Howard's Law

1- Truth, Faith and Confidence

2- Amateurs teach amateurs to be amateurs.

3- You can’t overwork me, but you can hinder the quality of my product.

4- When Leaders don’t set priorities, Followers do! (also known as Followship)

5- Bad news only gets worse with age.

Definition of Position Terms

I need to define a few terms that we will address over and over throughout the entirety of this publication. Some are obvious and one would usually think there would be no need for defining them; but we all come from different industries, backgrounds and levels of understanding. The best way to get a level understanding so we stay on the same sheet of music is for us all to have the same definition of these terms.

Manager

One who is responsible for directing and controlling the work and staff of a department, entity, section, etc; actively controls the resources and expenditures; and has authority and accountability over the planning, organization, directing of activities, development of personnel, mission establishment, objective determination, and analysis of performance data.

Supervisor

One who functions as the controller and guide for the work activities of a group of people; responsible for mission accomplishment and the gathering of performance data. Primarily found on the front line of the organization.

Leader

Someone who takes you in a new or desired direction largely through vision and motivation

Hierarchy of Organizational Positions

President

Vice President

Director

Manager *

Supervisor

Team Leader

* sometimes referred to as Superintendent in certain industries, often residing above Manager

Some notes on management and leadership:

The defined difference between managers and leaders can be simply stated as: Managers have subordinates and Leaders have followers.

Peter Drucker, who many consider to be the father of “modern management’ defined a manager’s job as: “is to direct the resources and the efforts of the business toward opportunities for economically significant results.”

Casey Stengel, long time manager of the “New York Yankees” and the “New York Mets” on the secret of managing once said: "The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided."

Dee Hock, founder and CEO Emeritus of Visa, discussing leadership once said: "Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time in leading yourself—your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20% leading those with authority over you and 15% leading your peers."

Military Classes of Supply

Class I - Subsistence (food - Rations), plus gratuitous (free) health and comfort items.

Class II – General Supplies: Clothing, individual equipment, tentage, organizational tool sets and kits, hand tools, unclassified maps, administrative and housekeeping supplies and equipment.

Class III - Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) (package and bulk): Petroleum, fuels, lubricants, hydraulic and insulating oils, preservatives, liquids and gases, bulk chemical products, coolants, deicer and antifreeze compounds, components, and additives of petroleum and chemical products, and coal.

Class IV - Construction materials, including installed equipment and all fortification and barrier materials.

Class V - Ammunition of all types, bombs, explosives, mines, fuzes, detonators, pyrotechnics, missiles, rockets, propellants, and associated items.

Class VI - Personal demand items (such as health and hygiene products, soaps and toothpaste, writing material,snack food, beverages, cigarettes, batteries, alcohol, and cameras—nonmilitary sales items).

Class VII - Major end items such as launchers, tanks, mobile machine shops, and vehicles.

Class VIII - Medical material (equipment and consummables) including repair parts peculiar to medical equipment. (Class VIIIa – Medical consummable supplies not including blood & blood products; Class VIIIb – Blood & blood components (whole blood, platelets, plasma, packed red cells, etc).

Class IX - Repair parts and components to include kits, assemblies, and subassemblies (repairable or non-repairable) required for maintenance support of all equipment.

Class X - Material to support nonmilitary programs such as agriculture and economic development (not included in Classes I through IX).

Miscellaneous - Water, salvage, and captured material.

FM 10-27-4 Organizational Supply and Services for Unit Leaders, United States Army and http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/Supply_Economy/supply-economy-study-guid.shtml

Time Conversion Chart – Military to Civilian

Military Time Civilian Time

0001 hrs 12:01 AM (1 minute after midnight)

0100 hrs 1:00 AM

0200 hrs 2:00 AM

0300 hrs 3:00 AM

0400 hrs 4:00 AM

0500 hrs 5:00 AM

0600 hrs 6:00 AM

0700 hrs 7:00 AM

0730 hrs 7:30 AM (note the use of minutes in the time)

0800 hrs 8:00 AM

0900 hrs 9:00 AM

1000 hrs 10:00 AM

1100 hrs 11:00 AM

1200 hrs 12:00 PM (noon)

1300 hrs 1:00 PM

1400 hrs 2:00 PM

1500 hrs 3:00 PM

1600 hrs 4:00 PM

1700 hrs 5:00 PM

1730 hrs 5:30 PM (note the use of minutes in the time)

1800 hrs 6:00 PM

1900 hrs 7:00 PM

2000 hrs 8:00 PM

2100 hrs 9:00 PM

2200 hrs 10:00 PM

2300 hrs 11:00 PM

2400 hrs 12:00 AM (midnight)

Relating Military skills to Civilian – Vets looking for jobs

I again just listened to an interview with LTG William G (Gus) Pagonis, author of “Moving Mountains” and the overall logistical commander during the build-up and conduct of the Gulf War in the early 90’s. He had some interesting points to make that very well parallel my own thoughts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsRGWcRvC0

LTG Pagonis’ comments were directed to former military members who are trying to land jobs or just relate their experience to civilian employers. This has always been a very hard task to accomplishment. It is next to impossible for one that hasn’t served in the military to understand just what a military logistician can do and has done during their tenure. My thoughts as to the prime reason for this disconnect is the lack of a draft. I am not proposing here that we re-institute the draft—that subject is for another forum.

LTG William G (Gus) Pagonis 

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

During my twenty-seven plus years in manufacturing operations at every level of those organizations—junior to very senior management—I never once came close to the level of authority and responsibility I had even as a very junior Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. I worked in facilities from as few employees as eighty to larger organizations with well over six hundred plus—most reporting to larger corporations.

There just isn’t any real correlation to the levels experienced by most military logisticians to that of their supposedly civilian counterparts. The routine scope of civilian operations is just too narrowly focused to begin to compare.

LTG Pagonis stressed that those with military backgrounds should “emphasize their leadership traits and abilities.” This is particularly hard to do and must be thought through very carefully. One must be sure that the degree of aloofness is not so condescending so as to put off the hiring manager in a way that it works against applicant.

Remember that any organization’s most important asset is its people-strength. The hardest obstacle to overcome in the civilian world is the time to train; it hardly exists at all. In the civilian world, they want to buy in the trained and not spend their time training. I believe this to be, in mot cases, a major mistake. The time spent in training and mentoring is much more important than the dollars spent in getting there. The bonding and camaraderie that takes place is of vital importance and pays off for long periods of time. Don’t underestimate it!