Examining the characteristics of three masters of transformation—Jack Welch, Vince Lombardi, and Elmo Zumwalt—can help the Navy on its own journey.
For the past three years, the word transformation has resonated through the corridors of our military establishments. President George W. Bush, even before the 2000 election, described the military he envisioned would meet the challenges of the 21st century:
Power is increasingly defined not by mass or size, but by mobility and swiftness. Influence is measured in information, safety is gained in stealth, and force is projected on the long arc of precision-guided weapons . . . [and] the best way to keep the peace is to redefine war on our terms.1
The President's words proved prophetic, describing our future prosecution of the global war on terror. Helicopters based on aircraft carriers inserted Special Forces into landlocked Afghanistan, and those forces then chased terrorists on horseback while using mobile phones and global positioning systems (GPS) to pinpoint targets for Navy and Air Force pilots. Navy aviators used state-of-the-art targeting technology and laser- and GPS-guided smart bombs to destroy specific targets, while commanders half a world away in Florida oversaw the entire campaign.
The President and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have articulated the destination for our transformed military; setting the course for that journey is our challenge. As our Navy travels the road to transformation, it would benefit us to look at those leaders and organizations that already have made the journey successfully.
Masters in Transformation
It is no surprise that the three greatest leaders of organizational transformation remain icons in their professions. Vince Lombardi, Jack Welch, and Elmo Zumwalt all profoundly changed their organizations, and even transformed the way their organizations conceived and executed change.
When he assumed coaching and general managerial responsibilities in Green Bay, Vince Lombardi proclaimed, "We're not just going to start with a clean slate, we're going to throw the old slate away."2 True to this promise, the Packers did indeed transform. Lombardi inherited a 1-10 team but ended his run ten years later by winning the first two Super Bowls in NFL history, and leaving Green Bay with the well-deserved nickname of Title Town, USA. The Packer Way not only immortalized Green Bay in the annals of sports history, but also led the way for the NFL's transformation into the multibillion-dollar sports entertainment juggernaut it is today.
In 1961, Jack Welch was a chemist who had been overlooked for an NROTC scholarship. The Navy's loss was General Electric's gain. After becoming GE chief executive officer in 1981, Welch set in motion a plan that established it as one of the most successful companies of the late 20th century. Today, there is hardly a business school curriculum that does not touch on his leadership at GE.
President Richard Nixon appointed Elmo Zumwalt to serve as Chief of Naval Operations in 1970, though it is unlikely he could have anticipated that Zumwalt would become a cultural lightning rod within the service. Thirty years later, however, there is no other leader more responsible for the culture of the all-volunteer Navy. Zumwalt did away with what many saw as relics of a Navy era gone by, such as rules forcing sailors to wear their uniforms even when on leave and liberty. He expanded opportunities for women and African Americans, and made the first steps toward bringing decentralized management into the public sector.
Each of these men established himself as a true master of transformation, and the techniques each used might help military transformers as well:
* Bold Visions Simply Stated. Perhaps the greatest gift the masters gave their organizations was their ability to distill sweeping changes into simple declarations that every subordinate could understand. Jack Welch's vision that GE would be number 1 or number 2 in every business sector in which it competed, or it would get out of that sector, painted a clear picture for company employees in the 1980s. In the 1990s, his catchword "boundaryless" perfectly captured the quality he was looking for as GE evolved into a global company with many emerging business sectors.3
Likewise, the famous saying attributed to Vince Lombardi—Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing—may have been apocryphal, but everyone recognized the mission implicit in this seven-word manifesto.4
Even though these ideas were brief, they were not simplistic; rather, they were bold visions simply stated. Our Navy and Marine Corps are successfully articulating a naval vision for the post-11 September 2001 world with "Sea Power 21" and its three underpinning ideas, Sea Strike, Sea Basing, and Sea Shield. Using this promising framework, they will capture the essence of the Navy-Marine Corps team for our people and the public with the same resonance that the bold visions of these masters achieved.
* Innovation through Simplicity. To help jump-start transformation, the great transformers introduced innovations that were remarkably simple in execution.
Vince Lombardi and his offensive coordinator invented a new play to exploit the strengths of his new offensive line. They called it the Packer Sweep, and after it was drilled to perfection in practice after practice, this simple play became the one to which other defenses were forced to adapt.5
In pursuing his vision that GE would be number 1 or 2 in each of its sectors, Jack Welch pioneered a style of management that used extensive performance reviews to reward his "A" performers handsomely and eliminate the bottom 10%, or "C" employees, every fiscal year. This analytical, tough-minded policy created a results-oriented team that retained its best people while providing the organization the flexibility to seek out new talent every year.6
As for Admiral Zumwalt, through the haze and difficulty presented by the twin challenges of Vietnam and the Cold War, he foresaw an all-volunteer force that attracted the best and the brightest. By beginning to change the conscription mind-set of the Navy, he cast the players he needed for his modern fleet.
* Personal Leadership. Zumwalt and Welch left no doubt as to who was in charge during their organizations' renaissance. After Vince Lombardi was granted full general managerial powers in addition to his powers as head coach, he declared to the Packers' board of directors, "I want it understood that I am in complete command."7
* Willingness to Make the Hard Calls. These three leaders also recognized that transformation rarely comes without resistance, effort, and personal cost. For Vince Lombardi, tough decisions translated to sending players packing, even those he cared for, when they no longer could perform.
Jack Welch once said, "No leader enjoys making the tough decisions." But when it came to hirings and firings, "keeping people around who aren't going to grow and prosper is 'false kindness.'"8 Finally, Elmo Zumwalt, leading a service that values highly both traditions and the advice of the retired flag community, upset both during his four years at the helm.
* Ability to Value and Maximize the Ability of Subordinates. In spite of their unassailable confidence in their own leadership and vision, the masters wisely recognized they could not go it alone. Lombardi, of course, recognized that the players on the field were the ones who won the game. "Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about," he was fond of saying.
In his book Straight from the Gut, Jack Welch's passion for his job and for GE seem to be matched only by his excitement in seeing junior employees excel.
Not surprisingly, Zumwalt, a man who placed people at the center of his vision for the Navy, also learned how to spot and leverage talent. He, in particular, recognized that neither age nor seniority was necessarily the prime determinant in gauging an individual's potential to contribute. His multiple tours as a young executive assistant imbued him with a true appreciation of the contribution junior professionals can make for a principal who is willing to share both the workload and the credit.
Ramifications for Naval Transformation
Every one of us who leads can learn from the masters, but their stories have deeper implications for an organization on the cusp of transformation.
* Leaders Must Lead from the Front. Leaders must be not only the commander-in-chief, but the articulator-in-chief as well. Zumwalt, Lombardi, and Welch understood that people follow people as much as they follow ideas, and they personified their transformations.
They also understood that leading by example-particularly in an environment of change-was critical. Lombardi's work ethic led the way for a team that epitomized preparation and the will to win. For naval leaders, as we drive resources and talent from the bureaucracy to the battlefield, recent efforts to downsize personal staffs send a clear message that command and headquarters also are sacrificing.
* Successful Transformations Often Have a Coercive Element. The old saying that leadership is getting subordinates to do the things they do not want to do certainly pertains to successful transformation. Leaders must change the hearts and minds of those in their organization, but each of the masters also understood that there was a time to direct change rather than attempt to sell its merits. In fact, each understood not only that sweeping change would push people out of their comfort zones, but also that some of those people would walk away dissatisfied.
* Transformation Is Not Free. Great change does not come without a price. Each one of the masters paid their "transformation bills" with money and hard decisions. The Department of the Navy will not be an exception. In 2002, Secretary Gordon England set his own vision for transformation—to shift $9 billion a year to war fighting. This vision recognized that the Navy needed to create efficiencies and savings to fund the transformation journey. A year later, as we fight the global war on terrorism, this vision for change seems ever more relevant.
The Navy already has successfully shifted several billion dollars from the back end of the business to the point of the spear, but we still have a long way to go to achieve the goal Secretary England described when he remarked that "it will take the leadership at every level of command to commit to at least 10% savings in every account to enable naval transformation." His words provide a powerful vision and a reminder that while the masters set the course, it will take leaders at every level in their organizations to complete the transformation journey.
1 President George W. Bush, remarks at The Citadel, 23 September 1999.
2 David Maraniss, When Pride Still Mattered (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), p. 206.
3 John A. Byrne and Jack Welch, Straight from the Gut (New York: Warner Books, 2001).
4 Maraniss, When Pride Siill Mattered, p. 365.
5 Maraniss, When Pride Still Mattered, p. 222.
6 Byrne and Welch, Straight from the Gut, p. 161.
7 Maraniss, When Pride Still Mattered, p. 208.
8 Byrne and Welch, Straight from the Gut, p. 161.
Mr. Combs is Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. Following an enlistment in the Marine Corps, he established a successful business career in Eastern Europe and the United States. Lieutenant Commander Kacher served as speechwriter for the Secretary of the Navy prior to his tour as executive officer on the USS Barry (DDG-52).