Robert Gates and the Boy Scouts

Key points from the June 20, 2011 edition of The New York Times (Basic Training: How Gates Grew) regarding Gates' four-and-a-half years as defense secretary:

• Gates has earned a reputation as an adept manager in a department long resistant to change.
• He has never read a management book - - but is planning to eventually write a book about managing and reforming large public institutions, such as the Pentagon and Texas A&M University.
• Showing respect to the professional who staff and help lead an institution is critical.  Without that respect, top managers will quickly find their ideas ignored, or actively resisted.
• Symbols and symbolic gestures are important.
• Holding people accountable is critical.
• In the context of the Pentagon - - "This place is too gigantic to expect that {knowing everything}.  What created the problem {mishaps involving the military's stewardship of the U.S. nuclear arsenal} was not taking it seriously enough once they were apprised of the situation."
• Gates has joked that the only management training he received was with the Boy Scouts when he was 14 years old.
• The appropriate management style can be a function of the time period.
• Gates has an open leadership style and doesn't dominate meetings - - but relishes making decisions at their conclusion.  He encourages participation, so people have a lot of say, until the decision is made and then, like all good leaders, he expects people to toe the line.
• Gates has said he has become too cautious as the years have gone by.
• Gates worked hard to ensure his ideas were embraced not just by the top generals, but also mid-ranking and junior military officers, teaching classes at the service academies and giving speeches to the various war colleges.