For many ages, people have gathered together and when people are to together they tell stories. Story telling communicates a variety of signals. Stories can tell other negative thing to scare them away, or positive things to encourage others to try new things. Stories can be told to make someone look good... or better. Stores can be told to make someone else look good or bad. Whatever the case may be, if it is a good story... people listen.

"The wise leader seizes the power of the story and uses it as a tool to regularly communicate the core values" (Clampitt, 2017, P89). When a Manager wants to convey a powerful message to their team, maybe they want to illustrate a critical organizational value. Employees will understand and always listen to a good story. 

On the contrary, stories can be used a deterrent. When I was in the military, hearing about other people's punishments motivated all of us to behave accordingly. We did not want to end up like the guy who got punished harshly. 

I think that the best stories are positive stories, these are the stories that inspire people to be better and work harder. When I worked for Boeing, they wanted to show us that our families were important to us, so they would pay for a family member to meet for a brief all inclusive vacation during deployments... if you were recommended by your supervisor for doing a good job. 

As high performers came back from these trips, where they met their spouse in Dubai or France, they would tell everyone the stories from their trip. What did this do? MAKE EVERYONE WORK HARDER. What else did this do? Make people willing to go on more deployments so they could get an opportunity to take a trip like this again.

For me, I had the great opportunity to have my parents flown to Dubai on two separate occasions. It was a great way for me to provide a thank you to my parents for all their support throughout my life. But for them, it was a way to tell friends and family how great the Boeing Insitu family was. During these trips a member of executive management would take us all to dinner and tell the stories to our families about the work we were doing and how meaningful it was. 

When it comes to your company... strive to be part of a good story.

Clampitt, P. G. (2017). Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness: Challenges, Strategies, Solutions. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

Know the Enemy, Know Yourself

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Sun Tzu

Unrealistically, I would like the opportunity to have a safe lunch with the enemy. Having joined America's finest fighting force, the Marine Corps Infantry, at 18 years old, about a third of my life was dedicated to the War on Terrorism. I have lost friends, teammates, supervisors, and other associates. Years of conflict have left me feeling unsettled to say the least. I know the enemy has had their struggles. 

Where did this idea come from? I was taking a "macro-meditation" class, and the theme was wishing peace on others. We started with those we loved, then worked our way to strangers, then finally OUR ENEMIES. I thought to myself, why would I ever wish peace on my enemy, our enemy. I thought, clearly this teacher has never dealt with terrorists and insurgents. But, the more I think about it... there is always another side. 

Not only would having lunch with someone from the enemy provide great intelligence for future operations, maybe it will give a little closure to some of the lost years of my life, and help others who feel the same way I do. 

We would have the following ground rules in effect as a minimum:

1. Don't kill each other 
2. No Indoctrinating 
3. Don't persuade, defend, interrupt 
4. Just be curious, conversational, and willing to listen

I would be curious about their upbringing, childhood, family life, culture, and their life experiences. I would be curious about what their training was like, what their goals and aspirations were. We could talk about the fears we faced and how we coped with them. We could definitely discuss the issues that led us to joining our respective organizations. We would literally be two warriors dropping weapons and learning what it's like to be on the other side. Maybe getting to a point where we can both let go of some of the anger and resentment that we have towards each other, and some of the stereotypes.  

Branching into the business world, it can be said that "if you know your company's capabilities and have astutely sized up your competitors, you can duke it out and stand to be victorious in battle" (Eisen, 2018). While corporate espionage is highly unethical, learning your operational environment and understanding your competitors better will do nothing but make you better.

"Knowing your enemy" can be applied not only to competitors external to your workplace, but also internal competitors that are not the "conventional enemy". If you are competing for a promotion, learning more about that person can help you be better. Maybe these people can inspire you to work harder, be more organized, or not act a certain way. Or, the enemy is someone that you don't necessarily get along with in the work place and getting to understand each other will resolve past and future dilemmas.  Understanding other people's goals, life experiences, and concerns can improve many different situations. 

Eisen, D. (2018). Knowing your enemy is only the start. Hotel Management, 233(8), 4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/2064341011?accountid=27203

Tzu, S. (2017). The Art of War. Knickerbocker Classics.

Acronyms have meanings!

Between my experience in the Military and Aviation, I have learned that radio communication is it's own language, and in my opinion, the most functional/effective means of communication. It is designed to prevent ambiguity, increase brevity,  and be of proper etiquette. Radio messages are designed to have one meaning, be as short as possible, and eloquent enough to be heard by anyone. While there are minor differences between aviation and military radio jargon, the overall theme is the same. It is designed to convey a specific message accurately in a time sensitive manner. 

Radio communication is so effective that it is capable of coordinating missile/gun fire from aircraft and battleships, casualty evacuation from the most austere environments, global dispatch of emergency service personnel, and international air traffic control. Radio communication also sounds really cool and is a lot a fun, who doesn't love playing with walkie talkies? 

The reason radio communication is so effective, is because each transmission is carefully framed and sculpted. As you learn radio communication techniques, you learn that there are scripted outlines for nearly everything. For example, in aviation, you learn that the basic frame for nearly every radio call is "this is who I am, this is where I am, and this is what I want to do". When I was learning close-air-support and indirect call-for-fire basics in the military, I received an outline for each type of mission. Essentially: address who you want to talk to, who you are, where you are, where the bad guys are, what you want your support to do, and how. 

Transferring these skills to the workplace, outside of the field or in the air, empowers you to "carefully craft contexts by artfully accentuating certain interpretations while chiseling away others" (Clampitt, 2017, p19).   Framing and sculpting messages is an important tool for managers. "To hold the frame of a subject is to choose one particular meaning (or set of meanings) over another" (Clampitt, 2017, p19). Frames manage meanings, and assert interpretations that should be taken as real over other possibilities. 

The down side of radio communication is that it uses many acronyms and brevity codes that bleed over to everyday vocabulary. You have to know your audience. I see too many people talk "Radio" to someone that becomes immediately lost in conversation. In the appropriate setting, it's safe to use your workplace jargon and is usually expected. While it is fun to "talk tactical" to your friends and co-workers at times, when not on missions or flights, I have learned that the framework for certain radio communications can be applied to everyday communication and helps to clearly get your ideas across to a many different audiences.

Clampitt, P. G. (2017). Communicating for managerial effectiveness (6e).  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.