and other 21st Century Sailor initiatives help foster the foundations of our warfighting readiness: psychological, physical and emotional toughness; organizational trust and transparency; inclusion and connectedness. Visit the link below for more.

https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Support-Services/21st- Century-Sailor/

- Warfighting Development Centers. The Naval Aviation Warfare Development Center, Surface Warfare and Mine Warfighting Development Center, and other nodes of excellence continue to be drivers of change in how we improve, think, and fight.

Such programs are moving us in the right direction, but they are only a start. Supportive principles of leadership and human relations I view as critical moving forward include:

- Explain the Why. Teams without purpose lack resilience when the chips are down (think of Russian conscripts in Ukraine). We need real conversations about duty; why we serve in the first place. We are engaged in lives of service to higher ideals enshrined in the Constitution. The profession of arms is a way of life, not a job. It is dangerous, requiring real sacrifices of you and your family. You signed up to kill and die if needed for the greater good. Do we talk with our people about this enough? Or do we instead try to soften the expectations and realities of military life to our detriment at times? A former boss used to say we must,must "connect the dots for our team" not just the how but most importantly the why of our mission. Teams that believe in each other and their purpose win.

- Remember we are Family. If we want teams that willingly fight and die together—caring more about mission than self—then we must treat each other like family from the start. We are entrusted with the lives of some of our nation’s finest

- Zero Tolerance Stifles Innovation. If you want radical improvements and great ideas, you must be ok with breaking some eggs in the process of trial and error. When I joined, no one argued with the statement, “we are a zero tolerance Navy.” We are better today, but still not quite there. As leaders you must empower your team to do their jobs. But then step back, let them own and run with it a bit, and trust them to execute. Really listen, encourage and reward reasonable risk taking and experimentation, and have your subordinates’ backs when they make recoverable mistakes. The natural, creative energies of Americans are our surest advantage vis-a-vis China and Russia. Unleash that energy.

- Lead from the Front. As a leader, you must always strive for perfection in your personal and professional conduct, because subordinates look to you for what “right” is. If you want your team to embrace forward-thinking concepts like GRGB and COE, then you must live them yourself. My advice is to approach things with a humble, questioning attitude. Take care of your team, bank resilience when able, and train, train, train. You should never think you are done or good enough. That isn’t the point. The point is in the striving. And please have fun while you are at it.

I always smiled at the question of what comes first… mission, stuff, or people? The answer is people, of course. You know this from experience. The mission, equipment, and technology are nothing without healthy, happy, trained people to make things happen. Thanks for your efforts keeping our Rotary Wing Community strong, and I look forward to the continued conversations at NHA.

Sailors and Marines participate in a 5k fun run on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5). Bataan is underway preparing for an upcoming deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Levi Decker.