Corps Business : The 30 Management Principles of the U.S. Marines

Rating:
Summary: Excellent source of insight for business readers
Review: As a civilian, and not a former marine, I would like to say a few words of praise for this exceptionally wise and well-done book. First off, I would respectfully suggest that readers (whether marines past or present-or not) who are seeking a book whose sole focus is the marine corps will obviously find fault with Freedman's effort. There's a simple reason why: this book seeks to find managerial lessons from the Marine Corps. It's not an exhaustive history or study of these soldiers. Big difference. Second, I particularly enjoyed this book because it so successfully meets its core objective. In fact, I would venture to guess that a true marine would admire how well the book adheres to the principles it outlines (primary among them being "Establish a core identity.") The 30 managerial principles are sharply drawn and eminently useful. The book is lively and instructive. I enjoyed learning about the Marine Corps from a veteran journalist who knows how to distill a complex story into useful managerial reading, and recommend this title to others who are looking for insight from surprising sources.

Rating:
Summary: Seek 70% Solution, Don't "Go Admin"
Review: Corps Business
The 30 management principles of the US Marine Corps

David H. Freedman

Freedman firmly believes Marine methodology creates a strong and effective organization. For those who read this book, you will probably agree. As you might expect from a book that parallels the military and business management, there are many references to training, discipline, order, and sacrifice.

However, a vast majority of the book gives a perspective of the US Marine Corps which is radically different than most people would expect.

Provided that Freedman is correct in his analysis, the US Marine Corps is an extremely focused group which is both fast, versatile, and effective in complex situations.

1) Marines aim for the 70% solution because in the battlefield, speed and boldness is more important than perfection. Put another way, indecisiveness is a fatal flaw. It is better to make small, frequent, and rapid decisions.

2) Marines find the essence of any mission. It should be made very clear. In the process, all the assumptions, boundaries (what shall we NOT do) should be questioned and explored. Dissension is invited prior to the final decision.

3) Marines are a capability based organization. They are defined by what they are able to do, and how they do it.

4) Marines push decision making to very low levels in the organization. Bureaucracy does not work in the battlefield. To quote. "The best soldiers are ones who follow orders from above, but do not depend on them."

5) The Marines are very competitive. Marines hire through trial by fire. Boot camp is a form of Darwinian natural selection. The best and fittest survive. Even after boot camp, many officers leave the Corps because they cannot be promoted, because they are not the best.

6) Leadership is defined as the ability to have others follow you. If a Marine does not follow an legitimate order, he / she can face disciplinary action, but the superior who gave the order will often find their career stop too. (It demonstrates a break in their leadership ability.)

7) Marines glorify the lower levels of the organization. The most training is at the lowest level of Marine leadership - Corporal. Even in the dress, there is little difference in dress from the officers and the privates.

8) Marines focus on the end statement. Marine leadership focus on WHAT TO DO (Mission), not HOW to DO (Details).

9) Marines reward failure. The best way to learn is through experience, and if someone does not fail from time to time, they are not pushing the envelope. Marines are focused on continuous improvement, and that requires temporary failure.

10) The Marines have passion for what they do. The Marines have an expression to describe people who just go through the motions of their job: "Going Admin"

Rating:
Summary: The Marine Corps as Model
Review: Now retired after 30 years and three combat tours and serving as a management consultant with an emphasis on organizational integrity, it is a real joy to see works such as this one and a related book, "Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way," attempt to distill the Marine Corps leadership experience.

Though it is tempting to read the books for the principles and practices they disclose, the real value, in my view, resides in seeing the Marine Corps model as a metaphor for an organization adept at preserving its purpose and core values while consciously evolving to meet the challenges of dealing with a complex, often chaoic environment.

In my experience over the last few years, I am only now beginning to realize how unique the Marine leadership experience is. The notions of leadership at all levels, end state and commander's intent-based mission orders, and task organization are conspicuous by their absence in many organizations. Hopefully these works will serve to enter the notions into the common organizational vocabulary.

As checklists, both books distill basic principles and describe practices that will be of great use to leaders and managers for organizations of all stripes. "Corps Business" does an excellent job of setting forth principles. It does make a number of inaccurate statements, none of which strikes to the core of its principles. For example, lawyers in the Marine Corps are not called Judge Advocate Generals, but Judge Advocates. The discussion of task organization is very weak, unfortunately. This is not surprising for one who hasn't lived the structure of the Marine Corps and how it organizes. For example, a MAGTF would not draw on "infantry, logistics, and air support groups" to form a "minature version of a regiment" or "combine groups from several regiments to form a division-size unit." A Marine Division Commanding General would be surprised to learn this. The division commander owns the regiments. Other generals own the air and logistics units. The division is one of the principal sources from which units are drawn to form a MAGTF. The other two principal sources are the Marine Air Wing and the Force Service Support Group. They together source the four elements of a MAGTF (below the level of a MEF): Command Element, Ground Combat Element, Air Combat Element, Combat Service Support Element.

Despite such shortcomings, "Corps Business" is a very valuable work. It captured a number of concepts that I had never stopped to think of consciously. They were just the way we did things. I recommend both books highly. Semper fi......

Kenneth W. Johnson Colonel USMCR-Ret.

Rating:
Summary: Hyped-up list of trivialities
Review: This book is presented as an almost magical recipe that can make a "great leader" out of any John Doe. When you have read the book, you have got confirmed what you always knew: Only good craftsmen can become good leaders.

The Marines do not employ some sort of voodoo to make a Leader for any guy recruited at the street. They invest a very meticulos attention to who they recruit in the first place. Then, they put accepted Marines throu very dedicated training and development programs, to hone the Marines' skilles and develop them to their full potentials.

The Marines are craftsmen in Warfare. They are trained as grunts. Every marine is expected to perform as riflemen at Marine standards at any time need may come. Being a Marine means that one has gone through extensive warfare training in live-fire exersises. More than a few Marines do also have combat experience. The leaders are expected to have an as full understanding at all aspects of warfare (armoured warfare, air warfare, littoral marine warfare, logistics, planning) in addition to their grunt experience.

The book pais little or no attention to this basis. That is, it does not sufficiently acknowledge the importance of having well trained, skilled, talented and knowledgeable people that understand their business at all levels in the organization. This, more than anything, is what makes the Marines stand out from other organizations. Contrary to popular belief, one can not put anyone on top of an organization and expect them perform. It takes skill. It takes experience. It takes insight.

When, on the other hand, one have the right person in the right position, some value could be added by reading this book. The management principles are mostly trivialities, like letting the people who are faced with a problem judge what it takes to solve it, and then let them have a go at solving it, without time-wasting undue interference from higher levels in the organization.

Those who want a magic formula to become a Great Leader will be disapointed. There are no way avoiding the needs to learn your business and undersand your organization. Those who already understand what it takes to get an organization to run smoothly and efficiently, may find that little word of wisdom that smooths out those last few details.

Rating:
Summary: Practical ways to lead change and people
Review: Until now, I've had only one book to recommend on change management, the excellent, Managing at the Speed of Change by Conner. With Corps Business, a wonderfully practical book, I have two recommendations. As a human resources professional working in the education industry, I was especially struck by the practicality of how the Marines plan, manage and lead change (especially when you have to change course, turn on a dime, and move in a new direction), develop decision making ability in Marines by making every decision making experience a learning experience, and by the leaders' commitment to leading, not managing. If only I could clone Colonel Davis! I have given copies of this book to people who direct business components -- from IT to R&D to Sales. It's a quick read, but the principles linger; I've found myself thinking of ways to apply the principles outlined in this book. It's also a chastening read for any manager whose staff is choking on management and starving for leadership. Well done!