Get the job done

Tom Peters tells a story of an experience 41 years ago in Vietnam:

When I got back from the field, covered with mud (it was rainy season), I was sent directly to the Commandant [of the Marine Corps General Chapman] with no time to change into a respectable uniform—a great embarrassment. General Chapman engaged in all of about 15 seconds of chitchat, and having done his duty to my aunt, sent me on my way. As I was literally walking out of his temporary field office, he summoned me back, and said, out of the blue, "Tom, are you taking care of your men?" (I had a little detachment, about 20 guys as I recall, doing the work described before.)

Yup, 40 years plus later, I remember his exact words—which is the point of this Post. I replied to the General, "I'm doing my best, sir." To this day, with a chill going up my spine (no kidding—as I type this), I can see his face darken, and his voice harden, "Mr Peters, General Walt and I and General Buse are not interested in whether or not you are 'doing your best.' We simply expect you to get the job done—and to take care of your sailors. Period. That will be all, Lieutenant." - Tom Peters in a blog post 06MAY2009

General Chapman's comment resonated deeply with me. Shipmates, your #1 job is to save lives. You save lives by teaching, doing vessel exams, public outreach, air and surface rescue, and by maintaining the watch for threats to our security. My #1 job, and that of all the leaders,  is to assure you have the tools, training, and support to get the job of saving lives done.

I've recently participated in a number of discussions around our funding model for the Auxiliary, perceived competition from other providers of boating education, the SAR assistance policy and commercial towing assistance providers, our district budget issues due to the District store, and how we recruit new members. Each of these discussions has been focused on a narrow set of concerns rather than the overall impact on our "job" of saving lives.

Do we look at other agencies that are funded to teach free boating education as competition or as partners in getting our job done? Sure it impacts our fund raising and potentially our recruiting, but do we teach to fund ourselves and recruit or do we teach to save lives? I'd suggest a better strategy is to reach out to our partners and assist while at the same time engage in a dialog around how the Coast Guard funds boater education.

Another example, do we look at commercial vessel assistance providers as competition or a more hulls and expertise on the water which saves lives? In my experience there is more work to be done out on the water than there is resource to do it. We get our job done when we have a healthy ecosystem of private sector and public sector partners to help. Occasionally this means we don't provide immediate assistance in a non-distress case but who knows what lives are saved because we then catch the big distress case or because the commercial provider comes upon a distress case on the way to the scene of the non-distress case.

Far too often we let the tail wag the dog when faced with change.

If we evaluate every situation against our primary mission of saving lives, our "job", the Coast Guard will find the funding for us because we are effective and new members will seek us out because we represent a dynamic and exciting opportunity to serve. We may not be funded in our traditional manner or recruit in our traditional ways but I'm willing to bet we will be in a better position to get the job done if we focus on the core mission and are willing to adapt to, and in some cases demand, change.