The Most Valuable Soldiers

Who are the most valuable soldiers in the army?

Don't ask anyone in the military this question. Enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers will always say that they are the most important, that they make up the heart, soul, and backbone of the military, and that they are the most valuable because they sacrifice the most by being on the front lines day after day. Officers will give you one of two answers. They will either say that they are the most important because of their strategic importance and ability to see the big picture and respond with intelligent military offensives, or they will tell you that it's the little guy that counts, the private in the trenches who is the building block of the army. One of these responses is nothing more than well crafted PR. I'll let you decide which.

They're all wrong. The most important and most valuable soldiers in the military are the Colonels. Why? There are several reasons:

1. For starters, they actually do work. They still hold duty positions that put them in combat zones, so they experience real military life at the front instead of behind a desk in some office somewhere.
2. They're responsible for large numbers of people that report to them. They have to provide for the care and well-being of these people, and ensure they are being effective in their respective jobs and positions.
3. They feed information up the chain of command to the desk jockeys, and craft the strategies of war that Generals usually take credit for. Generals don't know the intricacies of life at the front because too often they sit around a mahogany table somewhere smoking cigars and drinking expensive brandy; meanwhile Colonels are sleeping in the field.
4. These are the people that the Generals have entrusted to lead the military. The Generals know what they're doing. They've already put in their time, and once they become Generals it's time to kick back a bit. The Colonels can handle it, and the Colonels do the work because one day they hope to be Generals themselves.

So in business, why is it that the CEO and executive management teams often don't heed the counsel of their Colonels? Seth Godin calls them linchpins. These are the people that executive management has entrusted with significant responsibility. They feed information up the chain of command, they're responsible for significant resources and people, and they're actually working on the front lines of business. Why is it then that when the Colonels show up to a management team meeting with any input that runs counter to the establishment's assumptions they get reprimanded or worse? Do the Generals of business really just want yes men and women? If so, the corporate army is doomed.

Listen to the freakin' Colonels. They know more than the Generals do.