Thinking is hard work; that's why so few do it.

Creating an Agenda without having an agenda

You read some columnists in the newspapers; you have to wonder who they are really working for. You can see they have an agenda. -Alec Baldwin

The title today comes from Albert Einstein, I just hacked it for this week’s substack mostly because after taking a week off from our revelation of the first-ever NCO focused think tank, I have spent some time thinking about what it is this collaborative effort is going to be about. Though I may have been a lead instigator in pulling together infrastructure and attempting to hammer out the why and how, to be frank now that we have arrived at this point we are not much different than we were 2 weeks ago. That is because there has been no ACTION, and without action, we are nothing. So, the big question we asked ourselves was, action on what?

If research is the cornerstone of a think tank, one must ask what timely topics have the leadership and directors of this institute chosen to focus on in our infancy? But more importantly, not only what is it we choose to study, but with what resources will we use to conduct that research? That is our current juncture, we are finding ourselves with the ol “chicken or the egg” dilemma, what comes first? That is because in many centers like ours, research is done in-house by a team of researchers and their supporting elements, or the research is driven by the institute, but conducted externally by a network of collaborators and experts. For our first year we have taken a hybrid approach of a small team of volunteers, supported by a few fellows, and so it is now time to get after it. We may not have much by way of resources, but we have to press on.

Getting After It

So, I have been telling the team, okay, let’s go. move,em. get’long. Head out! let us roll. Giddyap. I mean we want to d something, but what? What seems to be missing right now for us is clarity on what is the “it?” If we want to get after “it", we need to be in agreement with what “it” actually is, and for me right now I feel the number one challenge is to establish the issues we hope to address through the creation of an Agenda. If you have been following my earlier substacks you may have noticed a few threads or pet peeves that I myself have espoused, and some have had many advocates and a few left and right head shakers. Some thought the topic valid, but the message (or the messenger) was off. Or a whole host of other feedback that came along (trust me, it is a gift).

It is my belief that if I am not careful at this stage I.am.NCO could easily veer off to “Dan’s thing,” which was a similar risk I had building the first-ever NCO focused community of practice. Let be known, like then, I have no agenda, other than for the NCO corps to be better. Then the key for me was our “it” to become self-guiding without a single leader, and that is how I see we must proceed again. We did that by enlisting the help of a diverse group of NCOs from across the Army of divergent backgrounds, grades, MOSes, and locations to serve in a board of directors like role. I called them “peer mentors.” These were the early adopters and most serious of the contributors. They espoused the type of values we expected of our community, were helpful, not harmful, and were all good team players. To me, that was how you build a team in that environment, and our think tank must organize similarly, and we were never seen as a threat. Most importantly, we were AUTONOMOUS. Actually, we were so much the opposite of a threat that the insitution actually drew us in to join them and we lost that autonomy, and then they killed it, like what could happen here.

Issue Generation

For the next month we will be focusing on generating issues by collecting feedback using a structured approach. Up to this point we have been holding brainstorming sessions where board members and directors have been discussing issues or concerns. Just in building up to this point we conducted a SWOT analysis to outline and structure the institute, and to establish our mission, vision, and goals. We had to let other factors influence our timelines, but once we achieved each of the required steps it allowed us to get to the place we are now. And that place right now is Issue Generation. Without an established customer, that is, a customer besides the broader institution of enlisted leaders in that thing we call the NCO corps, we must establish an Agenda making up issues that support our mission. And to do that, we will need the help of the community.

I have asked the volunteer board and directors that before our next board meeting to bring 3-5 topics, issues, challenges to lay out on the table as we begin to gather the top 20-30 of the hottest topics, and begin to whittle down as we create a list of items that we decide to establish as our 2025 Agenda. But we do not plan to operate in a vacuum. If you would like to throw some thoughts in our suggestion box, you are encouraged to take part and answer a short three question in an unscientific survey. In it, we ask for your short definition of the duties of the NCO, what is one critical issue or challenge facing the NCO corps today, and what would you like to see the Institute accomplish in 2025?

We will be fleshing out topics influenced by other work our team does, we are more than a couple of old soldiers sitting at the back of a room. Our personnel have established enough touch points back to the Corps that we have a sense of the challenges and barriers the force is faced with, so continue to stay tuned here and engage with your own discourse and dialog.  We see you, we are listening. And, you can always tap the comment button below or reach out to us at experts@iamnco.org to have your voice heard more direct, or join us in our efforts. See you next week.

CSM (Ret.) Dan Elder

/topsarge