Conference 7.286::digital

    If Norman S isn't doing anything, maybe he can run Digital back into
    profitablility.

    I think Grace Hopper had it right when she said, "In all my years in
    the military I have yet to see a military officer MANAGE his troops 
    into battle".
    We need somebody that is going to hop in the lead tank and direct
    the charge.
    
    Enough management! What we need is leadership.
    
    Just my $0.02 worth.
    
                                                           Mark
    

    I say we draft him - he seems to like challenges - I can't think of a 
    greater one than we have to deal with!
    

    Just as a point...18% of the casualties in the Gulf War were from
    "friendly fire".  With Palmer it'll be between 10% and 24% according to
    last reports, I believe.
    
    Sounds like there's a decision to be made here, folks.

    
    
    This Schwartzkoph/GulfWar <--> Digital compairson is absurd.
    
    Norman had the collective power of the most powerful military in the 
    history of the world at his disposal - against a pathetic 3rd-world 
    rag tag force... in the middle of the desert with no place to hide.
    
    Digital, by contrast, is fighting a multiple front war... and the enemy
    on each front are battle-hardened specialists trained, equipped and 
    focused to battle in that front - and the enemy already holds
    significant territory. 
     
    
    

    
    Re: .5
    
    > Digital, by contrast, is fighting a multiple front war... and the enemy
    > on each front are battle-hardened specialists trained, equipped and 
    > focused to battle in that front - and the enemy already holds
    > significant territory. 
     
    All the more reason to listen to Schwartzkopf, doncha think?
    
    Steve
    
    

    
    But then again, maybe we're a business entity and not an army.  I think
    lobbing a coupla scuds towards HP and IBM headquarters might be frowned
    upon.
    
    							:^] Tex

    Probably one of the required reading at time like this is "The Book of
    Five Rings", by Miyamoto Musashi (circa late 1500s early 1600s).
    
    --svb

(Anybody want to contrast the Spring '92 comments with the Spring '94 comments?)
				/AHM

            <<< HUMANE::DISK$NOTES:[NOTES$LIBRARY]DIGITAL.NOTE;1 >>>
                        -< The Digital way of working >-
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Note 1801.0           How do we get Schwarzkopf on the BOD?           13 replies
DUGROS::ROSS "Babelicious"                     79 lines  10-MAR-1992 12:13:58.80
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Norman Schwarzkopf on Leadership  
    
    {reprinted without permission from INC. magazine}
...

    re .5
    
    >This Schwartzkoph/GulfWar <--> Digital compairson is absurd.
    
    With all due respect, I think you totally missed the point.  The
    specific points listed in .0 may refer to practice during the
    Gulf war as examples of implementation, however, these are
    very important concepts which apply to basic leadership.  It
    doesn't matter if that leadership is of armies, companies or
    even being the leader in your family.  
    
    Leadership based on solid principals, aimed at achieving clearly stated
    goals, has been proven repeatedly to be one of the primary components
    of successful organizations and individuals.  There is quite a wide
    variety of literature published on this topic.  For starters, you
    may want to pick up a copy of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective 
    People".
    
    Jeff

    
    
    re .5
    
    This is absolutely not absurd. This principles can hardly be
    classified as militaristic. I'd rather say that the fact Schwarzkopf
    applied these principles to a military event should make him
    candidat for CEO.
    
    You can apply these principles to almost any personal, professional
    or organizational matters. And they work!
    
    
    							helmut
    

    Gen. Schwarzkopf is used to dealing with internal and external politics
    also - in his book "It does'nt take a hero" he explains clearly how he
    tried to avoid the political folks in the army, and turned down the top
    military job in Washington after the gulf war.
    
    Given the power maybe he could cut through our "smoke and mirrors"
    middle management.
    
    Paul

The eleven principles Schwartzkopf uses have no particular 
slant towards military.  In fact it is not completely unlike 
the "back to basics" approach that Gerstner talked about 
when he took over IBM..."we don't need a vision, what we 
need is some blocking and tackling".  

He took a lot of heat from the trades for that statement, 
but it was clear that his first priority was to stop the 
bleeding.  With two black quarters under their belt and a 
projected year in the black, Gerstner is only now beginning 
to articulate a vision.

I have to admit that I thought Gerstner was out of touch 
when he made his "we don't need a vision" statement.  And 
given the amount of time we all spend in this conference 
bemoaning the fact that the SLT has not established a clear 
vision for us, I'd say most of us thought Gerstner was out 
of touch.

In retrospect, however, I'd probably feel a lot better right 
now if we had a few quarters in the black and our (my!) 
stock was climbing back up...even if we had no visions.

       Re .5
    
       I guess this is the newest version of revisionist history, huh? Not
    only have you missed the point of the basenote totally, you also have
    forgotten that Iraq had the 3rd or 4th largest military machine in the
    world, complete with an extremely modern and sophisticated
    command/control/communications grid, had just won a very hard-fought
    war with Iran, and had fielded a combat hardened army. What they did
    NOT realize was what they were up against, and they also underestimated
    the resolve and determination of the U.S., nor the smartness of the
    U.S. leadership to destroy the comm. network and render the command and
    control system impotent. Yeah, it was no-contest. However, remember the
    hysteria of the U.S. "experts" and media about the thousands of U.S.
    casualties?? War is not a "given", and the outcome could have been very
    different..
    
    
        Also: The principles outlined by the General are not that much
    different than those of W. Edwards Deming, the person given credit for
    the success of the Japanese economy. 
       Both sets of rules---Schwartzkopf's and Deming's "14 Points"---are
    simply COMMON SENSE. There are 2 very distinct ways to manage: You can
    LEAD, or you can PUSH. A Leader will always succeed, because his/her 
    people will recognize that he/she is 'out front' and will try to do
    even better than the manager. The one who knows nothing except to PUSH,
    via threats and mental beatings, will get no more out of the worker
    than they beat out of them...and that manager will never be totally
    successful. 
    
        

    
    Re: .14
    
    > than they beat out of them...and that manager will never be totally
    > successful. 
    
    Not only will that manager never enjoy total success, but will have
    the added danger of resentful and angry employees who without much
    encouragement would hang him/her out to dry.  It doesn't take a
    rocket scientist to figure out that the employees are in the best
    position of all for a little sabotage.
    
    fwiw,
    Steve
    
    

    >Both sets of rules---Schwartzkopf's and Deming's "14 Points"---are
    >simply COMMON SENSE. 
    
    	Common Sense is, I'm sure you realize, an oxymoron.

       Re .15
    
       No argument...but it seems to be escaping the scrutinization of the
    current crop of manager-types....and I don't even think it's a Digital
    phenomenon...it's the current trend throughout much of the country..
    
      Re .16
     
      At the New Digital that is certainly the case...
    
      JM

    RE: .14
    
    Without wishing to detract from the main thrust of your argument, I
    feel it my duty to mention that there were one or two British troops
    and airmen out there, and they did help just a little.
    
    Laurie.

       Re .19
    
       Yeah...and there were French, Saudi's, some Germans, a number of
    Kuwaitis, Pakistanis, and others...
    
    
       ALL under the command of Gen. Schwartzkopf and Prince Khalid of
    S.A...
    
    

Can someone provide a pointer to Deming's "14 points"?  I don't recall
them being listed here, but I suspect surely someone sometime must
have put them in here.

There are many who feel that Schwarzkopf was not as great as many make him
out to be.  There are many who argue that we actually lost the war with
Iraq, and I must admit that I can see some basis for this.

Regardless of the self-promotion in his book, I don't consider Schwarzkopf a
model for what a corporate leader should be.

				Steve

       Schwartzkopf did exactly what any well trained and well disciplined
    military officer would do under all circumstances: HE FOLLOWED THE
    ORDERS OF HIS SUPERIORS!
    
       George Bush ordered Schwartzkopf to stop his advance and cease fire,
    thus allowing the bulk of Saddam's elite tank units escape back to
    Baghdad. The military was in a position and was poised to annihilate
    the remaining forces of the Iraqui military and head for the capitol,
    but was stopped. 
    
       The 'illustrious' and headline hungry news media in its frenzy to
    report sensational but useless news, also was instrumental in this
    debacle. By sending back vivid and graphic photographs of dead Iraqui
    rapists and thieves, and the wrecked and burned plunder that they had
    stolen from Kuwait on the road from Kuwait City during their attempted
    retreat, they were able to somehow change what should have been
    justifiable satisfaction for this destruction to some sort of pity for
    the animals that had been hit and killed by U.S. and coalition air
    attacks. A burned out tank with blackened corpses is hard to look
    at---even if the corpses are those of murderers, thieves and rapists.
    An unrecognizable corpse has no identity, and the news media had a real
    ball with this. George Bush also was unable to use THIS to his
    advantage as he should have, and he stopped THAT attack. Schwartzkopf
    and the USAF commander on scene should have and would have continued
    the attack to the total destruction of the Iraqui military..
    
      John Mc

    
    Re: .21


	 		DEMING'S FOURTEEN POINTS



   1.   Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and 
        service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in 
        business, and to provide jobs.
   
   2.   Adopt the new philosophy.  We are in a new economic age.  Western 
        management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their 
        responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
   
   3.   Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.  Eliminate the 
        need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the 
        product in the first place.
   
   4.   End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag.  
        Instead, minimize total cost.  Move toward a single supplier for 
        any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
   
   5.   Improve constantly and forever the system of production and 
        service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly 
        decrease cost.
   
   6.   Institute training on the job.
   
   7.   Institute leadership.  The aim of supervision should be to help 
        people and machines and gadgets to do a better job.  Supervision 
        of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of 
        production workers.
   
   8.   Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the 
        company.
   
   9.   Break down barriers between departments.  People in research, 
        design, sales and production must work as a team, to foresee 
        problems of production and in use that may be encountered with 
        the product or service.
   
   10.  Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce 
        asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity.  Such 
        exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk 
        of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the 
        system and thus lie beyond the power of the workforce.
   
   11a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor.  
        Substitute leadership.
   
   11b. Eliminate management by objective.  Eliminate management by 
        numbers, numerical goals.  Substitute leadership.
   
   12a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride 
        of workmanship.  The responsibility of supervisors must be 
        changed from sheer numbers to quality.
   
   12b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering 
        of their right to pride of workmanship.  This means, inter alia, 
        abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by 
        objective.
   
   13.	Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
   
   14.	Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the 
        transformation.  The transformation is everybody's job.

    

    
    
    My point in .5 was that Schwarzkoph's 7 principles are common sense and
    could be found in any thousands of books on Leadership/Business/etc...
    there are no earth shaking revelations.
    
    With vastly superior and almost infinite resources he beat a
    hopelessly outclassed opponent in a competition with a definite start
    and finish. 
    
    Lets find someone who won with limited resources, against the odds,
    with bad morale, without benefit of The Code of Military Conduct
    (disobey = jail/death), over a protracted period of time.
    
     
     
    
    

    
    Re: .25
    
    > Lets find someone who won with limited resources, against the odds,
    > with bad morale, without benefit of The Code of Military Conduct
    > (disobey = jail/death), over a protracted period of time.
    
    And the point you are still missing is that given the scenario you
    depict, if there's to be *any* chance of success that following
    Schwartzkopf's advice is all the more important.  This is not about
    Schwartzkopf the man, it's about what he advises.
    
    Steve
    

	re: the military metaphor

	IMO, using a military metaphor for business is what creates the
	kind of mess we're in ... we don't need leadership as much as
	we need the individuals (like you gentle reader) in this company
	to start working together to sell the stuff we make. If it isn't
	clear what we should be selling (because we've created this
	sargasso sea of internally competitive products, many of which
	are obsolete before they ship) then we should pick a few dozen of
	our hundreds of products and concentrate on making them successful.

	We now return to our regularly scheduled search for *real*
	leadership rant.

	Larry

    re -.1
    
    Thanks for verbalizing it so well.  It might be worth remembering that
    our military is responsible for approx 20% of the deaths of its own
    members and can't buy toilet seats for under $1100.  I wouldn't jump up
    and down to get a head driver of THAT particular dinosaur to lead OUR
    little wagon train!
    			
    							Tex

    
    Re: .29
    
    
    FOR THE LAST TIME, NO I SUGGESTED THAT WE HIRE SCHWARTZKOPF.  
    
    Why are you going on about the fact that he was a military officer?
    If you can't get the distinction between talking about him, the
    person, and a list of principles that he advises, then perhaps that's
    indicative of why "our little wagon train" is in so much trouble.
    NOT ONE OF THOSE SUGGESTIONS IS INEXTRICABLY INVOLVED WITH ANYTHING
    MILITARY.  In fact, when you read them, it makes one wonder how someone
    who espouses them could have risen to the rank of general in an
    authoritarian establishment like the US Army.  It just happens, in
    this case, that the person advising their use, was a military officer.
    
    
    Steve
    

    I friend of mine sent me this bit of Email and suggested that others
    may find it of interest.
    
    		Alfred
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Though I am no longer employed by Digital (there is a God) I feel that my 18
years of service to Digital gives me at least a periphery "right" to voice my
opinion on Digital's current .. er .. problems.

Some of you may know me and hence know that I am somewhat of a student of WWII
history.  As such, I have found the answer to Digital's problems in General
"Viniger" Joe Stillwell.  I firmly believe that Joe's solution to a wartime
problem is one-to-one applicable to Digital !

Immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 Washington was
complete chaos.  Called to Washington from his job commanding III Corps at
Monterey, California, Major General Stillwell wrote to his wife that he found
the capital a bedlam.  His solution to the bedlam should be applied to Digital:

"My impression of Washington is a rush of clerks in and out of doors, swing
doors always swinging, people with papers rushing after other people with
papers, groups in corners whispering in huddles, everybody jumping up just as
you start to talk, buzzers ringing, telephones ringing, rooms crowded with
clerks all banging away at typewriters.  'Give me 10 copies of this AT ONCE.'
'Get that secret file out of the safe.'  'Where the hell is the Yellow Plan
(Blue Plan, Green Plan, Orange Plan, etc.)?'   Everybody furiously smoking
cigarettes, everybody passing you on to someone else - etc, etc.  Someone with a
loud voice and a mean look and a big stick ought to appear and yell 'HALT !  You
crazy bastards, SILENCE.  You immitation ants.  Now, half of you get the hell
out of town before dark, and the other half sit down and don't move for one
hour'.  Then they should burn up all the papers and start fresh."

Not bad, General Stillwell .. not bad at all .. this is quite applicable to
Corporate American, and most assuredly to Digital Equipment Corporation.

Yours truly,
Jerry Beeler
(former) Sales Executive
Digital Equipment Corporation

PS:  You may respond to my CompuServe address:
US2RMC::"73633.2213@CompuServe.COM"

>    FOR THE LAST TIME, NO I SUGGESTED THAT WE HIRE SCHWARTZKOPF.  
    
    Well yes, I know you suggested that.  That's why I put my dos centavos in.
    I mean, if you want to work for the guy, well that's fine, but I think
    it's somewhat like the "Ollie for President" campaign (NOT a moral
    comparison).  Also, the idea of having to wear uniforms and chevrons
    doesn't appeal to me. 
    
    Maybe we could just have a system of colored shirts and ties or
    something instead, like EDS does.  The Engineers could set up their own
    system of colored sneakers or laces, or maybe different patterns on
    their tie-dye shirts.
    
    Anyway, Steve, if you want to start recruiting Stormin' Norman (who's
    resume looks preeettyy olive drab to me) then count me out.  I've
    enjoyed civilian life so far.
    
    							Tex
    
    (Steve, you'd do better arguing if you'd quit bringing up this military
    issue!)

    
    my recollection is that Westy lost the last war he fought,
    whereas  Norman won his.

    
    Actually, Westmorland was replaced as commander before the 
    fall of S. Vietnam. 

    Creighton Abrams
    
    (RE .-1)

    It's funny about those who bash our military leaders and how they
    speculate how they wouldn't work well in the corporate world.
    
    In the unit I support we have a retired AF Col who is the acct mgr and
    one of the sales execs is a Marine reservist Lt. Col.  I am so glad to
    be associated with such individuals and its an ease to work with these
    people.  The many problems I do have and work with are withthe
    non-military types.
    
    Now this obviously isn't to say that all military officers would do
    well in business just as all non-military are dirtbags to work with. 
    One shouldn't stereotype any set of individuals, imho. 

    
    Re: .32
    
    >> FOR THE LAST TIME, NO I SUGGESTED THAT WE HIRE SCHWARTZKOPF.  
    
    >Well yes, I know you suggested that.  That's why I put my dos centavos in.
    >I mean, if you want to work for the guy, well that's fine, but I think
    
    Apparently you didn't read the of my note which would have made clear
    that what I intended to write was "NO ONE SUGGESTED THAT WE HIRE
    SCHWARTZKOPF" including me.  It was just his advice that was suggested
    was worth listening to.
    
    Steve
    
    

     Re .29
      
       Well, Tex old man, you've done a fair job of showing ho little
    knowledge you really have about the military and it's makeup. The
    Military has little or nothing to say about how much it pays for
    anything nor even WHAT it pays for. That function, which you have
    pretty clearly indicated you are unaware of, is a function controlled
    by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Congress..... Congress the
    last time I looked is 100% 'civilian', and if you check, the uniformed
    armed forces make up a rather small percentage of the bureaucratic and
    mostly politically appointed CIVILIAN dominated D.O.D..
    
       Military people are no different than anyone else. I have NO idea
    where in blazes you have come up with the absolutely ludicrous number
    for deaths, but if youreally want to get to the semantic reason for the
    military death rate, then 100% are caused by the President and/or
    Congress, because THEY are the ones who end up getting the country into
    whatever wars we've been caught up in!! I am unable to recall or find
    any reference to ANY conflict that was started or entered into by the
    military independently...in fact, the LAST people on the planet who are
    interested in getting themselves killed are the troops. 
    
      What HAS occurred in a number of cases is that the military, due to
    poor training, poor equipment and/or insufficient BUDGETS, accidentally
    have missed identity and in the heat of a battle have hit the wrong
    targets. Mebbe some of the critics who have never BEEN there could co
    better??? Mebbe you oughta try???
    
      Would a military leader help Digital?? Mebbe...mebbe not. Not ALL
    military leaders are that great, but there have been a few that are
    damned good.. Knocking anyone in the military--who takes ORDERS from
    and used equipment procured by CIVILIANS--for $1100.00 toilet seats or
    $300.00 hammers or whatever, is both narrow-minded and short-sighted..
    
       JMc

    Actually, .29 was tongue-in-cheek, I just did it to twirl Steve's
    baton. :^]   (I never even read the preceding notes, just the titles).
    This topic reappears about every three months, spirals downward into
    ancient Chinese books (already done), and eventually winds up with Oliver 
    North involved.  Ho-hum.
    
    So let's accelerate it...I personally think Oliver North would make a
    GREAT CEO for Digital.  He's consistently proven he's not afraid to
    spill a little constitutional milk to make a democratic omelette!  What
    say, boys?  Seriously....no, really. I mean it this time.  I do.
    		
    							Tex :^]

    
    I bet Tsun Szu (sp?), would never have called Unix "snake-oil."
    
    Glenn